Wednesday, January 17, 2007


Ive often wondered about poverty...or rather... about being poor.of being deprived of what i thought was basic non material comforts.Ive thought of them with the innocence of a 9 year old,I've tried to find answers to poverty with the passion of a 13 year old.i found poverty colorful when i fell in love with O'Henry at the age of 17.... and i was repulsed by it all when as a 19 year old... i thought i couldnt get any wiser.

And the Nithari case makes me think again.

What are the parameters of being able to be a part of the rich,affluent and elite??What are the criteria for being albe to fit into the groove of upper middle class... or lower middle class.

What is a slum?Does a colony or society or a bong para consisting of a cluster of bunglows with various levels of maintainence and assorted scraps of lawns seem like a slum of sorts.

What would it be like to have a lifestyle which is a product of improvisation?What do they eat when they have "nothing to eat"?And what type of medical help can they avail of?Can a father walk into a bank and apply for an educational loan of "rupees seventy only" when he cant pay his childs school fees some month?Against what....?His 8 ft by 8 ft shack with a tin and tile roof....???
How ironical is it that they are expected to have a voters id card as proof of id ?Why mock at their disadvantage and expect such documents from them when they are denied basic recognition for being human beings??

How come the police can be nonchalent towards one distraught parent,but will return another child to his "affluent" home?
How come we are so biased that we think that missing children and runaway daughters or wives can only be products of bad parenting or unhappy marriages?What about celebrity sons and daughters who are victims of drug and alcohol abuse or can run another man down with his car,or can abuse someone less fortunate... or whatever.
Not that visiting politicians made a difference....but the stubborn refusal to even attempt to express sympathy WAS surprising.

We proudly call ourselves "society".We make and modify the rules to make "socially acceptable norms".Yet we fail to ensure social security to those who are not a part of mainstream society.

We shrug and say "UP Police".And it was the UP Police who displayed such moral backbone when they harassed young people who were in love and thus held hands.

Where does this leave me?If i dont have a flashy car or the laptop that ive been wanting for some time....am i poor?
If i dont get complementary passes or an invitaion to the latest do in the city .... am i poor??
If i go to the police when i need to..... will they see me as poor??and thus turn me away??
If i wasnt able to speak english,and be a sample of "Good schooling from reputed institutions",would i have been poor???
If i was a criminal ....would i have to be poor??
And so what if i was poor.???

i dont know enough sociology or economics or any other subject to be able to use technical terms or offer a seeminlgy scientific explanation for what could be natural phenomena...
Im just DISGUSTED... that policemen.politicians and the other leaders of our country are so....natually inhuman.

and this has no conclusion,or a result to the "Probe".....
just condolonces to the parents,and a prayer for the children