a sandal shine and a lesson learned

today i was on the street in bandra, standing on the sidewalk, eating a mcdonald's ice cream cone dipped in choco sauce that hardens when cold....yes, i have supported the yellow arches with a $0.40 contribution today. and i felt just like a child again. i also noticed that the indian at the cash register pronounced its name as the brits do: a MACswirl, he called it. that made me smile. anyway, it's great stuff, whatever it is, and prob filled with millions of free radicals and god knows what other chemicals.

as i stood there, trying to just ignore the world and eat my child-size ice-cream cone, a man armed with maps approached me. after only a few minutes, and because i was in a fairly good mood, he had convinced me that i must buy this map of india. i finally gave in...because i did, in fact, need a map of india's states and layout. i learned nothing about indian history or geography ...or anything, for that matter, about this country, so it's high time i did.

just as i was walking away with my $3 map and half-eaten ice-cream cone, another man approached me, begging me to let him shine my shoes. i started to laugh. they're not shoes! i said. they're sandals! (they amount to approximately five square inches of leather.) i said no, thanks, and kept walking.

but he was persistent and followed me. 2 rupees! only 2 rupees ! he called after me. finally i could see in this poor fellow's eyes that he was desperate. i took out my wallet and gave him 10 rupees (about 0.20 u.s.) and said, i want you to have this. but he got angry and said, i am not a beggar. now if you'll please step aside and into the street, i will shine your shoes.

well, this guy was really good...because i do not have the time or patience to give in so easily. he had convinced me to allow him to shine away.

after we'd chatted a bit, i realized he had excellent english. he started to tell me that he feels that he looks like a beggar because he did not have a shoe kit, the standard for a shoeshiner. in order to be deemed shiner of shoes, you must have a kit. his english, i noticed, was remarkably good....strange for a shiner of shoes.

he asked me, do you know how much one costs?
how much? i asked.
350 rupees, he said. (that's $7, exactly.) and i cannot save enough to live on in order to buy one.

red flag, i thought. this guy is pulling on my heartstrings and probably lying. i saw it coming: he was going to ask me to buy the shoe kit. i started to imagine a scam where the shoe kit was a ploy, used again and again, between him and the 'owner' of a shop. but something told me to trust him. yes, i am crazy.

he said, didi, if you could just go with me to that shop, and buy me the box, i swear i will pay you back every rupee. my mother is a beggar, and it kills me to know she is out there begging right now.

in the meantime, the mapman came back. madam! he began again. look at THIS map! and he showed me an even bigger map of india. i flicked him away with my wrist and turned back down to my sandal-shiner. how old are you? i asked. 23, he said. i told him i'm 34 and that he could call me didi. he was just finishing up when i'd made up my mind. and surprisingly, my gold sandals looked much improved!

look, i said. next week i will be living right here, near this corner. if i come around and see you here on this corner shining shoes, we will go together to buy the shoe kit. okay? even i couldn't believe i was going to give this guy a loan.

the man had tears in his eyes. so he was either a really good actor, or i was right.

as it turns out, i told my friend about the investment i was about to make. all in the name of humanity, and kindness, and hope, i said. the world can be a better place! i'm paying it forward when i see him again.

my friend's reaction was ...somehow...not surprising.

by any chance, was this in front of the bandra mcdonald's? he asked. why? i asked. well, a guy asked me the same thing last time i was there, that's all.

two things. my shoe-shiner loan client could be lying... or telling the truth. maybe he's just been asking a lot of people over the course of the last few weeks, in hopes that he will score the shoe kit. but i think we all know the probability of this equation.

is the world made of suckers like me, to have cold hands and a warm heart, in order to provide entertainment for the gods (or the non-suckers)? why is it that as i age, and despite the number of times i've been duped, now... i'm still becoming more liberal when i'm supposed to be going further right on the political spectrum, as my dad had once assured me? is life more fulfilling to trust the bad people, too, even if only to deceive oneself?

i want to be a good person in this life, but i don't want my faith to make me that vulnerable. on a night like tonight i feel as if my coupon book for faith in humanity has just expired.