Mother of all evils – Hunger

As my readers know, I closely follow Urdu press and this includes publications originating from our neighbouring country too that’s currently facing political turmoil.

Yesterday I read two interesting things in Urdu press that very pointedly highlighted that problems of politics are not necessarily what bother ordinary citizens and as usual both the pieces are full of irony and bitter truth. The first one a couplet read:

समझते हैं कहाँ बारीक चालें

हमें आतीं हैं बातें मोटी मोटी

सियासी चक्करों में क्या पड़े हम

हमारा मसला है दाल रोटी!

The above is loosely translatable as:

We don’t understand finer nuances

We only see the big picture

Why waste time political bickering

Our issue is simple hunger!

The other is a piece by Sadat Hasan Manto that also needs to be first quoted ad verbatim and then translated. It says:

दुनिया में जितनाी लानतें हैं, भूख उनकी माँ है – भूख गदागरी सिखाती है। भूख जरायम की तरगीब देती है । भूख अस्मत फरोशी पर मजबूर करती है । भूख इंतहापसंदी का सबक़ देती है । इसका हमला बहुत शदीद, वार बहुत भरपूर और ज़ख़्म बहुत गहरा होता है । भूख दीवाने पैदा करती – दीवानगी भूख पैदा नहीं करती!

Hunger is the worst of all the evils – it teaches begging. It tilts one towards crimes. It forces one to sell his/her honour. It gives lessons in extremism. It’s attack is most severe, onslaught most powerful and wound extremely deep. Hunger leads to obsession – obsession doesn’t lead to hunger!

Isn’t the message loud and clear. Satisfaction of hunger is the key to socio economic problems and the issues that make the headlines in media are tertiary – not even secondary. Along with hunger, I will add education also. If we can satisfy hunger and educate our masses, lots of problems that repeatedly stare us in the face can be addressed.