Fighting for food!

 

 

Every few days Anna and I watch birds engaged in a fight at the feeding station in our garden. The regular visitors in the garden have learned to wait for their turn or have learned to co-feed with other species of birds. When new birds arrive like the jungle Babblers in the photos above, there is a tension between them and the regular visitors, the Bulbuls. 

The Bulbuls waited patiently for a while, waiting for the Babblers to allow space for them. 

There was a physical fight between the Babblers and the Bulbuls after which both moved out of the feeding basin. It was only after the last Babbler also left the Bulbuls had a chance to feed. 

Hunger for food, control, power, domination, and authority are instincts that we see commonly around us. The hunger for food might be the commonest of instincts which push people to fight in desperation. 

Hundreds of Farmers are on march to New Delhi from different states in north India demanding minimum secure price for farm produce that the farmers have been demanding for a while. The farmers have come to a cross road.  The price offered for the farm produce does not meet the cost of the production. The farmers are faced with huge loans they are unable to repay. The large companies who receive contract from the government to purchase grain from farmers put pressure on the government to keep the price of purchase under wrap to ensure their profit. 

The producers of food suffer and the buyers and sellers gain disproportionate profit. 

The recent crisis in Syria is another example of a civil war over unequal distribution of wealth and resources. 

It is rare we hear a voice of reason in favour of equity and fairness in owning and sharing resources.  The quarrel over food in our feeding station which erupts now and then between birds, keeps reminding us of a reality that the political order in the civil society has not addressed inequality adequately. 

While delivering the Dr Ida Scudder Humanitarian Oration at CMC Vellore last week, Dr Soumya Swaminathan said that when a packet of food was served along with drugs to treat tuberculosis, the recovery was faster and reduced morbidity considerably. 

The hunger for food and nutritional deficiencies threaten us even when the rich people become richer in India leaving the disadvantaged to fend for themselves. 

The language of care, compassion and consideration has evaporated from the political leadership in India. The congress party targets the current government for its ill doing and the ruling party blames the congress party for its acts of omission and commission, while running the government. 

Those hungry for food, shelter and social security continue to languish!

I cannot but say this: the hungry birds fight for food symbolises the inner struggle thousands face in India each day to live!  

The festivity of Christmas is all about merchandise; it is not about social equity and caring for those who are left out of the main stream.

The shepherds in the field received the news of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. They were least and the last in the social order in the society. They were the first ones to greet the babe of Bethlehem on receiving the news. 

The last became the first to greet and welcome Jesus, when He was born. 

I wish there will be a preferential option to support those who are the last in the social order!

When we see the quarrel between the state government of Kerala and the central government over the rehabilitation package of support needed for those who lost property and loved ones in the Wayanad landslide, one wonders if those who are in leadership have lost the sense to feel the pain of others bereft of the opportunity to live!

I wish the churches will be less lavish on festivity at Christmas and new year and give more than they normally do for those who are hungry for food, shelter and social security!

A father told me that their two children refuse to have any Christmas gifts; instead they are collecting gifts for children affected by the landslide in Wayanad!

Children lead us with their example!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)