"Khaabaar [food]? Chips? Paani? Please?" she said. She later introduced herself as Malia, and this moment would be her first not-scavenged-from-trash-piles meal consumed all week. What was more disturbing than that was what she proceeded to say, following her request: "Doya kore, I will give anything."
Anything - it's a level of desperation that, if she approached the wrong person, would likely lead her to be sexually abused. Over 50% of India's children are taken advantage of. Malia is just one of the 500 million children in India. In her world, one in every three children of the 500 million live in poverty. I come from a different land - my third of the world is battling obesity and spending huge sums to burn off excess calories. Malia's world, the other two-thirds of this Earth, yearns to get more of them. Why is it that the only time she tasted kulfi was when newspaper photographers came to visit? Why is it that in Malia's world, living a decent life is getting lucky enough to scrape out a half-eaten bhatura from the dumpster, barely escaping the wrath of the slumlord you refused to strip down for in order to have a drink of clean water, and evading the outbreak of malaria in your village?
I love India, but becoming attached to a country involves pressing, uncomfortable questions about justice and opportunity for its least powerful citizens. Questions that very few people are willing to address, let alone ask.
Anything - it's a level of desperation that, if she approached the wrong person, would likely lead her to be sexually abused. Over 50% of India's children are taken advantage of. Malia is just one of the 500 million children in India. In her world, one in every three children of the 500 million live in poverty. I come from a different land - my third of the world is battling obesity and spending huge sums to burn off excess calories. Malia's world, the other two-thirds of this Earth, yearns to get more of them. Why is it that the only time she tasted kulfi was when newspaper photographers came to visit? Why is it that in Malia's world, living a decent life is getting lucky enough to scrape out a half-eaten bhatura from the dumpster, barely escaping the wrath of the slumlord you refused to strip down for in order to have a drink of clean water, and evading the outbreak of malaria in your village?
I love India, but becoming attached to a country involves pressing, uncomfortable questions about justice and opportunity for its least powerful citizens. Questions that very few people are willing to address, let alone ask.
It might be depressing, but it's also the truth that no one has the power, the money, or the resources to save everyone in India from going hungry, living in poverty or allowed basic human rights. Even still, I like to consider the other side of this: there are people in this world who really would do all of these things for everyone if only they could. So, there is hope after all.
Source: Humans Of India
No comments:
Post a Comment