To give or not to give

India is one of the most quickly developing countries of the world, but there is still so much poverty here. You see it when you walk on the streets and have to step over the people who use the hard concrete as their bed. You see it in their frail little bodies that show how little they have to eat. And you see it from the faces of the beautiful, dirty little children who follow you around, begging for a "baksheesh".

As many of you know, I'm politically very right wing in many respects, especially on the topic of charity. I firmly believe in getting people to help themselves, rather than just giving handouts. However, that logic works more in Canada where there is opportunity to work, make money, and slowly become more comfortable financially. I'm not sure how it works in India. I just know that I am constantly approached by children and adults. My Lonely Planet guidebook writes that many Indians request that tourists not give money or sweets to begging children because it just encourages them to beg, and rather to donate to local charities. I will be doing that before I leave. But I still find it really difficult to say no to the children in the meantime. They approach me because I am a tourist and presumably rich and impressionable. When I walk on the street, some of them follow me for a few minutes, pleading and gesturing that they want money for food. One little boy got on the train that I was on and spent more than 5 minutes begging from me, kissing my feet, touching my arm, nearly crying. I don't know how to deal with this.

I have given food and money to them, but I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do and am thinking of stopping it. For the first part, there are so many of them. On the train, at least 20 kids approached me. Plus, there is that warning in my guidebook. But I'm not sure if I'm just using that as an excuse because I'm really a heartless bitch, or if it is something that I should follow because it's actually true. I honestly don't know what to do. So, if any of you reading this have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. In the meantime, I guess I just have to hope that capitalism will continue to work its magic here and that the standard of living will continue to increase.