Monday, November 19, 2007

Poorest Person in the World?

Since the past few weeks the Indian media is abuzz with the list of the financially "richest" people in the world. The booming stock markets have a role to play in this as well... Details and breakup of their wealth has been published and a lot of space has been devoted to articles covering the news.

We all know who these people are (nothing against them, they have given a lot to the world), some of us may also remember the entire list and personal wealth of the top 100 "richest". Thousands (if not millions) of dollars are spent each year in counting and tracking their wealth.

Reading these again and again made me feel hollow inside. How many of us know the name of the poorest person in the world? Or for that matter how many of us even remember the number of poor people we have seen in our lifetime? I do not...

Why do poor people never occupy the news? Some say it is "disturbing"... some tend to ignore them... many others take advantage of them... and I just sit and feel bad about it all...

It reminds me of Gandhiji's Talisman which occupied the inside covers of all NCERT books in my school days. Maybe, some day I will be able to use it:
"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."

- Mahatma Gandhi

2 comments:

Everymatter said...

you have written on a very nice topic and it is a big question that why poor names not comes anywhere.

I have also read the Gandhiji mantra and found it very true.

Keep it Up.

Tanuj said...

I must say it depends on the media you follow. I would suggest you couple of magazines and news paper.

In India The Hindu is ok types. Still gives good perspective on different issues around India and world. Apart from that rest of news paper runs on propaganda they can create.
They have frontline magazine which is pretty good and serious. One magazine that I found really good and some of the articles are available online is Le Mode Diplomatique English edition. You can search on google and you will find it. Though most of the articles are charged, still some are available to read.