Not Just Words: Seeing Poverty The Way It Is (And Actually Seeing It)

Photo by Dulana Kodithuwakku on Unsplash

Poverty. It is a word that we get used to because it is the biggest divide across societies around the world. It is a comfort and a solace to know that we are on the side of the divide that is not mired in hopelessness and misery, and that we have the means and resources to not have to cross over. Granted, there are multiple so-called lines that define varying levels of poverty and hence the other side is not homogeneous. But we know that we are away from all of those lines, and we do our best to maintain and grow our distance from them.

Yes, it does get more real depending on where we live. In most 3rd world countries, there is a fog of poverty that envelops and hangs in the air, much like the pollution, as people go around doing their business, desensitized by its sight and sound. In 1st world countries, there is a greater isolation between the two worlds but the overall picture is the same. But how does poverty really look and feel like?

As a background, I spent the first 20 odd years of my life in India — of the 70s, 80s and early 90s. Much of it was in a city that was once the capital of the British Empire in India and subsequently witnessed one of history’s greatest famines (not a coincidence), and further absorbed an unprecedented flow of refugees (both my parents’ families fell in this…