Photo #20: The Reality Of Poverty
No matter how much you know before you get there, the poverty you will witness on your first trip to India will still shock you to the core. So many people live on the city streets that there are entire runs of pavement which have become temporary homes, and every sheltered area such as a flyover or an underpass is occupied by families. This photograph captures a typical scene, and the very fact that it is typical, is itself shocking. Multiple families live here, on an active railway line, running for cover as each packed train rumbles through, right in the heart of Kolkata, just yards from 5 star hotels and the hotspots for the city’s wealthy.
15 Comments
Andrew Petcher
I read that Rick Stein got into trouble recently because he raised the issue of poverty in India in one of his programmes.
Phil & Michaela
Really? In trouble with whom, and for saying what?
Andrew Petcher
He said something along the lines of “look at these people, so poor yet so happy” Some thought it rather condescending. Poor Rick, I like Rick.
Phil & Michaela
Oh yes that does sound rather condescending. Maybe I’ll have a stern word with Rick when we get down to Padstow next month!
Andrew Petcher
I doubt he is overly concerned!
wetanddustyroads
How sad is this? This picture just fills me up with emotion … and even more so when you mention that 5-star hotels are close by 😔.
Phil & Michaela
We know, its hard to comprehend the number of people living on the street, we think we have poverty in our country but India is on another level
Monkey's Tale
It’s so hard to see this. We saw similar scenes across India.
Phil & Michaela
The most painful thing was the gulf in wealth: Kolkata has a community of extremely wealthy people who hold virtually all of its capital; and millions with nothing. It was actually quite hard to take in. I’m sure you found the same.
Monkey's Tale
yes, I think Kokata might have been the worst though.
Monkey's Tale
And Mumbai was really bad too.
normareadtalktalknet
A difficult watch
rkrontheroad
A moving image. So many scenes like that out there.
Annie Berger
It seems trite to say how profoundly lucky we were to be born into such relative wealth in Canada and the US respectively but other words fail me when faced with such abject poverty. I guess we can hope that through our travels we can help some of the people with our insertion of funds into the local economy.
Phil & Michaela
Exactly. We really do try hard to make sure that as much as possible of our “travel spend” goes straight into the pockets of locals. Not only is it ethical, but it makes it so much easier to absorb the local culture and history.