Famine & Wastage...two ends of a spectrum!!

Recently I was reading an article by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon...couldn't call it an article actually...rather a plea for help to just about manage the famine in Somalia. I was moved to tears just reading the plight of fellow human beings in Africa. Sadly that's only one of half the spectrum...the other is the large percentage of food wastage across the world and especially in India. We are known for having a large population of which a good percentage of it can't even have a square meal a day and we also have large weddings, events and parties that waste a large quantity of food...where is the rational? What are we doing?

It can't all be blamed on the government... we all waste food if not on a daily basis then at least on a weekly basis and to imagine that this kid in the picture doesn't get that and in all likelihood won't survive until she can have a meal like that!! Where is our responsibility? 

Corporates all over the world talk about CSR initiatives...is doing our bit to eradicate famine a CSR initiative? It need not be anything big...it could just mean us having smaller parties, order just about enough food, maybe even request guests not to waste food thinking about the millions who don't have any. I might sound crazy for all you know, especially to those dedicated to Indian hospitality which means that a guest should have more than enough and in the process probably end up wasting a lot more. 

I didn't say that the government was completely exempt from blame either. Pakistan seems to be the only sub-continental country who has learned its lesson from its past. It's one-dish law for wedding ceremonies seems to be progress in the right direction with the Indian Government also recently waking up to about 20% food wastage in the country and with food grains rotting away in warehouses with no proper storage facilities. Our government is "studying" Pakistan's law but lets hope that that study doesn't take long enough for about another million lives to be lost around the world to famine...the other end of the of the spectrum. Remember...we have a responsibility to our planet and to our fellow beings.