Break out your copy of Hatful Of Hollow, I’m about to depress you with this story from the BBC:
A 12-year-old Indian girl committed suicide after her mother told her she could not afford one rupee - two US cents - for a school meal.
Sania Khatun lived with her mother in a village north of Calcutta under a tarpaulin sheet provided by the state.
Sania usually starved at school; her widowed mother, Jainab Bewar, provided for her by bringing home food from the houses she worked in as a maid. On Friday, Sania
was tempted by the sight of classmates eating puffed rice and oil cakes.
When Sania asked her mother for a rupee, she was rebuked because the family couldn’t spare it:
She and her sons never earn more than $13 a month combined, she says.
Sania’s mother later found her hanging via a sari.
This is all I can think of, when I read stories like this:
India has seen unprecedented economic growth in recent years but many remain untouched by the improvements.
Decades ago, my parents were factually correct when they guilted me into finishing my dinner by reminding me of all the starving children in India:
A recent UN report said half of India’s children were still malnourished.
Tragic. No other word for it.
