poverty-1

Recently read "माणसं" by Anil Avachat, and was very upset to realise my own lack of truth.
I have till now always said, “what’s great in earning money, if you have a “common sense” you can, not in lacks, but at least for your bread and butter !” but friends, I have became conscious that it is what I say, I who, stays in a proper shelter, have food to eat, clothes to wrap on, and being nominally educated, born and brought up in this “mayanagari”
But this can’t be same for those who come to the cities like Pune and Mumbai from some ‘unknown’ (for us) corners of this state or even country as famine stricken.

Until reading that book, for me, “prostitution" was the extreme bottom of poverty, but friends, it's not!
There exist a population of people where even prostitution is not possible, even it is wished for money, because the women don’t have their stomach filled, haven’t washed their hair from years, wearing same clothes from months and no bath for them !!

When writer was interacting with some people in slums, he asked one of those,’why you people do not even support the activists, who try for your welfare?’
That poor fellow countered,” sir, you are great, great people, and can fight till the end but we are ordinary ones, when our children cry for food, we can’t think of fights and marches. What matters more to us is to feed our children by hook or by crook, that time, so we don’t even mind robbery.”
That it is..
We people talk of so-called “intellectual’ life to lead!
Nevertheless, how can this (scholarly art, dance, music, and even humanity) appear when your stomach is empty?

Basically, the book is intended to introduce you to labourer’s life, but while reading, any sensitive human being goes beyond it.

IT IS GOING TO BE A SERIES OF POSTS ON THE SAME TOPIC, I WILL BE HAPPY TO RECEIVE SOME "FACTS" FROM READERS TOO, YOUR EXPERIENCES, OBSERVATIONS, THOUGHTS AND IDEAS !!!