Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Confrontation with Poverty!!!

Well…….this is my first post here……..hmm…I don’t know why I wanted to start blogging..but then yea….I did….Looking around, I realize that so many of us are so involved with our own lives, that we fail to realize how fortunate we have been….I don’t say this randomly…the realization came to me in a very harsh manner- after a 10 day NSS Camp that I had gone for in my first year of Graduation. We had been to this place which was about 12 Km. uphill from Umar Gaon …it was somewhere near Palenkhet…….the sound of ‘Palenkhet’ rings a bell huh? ….well for all the ’Raja Hindustani fans….it is a place blessed with natures ravishing beauty and so on ….but I guess I saw a very different side ……The place was Poverty Personified! People did not have clothes to wear……a woman walking topless that too in a country like India!!...

The incident that really shook me hard was when I got to know what these people did to satisfy their Hunger….one morning during lunch I happened to be talking to a few children out here and distributing biscuits……the same night during dinner….when I handed over a few peppermints to one of those small boys…..that chap threw it back at me and when I reprimanded him for that…….he retaliated with a hurl of abuses ( of which I am sure he did not know the meaning)..I was obviously taken aback….a guide who happened to be around told me then…..that because of shortage of food and inability to afford food, the parents used to feed these kids with ‘TAADI’ – local liquor , which used to give them a temporary relief from hunger……and when the hangover went off ,these kids used to suffer even more……I got to know the reason behind the behaviour of the little boy who was just nine!!!!
The young girls out there were too shy to even look straight into the eye and make a conversation …..I presume they were deprived of education as well as there were no schools around ………..This shows a real pitiable and a sorry state of affairs in our country……..the worst part being that not too many people are not even aware of these things happening….Our political leaders keep coming and going,……but I do not see any improvement…The onus now is on us…….to do something!!

1 comment:

babul said...

being a part of the same group i standby with yur thought compltly. it was very touching and hard to stair and think 'how ppl lives here'....proverty was below the line...........if such is condition in state like MAHARAHSTRA wch terms as highest in collecting revenue thn how about OTHERS......CONDITION IS MORE POORER THAN OUR IMAGINATION IN OUR COUNTRY...SAD