Every morning, as I made my way to college, I would wait for my friend Aksha at Tedhi Puliya. Aksha would swing by on her scooty, and together we would head to class. I usually arrived a good five to ten minutes before her.

One day, as I stood by the roadside waiting for Aksha, I noticed a tiny child, barely two years old, toddling about. He had just learned to walk, it seemed, and his unsteady steps were adorable. The child was slightly dirty, not wearing slippers, and looked like he might belong to one of the passengers at the nearby bus stop.

Instinctively, I reached for my phone, wanting to capture the pure, untainted joy of his moments. However, something about the scene began to shift. When he saw that I was watching him, he started smiling and repeatedly approaching me, extending his little hand as if asking for something, then retreating and coming back again. His antics were endearing, but there was something unsettling beneath his cuteness. The boy, noticing my interest, started coming closer, extending his tiny hand towards me before retreating shyly, only to repeat the gesture. At first, I took it as fun but later realized he wanted something.

An elderly woman approached me and said, "Kuch mang raha hai," meaning "He is asking for something." As I looked closer, I realized she was a beggar. When I asked how she knew, a group of beggars emerged, consisting of three girls around eight or nine years old, another girl about eighteen or...