iS lIFE bEAUTIFUL?

Was browsing through the pages of the book 'The Banker to the Poor' by Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace price winner, 2006 and the founder of Grameen Bank, Bangladesh. The book starts with the famine of 1974, when a large number of people succumbed to starvation. That propelled this Economics professor to question the very foundations of economic theories; which werent doing much to solve practical problems.

On the way home, in the train, a woman got into my compartment. She,in a word, looked poor, and obviously upset about something. She sat down opposite me, lost in her thoughts. The other women in the compartment, for some reason, could not just let her be. They started asking her where she wished to get off, did she have a ticket, and a number of uncalled for questions. They also brought her to the attention of the cop in the compartment. I intervened and told them 'Just let her be, she's not causing any harm, is she?' They took offence to that, and told me not to unnecessarily worry, they werent causing her any harm either. Thankfully, the cop agrred with wat i said, and told them to not tell her anything.

At the next station, a fruit-seller came in, hawking his wares. The other women in the compartment bought some, the cop bought some too; he handed a fruit to the poor woman. Nice! She took it, and ate it.

Yesterday reminded me again, of all thats wrong with the world, and all that needs to be done. It also reminded me of someone who's done a lot, and made me wonder, yet again, what I was doing! Maybe it IS time to wear some Nikes.

Cheers,
Anya