What’s a rupee worth? Not much, it appears. Give even beggars a rupee and they could toss it back as a passenger learnt at the Tambaram railway station on Thursday.
Accosted by a drunk beggar, he dipped into his pocket and pulled out a rupee, but to his surprise the man with the tattered clothes and dirty hands, told him to keep it and walked away with a swagger.
The next day was no different. As this correspondent watched the beggar was again on his rupee bashing spree at the Tambaram station.
Anyone offering him one rupee or two found the money returned. They got a earful too and if they didn’t know how costly living was in Tambaram when compared to Chengalpattu and Villupuram towns they certainly learnt about it from him.
“Tambaram is now a city and one rupee will not buy you anything here. You take this rupee and have a good day. Next time don’t give me less than five rupees,” the beggar told a young couple chit chatting at the station, who didn’t know whether to laugh or be affronted. It was the same with a woman passenger who gave him two rupees. To her surprise the coin was returned as the beggar went off in search of more “generosity.”