How Rich NRIs Ended Up As Beggars on Hyderabad Streets

Hyderabad: Rags to riches is a beaten plot for movies. It's reversed for a change and Telugu flick Bicchagadu with riches to rags story line was a super duper hit too. Don't write it off as a reel plot. Here are similar real life stories - and, the reality, as always, is stranger than fiction.

A jail department official, while clearing beggars off the roads in view of US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump's visit to the city, came across some startling facts about a few beggars. Farzona, 50, who was caught begging near Langer Houz on November 11, has an MBA and worked as an accounts officer in London.

Her flashback was recounted at Anand Ashram, a shelter for beggars that is run by the prisons department within the Cherlapalli Central Prison.

The Ashram in-charge K. Arjun Rao, superintendent of the Cherlapalli open-air jail, said “For the past two years, she has been facing hurdles in her life. She lost her husband and was staying with her son, an architect, and his family, in Anandbagh. She went to a godman seeking a remedy for the impediments she was facing in her job and personal life. He asked her to become a beggar to overturn her ill luck. We released her after her son submitted an affidavit,” he said.

Sounds familiar? Yeah, with a little twist of course! In Bicchagadu, the son turns a beggar for the recovery of his ailing mother following the advice of a Baba.

The staff of Anand Ashram said that during her stay there, other inmates of the Ashram would call Farzona “madam”. “When we tried to talk to her, she was able to reply in fluent English,” an inmate said.

The story of Rabiya Baseera, 44, is equally unusual. Fate forced this US green card holder who worked in America for years. She is now a beggar at a dargah in the city.

Arjun Rao said that Baseera’s fate ended thus after being cheated by her relatives. “She speaks fluent English and her story brought tears to our eyes. She was well-settled and owned properties in the city. But a few of her relatives snatched away her wealth. After she was caught begging, some of her relatives gave us a declaration that they would take care of her and took her with them,” he said.

Thanks to Ivanka's visit, the beggar menace seems to have disappeared on Hyderabad roads, at least for sometime. Let's hope the government come up with permanent rehabilitation measures for these beggars.