Whats Really Going On?

My friend first and driver second, Ferroz has taught me much about life and India. He has a smile as wide and bright as the sunrise over the ocean. Whenever that smiles shines into my eyes it washes all the anger and frustration away that has accumulated like a hug from a child. Recently, we were at a stop light and Ferroz rolled down his window and gave a beggar some money (this from a man who has never been to a movie, which will not be the case in a few days). I asked him why he gave money to the beggar and told him about my stance on the topic. He said to me emphatically, that god is everything, aka Mashala in the Muslim faith and that it was his duty to help others in situations that less optimal than his own.
These beggars show up outside of stores or at your car window in many shapes and sizes. I will spare you the pictures, but assure you they are hard to forget .The images haunt my memory like lost loves...
A blind women; eyeballs gone, guided with her hands on the shoulders of a young boy in front of her, a barely teenaged mother holding a malnourished baby begging for money with motions of her hand to her and child’s mouth repeatedly, men on boards with office chair like wheels missing limbs and shuffling between the high-rises of cars….I imagine that you get the picture. I have seen and had profound experiences with these types of people in my past travels and my stance up until now has been to not give them money as I thought it reinforced in-appropriate behavior. Is it inappropriate to ask for money to sustain your livelihood? Or was that just my justification so I could turn away and not have to absorb these haunting images?