India!

 

India!

 

A quote from Sarah MacDonald that says it all:

 

"India is beyond statement, for anything you say, the opposite is also true.  It's rich and poor, spiritual and material, cruel and kind, angry but peaceful, ugly and beautiful, and smart but stupid.  It's all the extremes. India defies understanding, and for once, for me, that's okay."

 

Stacey's List:  March 17

 

Wow, India!

It overwhelmed my senses with vivid, lively colors of saris and flowers among crumbling, filthy, buildings and streets,

machine engines and horns constantly honking (as a courtesy),

the aromas of polluted air, garbage, sewage, incense, sweet curry and jasmine,

the excitement of transportation, especially auto rickshaw rides, gritty dirt billowing and sticking to sweaty skin,

the challenges of negotiating daily for almost everything,

hot, hot curries, condiments, and peppers that will make you sweat and cry,

beautiful, dark skinned people who have a genetic ability to head bobble,

emotions for the many, many people living in very extreme poverty,

wonderment at the resiliency of these people.

 

How do you walk away from so many beggars? 

I recall big cities in the US, with transients, homelessness, and people asking for handouts.  This is multiplied exponentially in India.  It permeates the fabric of this nation. Rural or urban, nice part of town or not, poverty is everywhere.  In India the beggars do not appear to be transient or homeless.  Their home may be the shack down the street with tin sides, a sooty, black, palm frond roof, dirt floor and no belongings.  The beggars in India do not sit and ask for money as you walk buy, instead they follow you, tug at you, talk to you, show you their hungry children.  If you do give them some money, it is not enough, they ask for more and signal fingers to mouth. 

 

Upon arrival in India we had a Diplomatic Briefing from the US Consulate.  They gave us some very good and helpful information on how to survive a visit to India.  They recommended that we do not give handouts or money to beggars, as it will draw more of them, create a mob and become dangerous.  If you felt a great need to give something to a beggar, the suggestion was to give one person something as you are quickly departing.  I am haunted by the faces of the people I did not give enough to and those that I tried to ignore. 

 

It is so hard to know the right thing to do.  The government has built small houses with stucco walls and solid roofs for many of the slum dwellers.  NGO's have organized training programs for women and education for the children.  We were able to visit a well established colony where the families moved from the slum to the housing 20 years ago.  In organized small groups the women have received micro-credit loans to start various businesses.  They feel proud, empowered, independent, and confident that they can do such things on their own, where before the move, they were totally dependent on their husbands.  They have cared for their small homes adding on sections and tiling the floor.  They have a bed, electricity, running water, toilets, a TV, and even a computer.  This is a success story.  However, convincing other slum dwellers to relocate seems to be a major obstacle.  India is trying.  India has a very long way to go.

 

Squat toilets.  I successfully avoided them in India.  But we are onto Malaysia and the other ports where I might not be so lucky:)

 

Stacey

 

 

Craig's List:  March 17, 2008

 

Since our last entry, we crossed the equator for our third (and last) time at 2150 hours on a beautiful evening. We greeted the "bump" with a toast on the faculty/staff lounge outside deck. As I write this entry, we are progressing toward Penang, Malaysia and will arrive there on Wednesday, March 19.  But for now- a short report on India.....

 

Our early morning arrival in Chennai was uneventful, however, not without considerable preparation of our community for safety and security measures as India in general is considered a "moderate threat" according to our security consultants.  Our berth was less than desirable from a passenger perspective.  I am told that the Port of Chennai receives less than ten passenger ships annually so it is primarily an industrial port and is designed as such.  The port is extremely dirty and not conducive to pedestrian movement.  We were boarded by twenty customs and immigration officials who proceeded to examine the documentation required in order to clear the ship.  In addition to the passport and visa, we needed an arrival card, a landing pass, a customs document, and a departure form as well as any receipts for purchases in the country. The procedures we were given to follow 24 hours in advance of our arrival changed considerably when we docked and were subsequently modified depending on which officials were working at the gangway-dockside and at the main gate to the port.  Undeterred by the remnants of British bureacracy, we persisted and were able to leave the ship by noon. After leaving the port, six of us left to go shopping and exploring.  Instead of a cab, we chose the three-wheeled, three-seater motorized rickshaws. Small, light-weight, energy efficient, these vehicles provided us with an exceptionally exciting ride that we used several times throughout our stay in Chennai.  For this first outing, Kelsey, Eric, and I went in one rickshaw; Stacey and two friends went in another.  We expected to stay together but that didn't happen so we ended up going in two different directions to generally the same destination.  In a city of 8 million or so people, that was an interesting opportunity!  We did eventually find each other but it didn't really matter as we needed to do it all over again to get back to the ship.  That evening, we enjoyed a welcome reception hosted by students and professors at a local engineering college that included music, food, dance, and conversation.  The level of creativity in food preparation, dance, costuming, and henna design was wonderful.  Overall, a great start to India.

