In Sinhala, a ‘hinganna’ is a beggar or a person living solely on alms. But there is another Sinhala word and it is ‘pulanna’. It means a person, however needy, is ashamed to beg. He suffers more than a beggar. You will not find the second category on the streets or going from home to home with a begging bowl. They are the ones who would starve rather than beg.

I had to explain the two words when an airline pilot was told that the uncle who had brought him up after the untimely death of his father died a pauper. The pilot told me, "Why didn’t he ask me? He knew I was doing so well at British Airways!" The pilot also told me that he had never heard of a ‘pulanna’ before that. ‘Pulannas’ never beg.

Birds of a feather flock together and the affluent always move about with the affluent. They may see a beggar and throw a coin at him or her but ‘pulannas’ are not even in their vocabulary as illustrated by the British Airways pilot.

Certain ‘pulannas’ sell incense sticks or camphor balls near big super-markets or places of worship. Or they may go from home to home of the rich with incense sticks or camphor balls. So if you have a heart please don’t chase them away. Even if you never buy camphor balls or incense sticks be polite to them when you send them away. If you can spare a couple of rupees give it to them with a smile. Don’t frown at them. They are very sensitive. You had better keep some change in your purse without saying: "This is a cashless society. I use credit cards only."

When the Buddha said: "Poojaacha poojaneeyaanam" or give unto those who deserve, I am sure he did not mean giving unto those who already have! Or when Christ said: "Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and give unto God what it God’s" he did not mean fattening the money-making institutions erected in the name of God. The Chinese saying is: "Give like a turtle, not like a hen." When a turtle lays so many eggs it does it in the dark and even covers them and even the path with sand so that no one will know. When a hen lays a single egg it is similar to our rich mudalalis making offerings with drummers and TV lights. Everybody must know!