I Think – About Hunger

The images of pot-bellied children and empty plates, refugee camps and children devouring over-cooked cereal, diluted to add quantity are not uncommon. Newspapers and television channels are full of such pictures and programs are devoted to the tragedy. The photographs make it to international competitions for photography too.

I ask – FROM WHERE HAS THIS KIND OF SCARCITY CREPT IN? AND, HOW?

When there is so much of agricultural surplus being targeted, can't we provide for people deprived of grain on account of famine and drought?

How is it that feasts are spread out at every meal on some tables and these brothers sleep hungry?

We keep harping over the world becoming a global village, is this village so big that places like Rwanda and Malawi can't be accessed in time?

Are we so obsessed with hoarding that sharing a little grain becomes difficult?

COME ON...SOMETHING IS WRONG SOMEWHERE.

Governments of the world have a public outreach program in place for victims of calamities -then what is going wrong? Where is all that monetary support they beg for going?

It is so disturbing to see cameras zoom in and out of the under-nourished, dying faces, and highlighting men and women with a blank look – victims of the catastrophe. Governments make it compulsory for us to pay a certain tax and levy charges for this that and the other.

WHY CAN'T IT BE MADE MANDATORY FOR EACH HOME TO OFFER AT LEAST A FISTFUL OF GRAIN, ANY GRAIN, A DAY (AS SMALL AS YOU WOULD WANT IT TO BE), TO BE SENT TO SUCH BROTHERS?

We need to collectively address this very important issue. I may have the will and the grain at home, but I don't have the funds to aid the transportation. Please let's get together and do something worthwhile.

THEY ARE NOT CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD!

I don't think there would be a single person on the planet who would not want to be a part of the endeavor. I appeal to all these organizations that send representatives around for monetary donations, with fixed amounts set for contributions, to be more sensitive and do the work we believe they are dedicated to.

THESE ARE OUR PEOPLE. Please don't behave like they are being punished for some reason and way beyond our reach.

Or...

Let's just stop talking about equality and fraternity and bury justice and integrity.

Victims of hunger and poor health conditions are from the family. Our family. We cannot oust them and offer verbal condolences and quote them as examples. Our children are watching us. Insensitivity will replace discrimination and selfishness will substitute the concept of humane. Instead of emptying dictionaries to address global audiences on environmental pollution or world politics, let's share a scoop of rice and make a difference.

'FOOD FOR ALL' IS A HUMAN RIGHT'.

I APPEAL.

There is enough for everyone
To feed upon and garner health
To bask in the warmth of the sun
Abandoning insensitivity and stealth.

Take on just one more daughter
Provide for one more son
Then, there will be no slaughter
For want of food or shun.