The 7 year old

The story in the recent Mumbai news about the 7 year old half-parsi child who died due to starvation and no medical treatment has been doing it's rounds and gaining it's fair share of publicity. However, most newsreports seem to only point to the fact that this child who was a half-parsi child could have been saved by the riches of the parsi trust funds and community as a whole if only they hadn't turned their backs on the fact that she wasn't a 100% parsi bred and borne kid. This story gets it's fair share of publicity all over our news, but i really wonder truly WHY?

I'm not a parsi and this article has nothing to do with religious or sectorial sentiments.
But, i really wonder how and why news reports "kind of" blame this tragic child's death on a community as a whole. The only real reason that this child's death by starvation was put in the news was because she is a half-parsi. Is that even justified?
Looking at the real country, it's pretty easy to see a large number of quick deaths of little kids due to various factors; out of which starvation may be a major cause but it's teemed with many more: medical negligence, lack of funds for treatment, lack of hygiene, poverty, poor living conditions etc. And more etc.

It's ridiculous how one child's death caught on the news while the major actual ones seen and experienced all through the country are blatantly ignored. Of course, we have our share of NGO's and volunteers doing their bit, but in a country of more than 1 billion, reaching out to every single rural child or even child in need within big metro's is hard work.
Farzin Batlivala, the aforesaid 7 year old who perished is an example of a child who was in need. When it comes to the basic question of a child in need, it is NOT about being parsi or half of it that matters. It's not even about being sikh or any other.
It's about humanity or the lack of.
Farzin's tragic story reached the news because she died due to starvation whilst her mother was away at work trying to earn a meagre salary to help bring home the food. The mother and children were abandoned by Ferzin's parsi father and Ferzin's pleas to the parsi trust to try and get their help wasn't successful because they needed proof that the mother (a non-parsi) had in fact married a parsi.

Imagine the mother's sentiments when she tries to help her children, but can't. Imagine the mother's sentiment when she is abandoned and has to take care of her children herself and just about barely can.

This story without the parsi twist thrown in actually happens openly in many many many corners of the world we live in, it's not a story sidelined only for mumbai or parsi's. It's a story that plays out in general alot.
But, in our world, we'd choose to help a certain criteria of people only. We divide and discriminate on the basis of religion, color,sect. Even if alot of us try to live in and create a world with no bias, the fact of the matter is that the sentiments of discrimmination are deeply imbibed in our own blood and we would unconsciously let it influence what we do or who with and how we interact.

This story of a young 7 year old's death caught on the news. In another part of the world the same back ground story of a lone and abandoned parent trying to raise her child would play out with the difference being that the child was of another caste / sect and died due to...

Why do we have this gnawing need to mention or even consider the color, caste or sect.
Maybe cause it helps to blame it on someone or something else? Maybe cause it helps us clear our own conscience? Why?

The bottomline is, a child died.
There could have been help given.
Help could come from you or me.
Fact is, help doesnt "have" to come from someone or some sect in particular.
It can just be us, in general.