the last 6 weeks have been a kind of blur.
the visit to Orissa disturbed me more than i let on. i have nightmares about the place. of waking up, being stuck there with no way out. There is a part of me that shakes with fear, and there is a part of me that burns with anger – i can feel the physical burn. There is stuff that i do in mumbai that seems unreal .i really haven’t’ reconnected on a human or a social level yet.
it is not that i havent’ seen poverty. when you film in the back of beyond – you are going to see deprivation on a scale that you aren’t use to in a city but, this was on a different level. I told a friend, that for the first time I understand why Naxallism happens. And, if someone like me, who believes in non violence as a philosophy starts making excuses for violence .. then there is something fundamentally wrong.
the problem is not just with the abject levels of poverty – 72% of the state is Below Poverty Line – it is with the complete lack of hope in the eyes of those we met. Elsewhere, there was depreviation, but people generally looked forward to a better tomorrow. Governance seemed to have caught up with them. But, here was something else. there seemed to be no tomorrow, just yesterday happening over and over again. something like a perverse Ground Hog Day.
( a house that collapsed in last year’s floods. people use the stagnant pool next to it to fish)
When i came back, it took me almost a month to transfer the pictures from my camera to my hard disk. I didn’t want to see the images. It just disturbed me too much. As i am writing this post, tears are flowing down – i can’t stop them. It is not sorrow. I don’t cry when I am sad. I cry when i am hopping mad …. as i was telling someone yesterday the anger melts something in my system that gets expunged as tears.
i had a exchange of ideas with Nilu on FB on how important it was to vote… i defended the need to vote, and he had contrary views … i felt like a hypocrite … voting or lack of it hasn’t changed a shit in this state….it has in a lot of India, but not here… and, in the course of our conversation i asked myself, are you convincing him or yourself !
I would like to line up every person involved in governance in Orissa from the President downwards and get them to stay in one of these villages for a week, with no escape. The solution will crop up by itself. But for now, people are malnourished, children are emaciated, the system is corrupt, the land is rich in minerals and disaster is a cottage industry. Everyone from the Government to the aid receiver is responsible for this mess. There are people & agencies doing good work, but that kind of intervention is a drop in the ocean of deprivation.
I am not from Orissa. I have a choice insofar as going back is concerned. For a lot of people there is no escape. When i see faces like that of the boy below, , with eyes bereft of hope … i wonder what will happen ….
will there be change, or will that boy pick up a gun ?
I suppose it’s difficult to comprehend it, the why, and the why not. Both.
Who is supposed to care about the situation? I don’t know..
I love your blog…. nice photos u have there!!! I will be back. =)
In this season of Slumdog, sometimes poverty seems to have got a newfangled look, and the red-carpet celebration surrounding it can easily become so shallow as to lose the purpose wholesomely…
Saying those images were just ‘touching’ won’t suffice.
Nice post.
I loved the last pic, of the boy. His eyes indeed shone like all childrens’ do; but not with hope – with anger, with uncertainty, and negativity….
Yes, we do have a very limited perspective of poverty!
And as far as you undestanding Naxalism goes, very ttrue, when you chane your perspective, you do begin to see that something you’ve been completely disapproving for all your lives may really be unavoidable…it’s happened with me too!
@ Anil — well said… it is the sheer magnitude of the problem. and, the problem is not just the Government … it is also the people not demanding action or being happy with dole outs post a crisis 🙁
@ Sohini – i care. and i can do something and i will 🙂 that is all that matters – the rest of the world can continue in their state of suspended animation for all i care 🙂
@egg tart – thankyou
@A – we keep looking at the bolly/holly woodification of poverty … we don’t realise that the coolie does not marry into the owner’s family. that for most people poverty is passed on to the next generation. and the media is also to blame. we want such glossy and happy images that we don’t look at this. And, one day it is going to come back and bite us on the butt 🙁
@ amruta – that boy’s picture gives me nightmares…. and those in orissa tell me that a few hundred km’s up north – outside Kolkotta – WB is worse 🙁
The picture shown here is the reality, not only of Orissa but most of the states in India. The only solution I can think of is removal of corruption. If the plans approved and the funds coming from different source since independence would have used properly, the states could be in a better position. But what to do the corruption is there everywhere. We are used to compromise everywhere, and a counted number of goverment officials take and some agents take all the benefit.
That way as you said naxallism can be a good solution, as long as, the ppl involved are
1) honest and are stick to their principles
That is if you started your organization with good principles, never compromise with it. Which is very hard, as you get power/money everything goes to backstage. Then starts the extortion.
2) Change the system, and do not harass the ppl only because they are wealthy. It is not compulsory that all wealthy ppl are bad, they have worked hard, or are born with them. that is not their fault.
3) Take the person you think is bad in to custody, talk to him abt the bad things he do. If he is not able to convince his goodness, force him, to take care of 20 poor ppl. In that you can reach your destination very fast.
4) Let the lands be used properly. Since 10 years the lands are barren and prices are increasing like anything. very soon we will have everything except food. And the ppl who get food from daily work are left with no option, as everybody is not smart enough to be a naxallite or leave their place.
By honest means just remove corruption, and everything will be fine.