Feeling sorry for Yourself? Part 2,Feeling sorry for Yourself? Part 2

Part two of the horrors in Kolkata Here are some more facts that make our little hardships - a facial blemish or a fight with a friend seem trivial. When you are feeling sorry for yourself, just remember these facts. You are a lot better off than the slum dwellers of Kolkata- the poorest of the poor. . . *A million people use rickshaws daily- a man pulls a cart with a person in it. *Such rickshaw runners have very low life expectancies because they are exposed to much disease and pollution and dust. Rickshaw runners are additionally at high risk of skin disease, ulcers, infections, and pneumonia during the monsoon floods.. *A monsoon comes yearly to Kolkata, bringing floods to the lowlands where the slums are situated. A third of the city’s residents live in the slums, and their homes are often washed away. The open sewers flood and water-borne illness is a major problem. * The slum people eat a lot of muri- rice roasted in hot sand that takes a long time to chew. *Bangla is a cheap alcohol made from anything available from the garbage dump, including the organs of dead animals. It is fermented in a dirty pool near a dump and is responsible for much of the drunkenness in the city. *Mothers who can’t care for their babies leave them alone in the city, hoping they will be found and loved by someone more fortunate than themselves. *Child labour is a major problem. In th *Deadly bites, spoiled food, dense smog, monsoon floods, and corrupted doctors are the main reasons for so many unnecessary deaths in the city. Even icecream is dangerous- it often melts and is refrozen, allowing typhoid to infect it. *In Kolkata children like to fly kites on rooftops. Falls are common because of the instability of the huts. The broken bones that could be easily healed with a cast are amputated because this is cheaper. *Worst of all, the constantly overloaded hospitals classify hopeless cases as “indigents”; these people are thrown into the Holy Hoogly river to make space for others. *UN engineers have established that the city’s water and sewage are linked in many places. *A huge toxic cloud hangs over top of the slums. The sky is blue as often as there is a blue moon. This smog can reduce visibility to 6 m in the winter! *In the slums a child knows very well what a flood is but can be stumped over the word “tree”.

The facts go on and on. I was horrified to learn them and I now am able to appreciate the things I have much more. I am also extremely grateful to be a Canadian

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