Last Friday papa came back from attending one week Flight Safety seminar in Singapore. Perhaps he thought that I might have fed his children poorly while he was away, so he drove us all to Uptown Damansara for dinner.
Actually we were not that hungry but glutton me ordered kerang rebus, sotong kangkung and rojak buah (all free cholesterol but not cholesterol free!!). Dilla had koayteow goreng , Imran ordered stake and both papa and Ikram decided on good old nasi goreng.
As we were about to dig on the food, an old man, wearing kopiah, the age of my late father before he passed away, appeared out of nowhere.
Pakcik: Assalamualaikum tuan, puan..
mama: Waalaikumsalam pakcik!
Pakcik:Puan, pakcik nak minta sedekah RM2, pakcik lapar nak makan nasi lemak.
Papa: Pakcik nak makan apa, pakcik order nanti saya bayarkan..
Pakcik: .....reluctant...
papa tak pasal2 nak create a scene dengan pakcik ni pulak dah!!!
mama: ...(Take out RM**), nah pakcik, saya sedekah kerana Allah....
Pakcik: Terima kasih, puan.
The pakcik disappeared.
Papa told me there is a syndicate in the area carried out by a group of people who take advantage of our generousity. They make use of starved looking children and scruffy old man to solicit money and the mastermind is just somewhere around the corner observing all the activities. For all you know, you are the 10th person being fleeced tonight.
mama: The poor pakcik most probably would prefer to spend his time with his family, or in a surau waiting for Isyak, rather than begging money for food. Biarlah papa. Kalau dia nak tipu mama, it's between him and God. and sedekah mama is between me and my God!..
Wallahuwa'lam.
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1 comment:
One of my Sis-in-law adopted the same technique with the budak-budak/women yang datang kat rumah mintak sedekah. They usually look like Rohingyas. Instead of giving them money, she fed them right at the front door - bagi makan, minum, snacks. You never know if the money will land in some unscrupulous person's hand.
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