Friday, March 19, 2010

Relish - 55 Fiction

Note:- 55 Fiction infers to fictional writings bounded to a maximum of fifty-five words.

 Relish

They would have rice only once a month.....

I was there with them on one such occasion.....

They served rice on sal leaves with salt and chilli powder.....

I was anxious enough to ask what I should have the rice with.....

One of them told me humbly, " Mix it with the hunger in your stomach".
 
PS : 
1. The dark side of India's economic growth has been that the excluded social groups have been further marginalised, compounding their hunger, malnutrition and even leading to starvation deaths
2.  India is failing its rural poor with 230 million people being undernourished — the highest for any country in the world. Malnutrition accounts for nearly 50% of child deaths in India.

13 comments:

Rachana Shakyawar said...

@ Mahesh

Very truly depicted the harsh irony of the Truth prevailing in the Society!

Yet sometimes my brain also rings high with such echo questions and with absent answers!


Truly feel bad..and worst thinking about such things...this is no practical to be solved..or philosophy to be hummed...but a fact..to dare and deal over!

I reuse my food from the freeze instead of throwing...do not leave as far as possible from my dish and ask the same from the people around me..This is all I can contribute to that kid...!

...Perhaps to your post!

Bwt: Love the churn you give to my fluttering thoughts through such posts!

U definitely..
~Keep the Spark Alive..

Mahesh Aadhya Kalal said...

@ Rachana....

Wow....thats a great response from a responsible and compassionate person.
Yea, we are in the mad phase of so called development at the cost of millions of hunger deaths and starvations....
I hope everyone will follow your act of food optimisation.
Giving a que to someone's thoughts through my blog gives me immense satiation ....
Thanks for everything :)

Elated cheers :)

Shilpa Garg said...

Ouch! That was a solid punch! Very hard hitting! Sad state for many! :(

Nethra said...

The pictures projects more agony than the story. :(
Anyway, nice story. Very touchy concept.

Raghav said...

The Superlatives:
• One of the fastest growing economies of the world
• One of the most sought after markets of the world
• India ranks Second worldwide in farm output
• India accounts for 10% of the world fruit production with first rank in the production of banana and sapota (chiku)
• India has the world's largest cattle population
• India is the second largest producer of wheat, rice, sugar, groundnut and inland fish.
• Largest total freshwater withdrawal
• Largest area of irrigated land

The Irony:

• Largest number of hungry people in the world
• 1 in 3 of the worlds malnourished children lives in India
• 50% of childhood deaths are attributed to malnutrition
• 30 million Indian women are anemic or severely malnourished
• Half of children in India are underweight, one of the highest rates in the world and nearly double the rate of Sub-Saharan Africa.
• India has 217 millions who are Undernourished
• India contributes to about 5.6 million child deaths every year, more than half the world's total.
• Half of children in India are underweight, one of the highest rates in the world and nearly double the rate of Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Home to one-third of the world's under-nourished children

It is alarming to know that our population is growing faster than its ability to produce rice and wheat and the Damage due to malnutrition is largely irreversible or permanent.

Wasting food is sin and for those who do not believe in sins and other karma concepts it’s a crime.

Mahesh Aadhya Kalal said...

@ Raghava....
Thanks a lot for such a stupendous, substantial, and remarkable feedback which did complement the comprehensiveness of the post in a more detailed manner......
Great compilations and it is quite alarming to read these disturbing numbers since years......
I guess what all we are doing is Reading, writing blogs....

Anyways, thanks again buddy :)

Mahesh Aadhya Kalal said...

@ Shilpa Garg...
Thanks for the response.
Yes, sad state for many and my concern is," Who is the culprit?"

@ Nethra....
You discovered it...... I wrote the 55ier inspired by that pic and u r correct in saying that the pic says more than the post :). Thanks for the pat :)

BK Chowla, said...

Very thought provoking.We will understand your post only the day we stop talking of growth in terms of Sensex and GDP.

Er. said...

Powerful; strong. Even after being a 55 fiction, leaves such an impact!

Mix it with the hunger in your stomach

=D>

Tavish Chadha(sensible-bakwas.com) said...

that was an awesome FFer Mahesh... u need regular doses of such stories to remind us that India is still not shinning, no matter huch we fool ourselves. Good job buddy!

Cheers!
Tavish
Blog link: Sensible Bakwas

Sh@s said...

Very sensitively u hav brought out the pain n irony of life of the deprived people. Your last line brings out the irony..."mix it with the hunger in ur stomach"...its so true for them.

Kudos 2u for writing on such issues..

Parth J Dave said...

This is a hard-hitting 55er.. I never knew 55 Fiction could be so non-fictional..

I really liked the line - "Mix it with the hunger in your stomach". It speaks volumes about how people in our country are dying of starvation...

geeta said...

It's a hard core reality...The great piece of research done by RAGHAV brings out the minute details..They are alarming...I too believe wasting even a grain of food is a sin..
You have hit the bulls eye buddy...

Keep going..