This post comes after reading Nita's blog on this topic. According to her,
Blog Action Day 2008 (15th October 2008) - an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day.
So here are my two cents' worth on Poverty.
I have never been poor. I have never had friends who were poor. But I have seen poverty around me. In ways that might not impart the experiences of living poor. I have seen that the maid who worked in our house for 20 years was really poor and could not afford to send her kids to school. Her children worked with her and made whatever money they could. I have seen poverty in the umpteen slums around my posh apartment in Kandivali, Mumbai. I could see the slums and the goings on there from my 8th floor apartment window. Half clad children playing near the gutter, women fetching water from municipal taps, unsanitary conditions all around. It used to make me sad, and guilty, but I confess, I did not try to do anything about it. I guess most of us are like me. Its easy to close our eyes and imagine that poverty does not exist.
Posts
Yes it is true, most of us do either nothing or hardly anything about poverty around us.
ReplyDeletePoverty in India is just something we grow up seeing, and is just a part of our everyday life.
IHM you are right. I have not been to india for 2 and a half years now and I now think if I would react to the poverty when I go back to India.
ReplyDeleteMaybe. Maybe not. Is there something people like us, who are not ready to totally give up our lifestyle but still want to help, can do? (I sound like a heartless jerk here)
Oh yeah...we've gotten so used to poverty it doesn't seem to move us anymore - a truly sad reflection on those of us who think we're 'evolved' beings....
ReplyDeleteNice post - adding you to the list of blogs I follow.
C
corinne - thanks a lot for the honor! Your blog is really thought-provoking.
ReplyDelete