Black and White

I am back in Mumbai again.
But now I see everything in black and white.
Everyday, I will pass by these shanties going to the office. I, inside the air-conditioned vehicle with the driver asking me if the temperature of the AC is ok.
Them, outside their makeshift houses made of sack cloths and medium-sized twigs gathered from the garbage dumps across the Bandra-Kurla complex office buildings.

There seems to be no color as I look out the window. It's like I'm watching a silent film with kids running around naked while the mother is cooking something in an overused pot over an impromptu stove. There are also babies sleeping outside their three-feet hut with newspapers as blankets. If you try to look across the lot, you will see solitary figures heeding nature's call. If you again look at them walking around their tent-like houses, you will see their eyes. Their eyes are the ones doing the talking. And these eyes are telling me that there's nobody asking them if they have enough food for the day. Nobody cares if the meager food they have satisfies their empty stomach. No one gives a thought if they will survive another day.

I remembered a conversation with one of the locals and it seems that most of the people here share the same sentiments. They don't really care if floods wash away the slums. It's really no big deal to them if thousands die because of HIV. They just look at it as a means of reducing India's population.

Then I think, are we like them when we look at the railroad shanties in Manila? Are we apathetic to the conditions of the people living in the squatters' area?

If you have had your heart broken before, think about that feeling. That's exactly how I feel everytime I look at them and do nothing, hopeless and powerless...

But as with all things in life, I know there's hope (remember Hope, Despair and Memory by Elie Wiesel)...so here's hope for us:

__________

Philippine News, June 14, 2006:The poverty alleviation programs seem to be taking hold, with extreme poverty levels sliding from 33 percent of the population in the year 2000, to 30 percent today.Three percent may seem meager, but where the Philippines is concerned, this translates to some 1.6 million Filipinos who are now able to take care of their basic requirements, which they were not able to do six years ago.By definition, 30 percent of the population are unable to earn the equivalent of $0.68 a day, with which to buy 3.3 pounds of the Asian staple food of rice. The World Bank also says that 40 percent of Filipinos survive on $2 a day or less.
__________

It's amazing how being in another country awakens you to the plight of your own country and inspires you to do something.
I hope that when I go home, I will no longer view things in black and white.
(And I will never forget to count my blessings before I sleep).