Abhijit Naskar's Blog - Posts Tagged "poverty"

A world that confuses luxury with success, has absolutely zero understanding of the human condition. That’s why they idolize rich and filthy celebrities with private jets and rolls royce, as some sort of demigods. If this is your idea of success, then you guys are more disgustingly primitive than the wildlife in the amazon. At least, wild animals don’t pretend to be civilized.

A CEO shouldn’t get several hundred times the salary that the janitor is paid. An athlete shouldn’t get several hundred times the salary that the waterboy is paid. A filmstar shouldn’t get several hundred times the salary that the crew at the bottom are paid.

I understand if you are not yet civilized enough to flatten the field completely – for you are an infantile species after all. But at the very least, do your best to reduce the gap – that is, if you intend to be human someday.

The glory may differ based on the kind of work a person does, but nobody should suffer to make ends meet while others fly in private jets. Economic growth doesn’t mean the growth of disparity, it means the end of disparity. And we can never end disparity from our society unless we cut off all ties with luxury, preferably by individual accountability, if not, then by means of policy.

Riches maketh filth, filth pursue riches. To live a life of luxury, or to dream of a life of luxury, doesn’t make us ambitious, it only exposes the moron that we are. A species that has not realized simplicity as the way of life, will never in a million years have a society without disease and disparity.

I won’t mince my words, and tell you straight. Wanna be a decent human being? Stay away from luxury. Because luxury is a violation of human rights, human health, and above all, human character.

It’s funny really! Some people can’t afford two wholesome meals a day, while others live with a private airport in their backyard. Some parents work their butt off to keep the clothes on their children’s back, while others shower their kids with lamborghinis and teslas. If this doesn’t open your eyes, perhaps you should try lobotomy. I’m sure you can find some unlicensed surgeon somewhere who’d do it for you if you offer them a trip to the bahamas, or better yet, a trip to space in your own spaceship.

Poverty is a capitalist invention,
Third world obscurity is colonial construct.
History of the west is history of abuse,
World hunger is a western by-product.

If it takes $300bn to end world hunger,
and 7 trillion to fund the next AI wonder,
how many people have to starve to death,
to feed the appetite of the cyberworld?

If Britain’s NHS costs about $200bn,
and US military costs 800 billion dollars,
how many have to suffer from sickness,
for the tribal chiefs to feel secure?

If it takes $20bn to end homelessness
in the US, and trillions to colonize Mars,
how many have to sleep in cardboad boxes,
for heirs of billionaires to breed on Mars?

You don’t need to be a Ramanujan or Euler,
to solve this simple arithmetic equation.
But you do need a living human heart,
to take responsibility for the solution.

Africa is not a charity case,
Colombia is not a charity case,
Bolivia is not a charity case,
Venezuela is not a charity case,

Mexico is not a charity case,
Philippines is not a charity case,
Thailand is not a charity case,
India is not a charity case –

the global south is not a charity case,
it’s rich with both mind and minerals.
Human poverty in the global south is
manufactured by the northern apes.

Awake, Arise, O Children of South,
you got more brain, heart and backbone
than all old and new colonials combined.
Humans of Earth everywhere, all rise ‘n roar,
the first global goal is to fire the fascists.

I grew up in a 20ft/20ft one-room house,
used to walk an hour to get to school –
and although I never knew what luxury was,
I’m just grateful, I never had to starve –

I never had to wear torn clothes,
never had to experience a leaky roof,
unlike my parents, who grew up poor,
as neither of my grandfathers were good providers.

Like my father, his father was a factory worker,
but unlike my father, he could barely feed his family,
and my other grandfather was a poor priest,
who too could barely provide for his family, with
the little money he earned from religious ceremonies.

My parents grew up in abject poverty, I grew up in
modest security, and all of it has kept me grounded.
Little obscurity is essential for building character –
luxury stunts growth, obscurity establish greatness.

Do I have any right to happiness,
when millions go without food and shelter!
That’s why, there’s not a trace of luxury in my life,
I churn out humanitarian electricity all waking hours.

Most expensive clothes I own cost 20 dollars,
most expensive devices I own cost 200 dollars.
Born to a factory worker, I never knew luxury,
then I made me a name, but saw the world’s condition,
I grew an absolute repulsion to lifestyle luxurious.

The question is not, how much can I enjoy,
but how much can I endure to lift up the world!
Life’s meaning comes not from what we gain for
ourselves, but from what we give up for others.

I’m existentially allergic to opulence,
every soft bed feels like a betrayal –
expensive meals scream of starving children,
dollar spent on luxury is a dollar animal.

The Earth may be full of skyscrapers,
but the soil is without home –
streets may be full of electric cars,
yet the mind hasn’t moved an inch –

the skies may be full of rockets,
but the heart is buried in the jungle –
outer space may be full of telescopes,
yet the eyes are blind with hate.

No nation is holy, till its streets
are built for walking, not to starve on.
No society is advanced, till no one
is marginal, no matter the innovation.

Innovation is important, but what kind of
a moronic species races to put a man on the moon,
before it takes its homeless off the streets!

How come power hungry algorithms get endowed
with trillions of dollars in investment, yet
starving children dream of leftovers as feast!