Paris Slumdog Hundredaire Act..

[Article for one of the Magazine]

Hollywood socialite and hotel heiress Paris Hilton came to India on a three-day trip; she astonished a beggar in Mumbai by giving her $100. She might have thought her bighearted present might improve the life of the woman seeking alms at least for a few days.

The socialite reportedly spotted a poor woman begging with a baby in her arms on the streets of Mumbai, when she was going to launch her bag store. The car slowed down and Hilton handed the $100 note through the window. This isn't the first time Hilton has been this charitable. A couple of weeks back, when was in France and tipped the local cab-driver a $100.

Ishika 22-year-old beggar wondered what the $100 was because she had never seen a dollar note before.  She even asked people around her if they could give her change in exchange of the American currency. She later handed over the note to her brother-in-law, requesting him to get it exchanged for the corresponding value of Indian currency.  Her greedy relatives began to quarrel among each other for the note and started assaulting her brother-in-law and even tried to wangle the note forcefully from him.  Frustrated brother-in-law tore it into pieces to permanently bring the fight to an end.

Ishika said, "As usual I was begging outside a mall in Andheri. All of a sudden I saw a foreigner and was about to approach her for money. But she called me herself, and handed over the strange note.  I requested several people on the road if they could give me change in return for it. Sometime told me it’s a dollar, I gave it to my brother-in-law and asked him to get it exchanged for the correct notes. But all our hungry relatives began demanding that we share the money with them, I did not want to share it with then, as the foreigner had gifted it to me. My brother-in-law got really angry with the incident and tore it up into pieces.”

Ishika's brother-in-law said, "Members of our community were assaulting us, so they could have the note.  Seeing the misunderstanding and sadness caused by the money, I angrily tore it up.  Now I regret my action, it was worth 5000 Rs."

Paris also showed her concern on micro-blogging site for the widespread poverty in the country. She wrote, “India is beautiful, but some parts are very poverty stricken. Broke my heart to see babies sleeping on the streets. What are the most credible non-profit charity organizations here in India? After seeing what I've seen, I want to help make a difference.”

Reportedly some media people were present when Hilton handed $100(approx Rs 5,000) to the poor woman. I guess the reporters and the people around there were very well aware about the dollar then why they didn't help the beggar to exchange the note?

Be Blessed,
-K Himaanshu Shukla..

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