At one of the intersections of Islamabad an Afghan boy of 8 or 9 years age, lame by one leg, was hawking newspapers. A gentleman, three or four cars ahead of me, gave him five rupees in coins, the cost of the newspaper and when the boy limped forward adjusting his crutches to hand him the newspaper, he signalled the boy to keep the money as well as the newspaper. The boy, however, insisted on his taking the paper but in the mean time the traffic signal changed and the gentleman rolled up the car window. The boy hurriedly started placing the coins on the window sill of the moving car, which fell and rolled away. Traffic was heavy and by the time I reached the crossing the traffic light had again gone red. I thought that the boy would probably pick up the coins, but no, he was much above the ordinary and too dignified to bow to such depths. I could see clearly the pride, honour and dignity in the eyes of this young lad, though handicapped. I was moved and wanted to buy all his newspapers – about 10 or 15 in all, but could not muster the courage to hurt his pride. I asked for only one paper.

Can we the fortunate ones do something to ameliorate the lot of such unfortunate one ?

Imtiaz Jafri
Pakistan