In a world of contrasts, look beyond your own borders

THE United Nations last week declared a famine in southern Somalia. More
than six out of every 10,000 people are dying of hunger every day in
some parts of the Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions of Somalia, with
more than half the children there suffering from acute malnutrition. According
to the UN, this is far above the normal famine threshold of two deaths
per 10,000 people a day, and 30% malnutrition levels. It is
generally believed that when such a declaration is made, it triggers off
a media response, and the world will sit up and take notice. Did we? The
report was published on Page 36 of this newspaper last Thursday,
complete with a picture and a graphic, but it was probably the report on
Page 34 about Wendi Deng leaping to the defence of her husband Rupert
Murdoch that grabbed our attention. The parliamentary proceedings
over the phone hacking scandal were shown live on satellite TV for
hours over the BBC and CNN, and the famine story was just given a
passing mention. Last week, I also read a report by the
Associated Press about the wealthy families in India who stage
extravagant displays of food often at their children's weddings to show
off their newfound affluence. The report quoted the case of a
businessman who treated his guests to a lavish 30-course meal served in
super-sized silver platters at his daughter's wedding. The
Kashmiri feast, prepared by an army of chefs, included more than 20 meat
and kebab dishes rich with spices to go with the saffron-flavored rice
and naan breads. Hours later, after the more than 500 guests had eaten
their fill, the leftovers were dumped by the cartload at a nearby
garbage site. India's Food Minister K.V. Thomas
told AP that about one-fifth of the food served at weddings and social
gatherings is discarded. “It's a criminal waste,” Thomas said. According
to the minister, around 100,000 weddings and social events are held in
India every day. He says food wasted each day at weddings and family
functions in Mumbai alone would be enough to feed the city's vast slum
population. The world is full of contrasts. If you read the daily
newspaper from cover to cover, you will begin to see that the things we
take for granted are virtual impossibilities for others in a different
land. And I am not just talking about material possessions, but also the
intrinsic values that underpin our existence as human beings. It
is all too easy for us to think that the world is only that part of
which we choose to inhabit. We prefer to draw lines to demarcate and
justify our lifestyles. For example, visiting a six-star private
hospital, complete with banking facilities and branded caf outlets, is
quite a different experience from visiting someone in a public hospital,
where scenes of cramped waiting rooms and caregivers camping in every
available space outside the wards are all too familiar. Likewise,
visiting someone in a gated community may be preferred over visiting
someone in a low-cost apartment nearby, or even someone behind prison
walls. Freedom can take on different meanings when we begin to
appreciate what it means to be trapped by the choices we make in our
individual lives. Alas, there are also situations when we may
make really good and noble choices, to take the road less travelled,
only to be mocked at by others. There is often a high price to pay, in our limited time on this earth at least, if we care more about people than things. At lunch, will you be talking about the famine in Somalia or about the lifestyle of the rich and famous in India? Will
you be all stressed up because a colleague gets more benefits or
thankful that you are not among the 70,000 graduates who do not have a
job? Will the roads you walk on know the difference between a pair of
expensive branded shoes or a pair of cheap slippers? Will you be
complaining about the guards that man the gates in your neighbourhood or
praying for those who have lost their freedom?