Hello, where you from?

I am now becoming accustomed to the Sri Lankan greeting, wherever you go you will be stopped by local people with these words...
"Hello"
"Hello" I answer
"Where you from?"
"South Africa" I reply, which always throws them as there is not many South Africans who visit the island, and so they are expecting to hear an European country or the USA which they know about or have a planned answer.
"Beautiful country" they respond buying themselves time as they try to think what they know about South Africa.
"Thank you" I quickly respond, and add "so is Sri Lanka"
"Kallis" they blurt out, referring to the South African cricketer, pleased with themselves that they now know something to continue the conversation, "de Villiers and Pollack" a few more names from their favorite sport. And we go into a conversation about all the players they like and can remember, then we go into the, how long you in Sri Lanka for and where have you been.



Then they either have something to sell or would like to help you in exchange for a donation for their favorite charity themselves, in the more touristy areas some now even drop the pleasantries to go straight to the point "money" they say while holding out their hand.

They see foreigners as being rich enough to just hand out money, to every person they meet, I find it hard sometimes not taking it personal by the 20th time you are asked in a single day. The thing that makes it frustrating is that it is not only the poor jobless people doing it, I'm stopped by policemen, army officers, train drivers, businessman and anyone with a grasp of English, I have traveled to many places and a number of them poorer than Sri Lanka, it's the automatism of the questioning that intrigues me, are they taught it somewhere.

Over the next couple of months I hope to understand it better, the mentality that lowers a persons integrity into asking for charity from another person even if they don't desperately need it, but only believe that if they ask enough people someone will give them something, and if you say know the disappointment does not linger long.

Human behavior is something that really intrigues me and the philosophy that everything we know we learn through our passage through time that is passed along through history, how will they overcome this idea that things should be handed out in the long run and where does it come from?.

It makes me think of the old Chinese proverb "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." as more tourist visit the island they could be learning how best to interact with them and this would help them in the long run, as they say knowledge is power.