A self respecting artist

A self respecting artist...
He sat there on the cold pavement. Barely in his teens and bare in his vest—deftly holding a pen in his mouth and outlining on a cheap A4 sheet. His legs—or what was left of them—stumps stretched out before him, his crutches beside. Another intelligent beggar boy making the most of his disability to make an earning by the roadside, I thought as I passed him by at first without much notice. I was in a rush to explore the spirit of Kathmandu on my first day in the city after 30 years.
On my return that evening he was there still, the painting however complete and by his side, surrounded by passersby. This time I stopped to read the handwritten notice below his painting begun that morning. Now complete and ready beside him with several others. I stopped to read it...and thus it read: Namaste. My name is Anand Kumar Paswan. I am 15 years old and I have no hands and one foot since birth. I make paintings here every morning and auction them in the evening. The money thus collected goes towards my school fee and living....”
Before I knew it the “auction” had started. Tourists passing by stopped too like me—most , like me, out of curiosity. At the end of the day, as the daylight faded, Anand had sold all his paintings for the day. He beckoned an auto, stood up without help on his crutches and made his way home, his pastels and day’s earnings collected in his bag. A wide smile on his lips...
The next day he was there again...on that cold pavement...making the outline of another painting... starting another day—hopeful, resilient, optimistic! In more ways than one he summed up the spirit of Kathmandu for me—proud, resilient and optimistic! Today and always!