The twilight Zone

Once upon a time,i went to Chittagong in Bangladesh.
It was the monsoon season,and the weather was very wet.
As our ship entered the dock,and we set our foot on dry land,naturally we rushed toward the city.
Outside the port premises,there was an empty area.There i saw a woman cooking something under a tree and four children playing around her.The kids looked happy,so i thought they were on picnic.
Late in the night,i came back from my outing trip.
The women and the kids were not in my mind,but i was surprised to see them sleeping under the same tree,where i thought that they were on picnic.
The next mourning,i was off duty,and i went looking for that woman,along with a Bengali translator.
The only foreign languages i can speak are English and Arabic.
We approached the woman,who looked scared of us.We assured her that we are here only to talk to her and possibly help her.I came to know that she and her kids lived under the tree,as they had no home.
They were so poor that they did not have any shelter during the rain.Not even a piece of tarpaulin or plastic sheet.
She was married to a man in her teen ages,and a month after the birth of her fourth kid,the man disappeared.
My translator told me that this is very common is rural Bangladesh,where people are mostly farmers,and frequent floods sweep away everything.
Most farmers pass their lives under a heap of debt.
They grow crops in the hope of food and some money,and all is ruined due to the monsoon flooding.
No social security system,and a government so poor that it can't build dams to prevent flooding.
Eventually,down the line,millions of poor farmers are foced to abandon their families,and the families are forced to live under the sky.
I asked her,how she eats.She told me that she gathers fruits and vegetables form the jungle.Bangladesh is a lush green country,and at least people got this option.
In many african countries,they haven't got this option.There is a lot that can be done about it,as from western standards it does not cost much.
In cities like bombay in india or calcutta or chittagong,a whole family can live good on as low as 50 pounds a month.This is the amount of money we spend on buying a few DVD's or on a single night out.
On our ship,we were 18 people of 6 different nationalities,all from different financial and cultural backgrounds,and from 5 continents.
All of us came across her and individually helped her.This shows that we humans regardless of our ethnic origin,religion,culture and country,do not like poverty.Surprisingly enough,most of us choose to spend money on totally insane and unnecessary objects,when the same money can pull somebody somewhere else,out of the jaws of disease,hunger,despair and death.

There has been a lot of debate about size zero,and some girls starving themselves to look like skeletons.The idea of being ultra thin and still look attractive is all media driven.
Personally i don't like skinny women.They are so without curves.
Eventually most of us want to be like someone else.Media being the main source of most of our thoughts and even behavior.
Our likes and dislike about most things are driven from media.
Sometimes i feel lucky that i do not own a TV.Yes it's true i don't have a TV set at home.Saves me some money and a hell lot of time.