Honourable Sir
                             With due respect, I submit few lines for your kind consideration. I have 
                   come to know through reliable sources and press media that you are devoted 
                   service for the well being of human right .
                             I have poor family my childern are going to school and collage.
                             Incidentally I may submit that I have a large poor family.
                    Therefore there is no financial support for me. Please financial help me, I will 
                     not only be a great relief to a poor family but will also be a great act of charity
                     on your honour part. Iam waiting your favouable reply.

                            I reqest you pleas help me for purpose of this letter and mot disappoint me.

                                                                                               With best regards.
                                                                  contact me.
                                                                                                                       Yours faithfully,
                                                                                                                        Mrs Farzana yasmin .
                                                                                                                        C/O Khursheed Alam .
                                                                                                                        E-158/A Satelite Town,
                                                                                                                        Rawalpindi (Pakistan)
                                                                                       HarrisAlam 333@hotmail.com.                                                                                                        

True. If we were to assume that Indians did give less based on anecdotal evidence, it might be explained by the insecurities regarding money that are created in a developing country. Growing up with a stark reminder of poverty might make it harder to give away the money you have.

When the Gujarat EQ happened, we raised close to $20k in a small univ town. Most people donating were undergrads with loose change. When we organise Indian luncheons/classical art programs most people attending them are again americans. Indians are mostly absent (barely 20-30% of audience). Unless there is a calamity Indians donot donate, though they know very well that life is a disaster for these people with or without a calamity. 2. There are some Indians here who donate regularly large amounts, but they are generally older generation and have been here for a long time. 3. I thought that maybe these people are donating to other charities or are students and hence donot have enough money to donate. I have talked to some of them and that is not the case. These people drive around in cars, eat at restaurant or go to a movie everyweek, but have never given

Just look at how generously Indians help their relatives. We will keep an entire needy family under our roof until they can afford a place of their own even if it involves making our own kids suffer. But give to United Way? Sorry, we already gave at home.

I think it is this cultural bias towards the near and dear vs. the anonymous and the institutional that explains the obvious callousness of people in India to strangers. Yes, Indians would not go out of their way to help strangers but they will give the “banians” off their backs to a friend or relative. Americans, on the other hand, would dole out an equal measure of good samaritanism to a large number of strangers – but will not give all to anyone, even their next of kin.

This cultural difference was explained to me 33 years ago when I first set foot in America as a young kid, fresh off the boat – actually, an Air India flight. An Indian friend who had already lived here for a few years took me under his wings and proceeded to teach me the subtleties of friendship American style vs. what I was used to. His point was that friendship in the western sense is more about shared experiences and not necessarily about sacrifices. Having made many American friends in my 33 years in this great country, I still find his point to ring true. Incidentally, I am not being judgmental about either of the two cultures. They are what they are.

Getting back to the brown charity issue, let’s not forget the Indian custom of donating generously to temples, swamis and gurus. Just go to your nearest temple and read the long list of donors. The churches are lucky to get a few dollars from each family after the Sunday service.

One reason could be that it needs considerable effort to identify a good and honest charity in India. But that alone cannot account for the monumental apathy.

if you want to know where the money collected at many of india’s most prominent and wealthiest hindu temples and not-so-prominent ones go, just ask the indian government, which controls it. it would be interesting to see how transparent they are about what they do with every rupee collected from temples.

‘

Hmmm…. this sounds a little prescriptive to me. People should be free to donate to those groups who they feel are effective/appropriate/whatever. In the indian context, there is a need for more transparency and clarity (where is the money contributed to the local mandir going? How many people were fed last year? How many scholarships did so-and-so samaj provide?), other than that I think the community-based indic model is actually quite good.