If George Orwell Were To Be Down and Out Today...

Ralph Steadman:

"I was re-reading Down and Out in Paris and London recently. I think if he were to be down and out today he could survive on the bins behind the superstores … there's so much free stuff that they throw away – perfectly good food."

 "Down and Out in Paris and London" has already appeared on this blog here. There, I compared the book to my favorite Arun Kolatkar poem, I call it "Down and Out in Mumbai":

"मुंबईनं भिकेस लावलं
कल्याणला गुळ खाल्ला
ज्या गावाला नाव नव्हतं
पण एक धबधबा होता
तिथं एक ब्लँकेट विकलं
अन पोटभर पाणी प्यालो

पिंपळाची पानं चघळत
नाशकापर्यंत आलो
तिथं तुकाराम विकला
अन वर खिमापाव खाल्ला
..."
['Arun Kolatkarchya Kavita' (अरुण कोलटकरच्या कविता), 1977/2003, Page:92]

Translated into English by Kolatkar himself

("Bombay made me a beggar.
 Kalyan gave me a lump of jaggery to suck.
In a small village that had a waterfall
but no name
my blanket found a buyer
and I feasted on plain ordinary water.

I arrived in Nasik with
peepul leaves between my teeth.
There I sold my Tukaram
to buy some bread and mince
...")


Recently it was widely reported that "Almost half of the world's food thrown away, report finds".

Orwell day was observed on January 21 2013.

Now, who could have connected these two news items?

Only a good cartoonist and illustrator like Ralph Steadman as quoted at the top! 

"...if Orwell were to be down and out today he could survive..."

I wish!

Artist:  Ralph Steadman, 'George Orwell and a pig',  1996 illustrated edition of  'Animal Farm'