 

We visited Kancheepuram (one of the seven most sacred Hindu pilgrimages) and Mamallapuram (an ancient port city of the Pallava Kings), two cities outside of Chennai, known for Hindu shrines and temples.  Both of these cities were extraordinary and exposed us to temples over 12 centuries old-situated amidst stores, slums, and urban life,  blessings by Hindu priests, cows and elephants roaming freely in the streets, extreme poverty, and sights and smells that cannot be described by words or photos.  Among my favorites were Arjuna's Penance (the biggest bas-relief in the world) and Butterball- a huge boulder that defies understanding of how it ended up perched on a sloping granite hill.  Most importantly, the people are simply wonderful- kind, welcoming, and full of smiles and stares.  In stark contrast to these cities, we had a wonderful south Indian lunch in a resort constructed after the tsunami.  It was a beautiful property on the beach within a good stone's throw of highly impoverished areas.  For me, the experience in these cities was definitely an experience in contrasts- the old with the new, the rich with the poor, the pristine with the polluted. 

 

In a light rain that soon turned into a downpour (on the edge of a tropical cyclone moving through), Kelsey, Eric, the executive dean, Kenn, and I ventured out to Kenn's favorite coffee shop right outside the port. Before leaving the port we stopped at Walnut Willies (a family-owned shop that had been around the port for 100 years) and then negotiated our way through flooded streets to get to the coffee shop where we enjoyed ten cups of wonderful south Indian coffee and buttered nan.  This was followed by another rickshaw ride- with four of us (exceeding the three passenger limit) to some shopping areas.  By the time we returned home late in the afternoon, we had just about dried out. We were told by our rickshaw driver that in India you can drive without lights, oil, and passengers but you cannot drive without using your horn. Riding in a rickshaw for several days was living proof that horn honking is a courtesy extended several times a minute by almost every driver on the street. 

 

Eric remarked how crossing the street in India is like playing human frogger.  Clearly we were the frogs trying to get across streets with few lights and many speeding bicycles, rickshaws, busses, cars, and motorcycles.  We made it but not without a few scares.  Interestingly by the end of our time in India, I was very impressed with Kelsey and Eric's confidence in moving through the streets in ways that would make us totally crazy in the states.  Kelsey and Stacey received many stares, looks, and smiles as they negotiated the city.  Eric was the recipient of multiple head pats, hand shakes, and cheek pinches- which he seemed to take in stride.  With such company, I don't believe I was even on the screen! 

 

Perhaps the most powerful experience for me was a field program entitled "socioeconomic problems in Chennai."  We travelled a short distance from the port to a beachside slum which we toured on foot.  The stench was at times overwhelming.  Raw sewage moving to the ocean through open trenches forming makeshift streams of human waste and "gray water" from washing were networked throughout the slum.  Huts that were used by fisherman who were able to afford flats further inland provided shelter at night for some people.  Freshly caught fish, covered with flies next to napping goats adjacent to flat rocks upon which laundry was being done lined the pathway we followed along the beach.  We learned about government plans to relocate these people to public housing further inland and then construct tourist-friendly properties on the beachfront.  We also learned how this plan is meeting with resistance by those who access the ocean for fishing (and their livelihood) in this same area.  We visited a couple of Hindu temples proximal to the slums and then ventured to a "colony"- government constructed housing for former slum residents interspersed among more middle class areas of the city.  Here we met with representatives from an NGO that is primarily focused on empowering women to work in their own small businesses.  This is accomplished by educating the women and creating collectives of about 15 women each to work collaboratively yet independently and financed by micro-loans that are managed by the women.  According to the women in the program, this has been a wonderful success.  They have developed skills, are generating an income, are developing financial autonomy, and have moved from the beach slum to a home with running water, a toilet, and electricity.  Besides this, their children come together for school and child care!  The NGO is continuing to broaden this model but it is slow-going and the challenge and scalibility of this effort is very difficult.  It didn't take long for the children to be attached to Kelsey and Eric.  We lost Kelsey for a while as she ventured deeper in the colony getting offers to return and teach the children. Many are working hard to create a new India and there is much to do. 

 

It seems to me that the extensive availability of inexpensive labor provides little incentive to purchase and use more modern methods to accomplish tasks.  While that creates employment opportunities for folks, it may limit the speed at which change can occur.  Although some pundits suggest that India has become ungovernable, I think that the combined efforts of NGOs such as the one we learned about can make a difference and perhaps transcend the shortcomings of government programs that are laced with bureaucracy and politics. I look forward to returning to India to further explore and enjoy the wonderful people who make this place quite special in many ways. 

 

Stay tuned...

 

Craig