India
Once again I am at a loss for words when it comes to explaining what we did in India. What we experienced and felt was like nothing we had ever experienced before and probably ever will again. It has taken me this long to just process my thoughts and put them into words for you to have some understanding of the magnitude of what we saw, heard, smelled, tasted and felt.
I soon realized it's a country of many extremes. From the very rich (one of the richest men in the world is a billionaire from India) to the poorest of the poor, the untouchables who sleep in the train station on the floor with no coverings or even worse the gutter. India has one of the most beautiful buildings in the world which is truly exquisite, (the Taj Mahal), to the poorest shanty that is barely a shelter. Those that have hope with a new emerging economy and those who are hopeless. From a stench of human waste to essential oils that appeal to your body to relax, help with insomnia, help arthritus and other ailments. It is a land of contrasts like no other.
When we first arrived I smelled the stench but did not see or feel the poverty. The city of Chennai was bustling and there were so many people everywhere I didn't notice the poverty or fifth and several of us talked among ourselves that it wasn't as bad as we had anticipated. However, the traffic was crazy with chaotic activity between cars, trucks, buses, taxis, bikes, and rickshaws. Several of us hired a taxis for the day to take us two hours south to Mamallapurum where we visited three very old Hindu temples one of which were carvings in granite of Hindu gods and elephants.
The next day we left early, (3:30 am) to travel by plane to Deli. We saw many people sleeping on the sidewalks, the gutters, under street lamps. I am talking about families with small children. Eighty percent of the population have no electicity or running water. They have no to poor sanitation, which is especially bad in the rural areas where the majority of the population live. Trash everywhere, layers deep and the extremes of this country are again evident. In Deli we drove by the palatial palaces the British built a century or more ago who are now lived in by the military and govt. officials. They are corrupt and support their lavish lifestyle with bribes. Rode in our first rickshaw--totally crazy!!!! There are no rules or laws of the road, everyone just goes and all forms of transportation sound their horns to let you know their coming. It is sensory overload. Somehow it all works out. It's especially scary in a rickshaw since they are the most vulnerable and they come within inches of all the other motoized vehicles. Never saw an accident but I am sure they happen. Our hotel was nice with very tight security and luxurious accommodations. Interestingly being a Hindu nation no beef is ever served for a meal. (They love their cows!) Speaking of cows, they are also on the roads and all vehicles yield to them. It's just nuts!! Life seems so hard and cruel for many. Encountered many quite deformed beggers that we realized were affected by polio. Polio continues to be a big problem in India. It was very sad.
The train was also a unique experience. Travelling thru the rural areas gave us a true sense of the poverty and depravity. We were in first class with air conditioning and nice seats. Most of us were American or European. whereas the second class was filled with those from India, I'm not sure of the conditions of second class except they had no air conditioning, and the doors were open with people hanging out watching the villages go by. During the day we passed many small towns and you could see the community wells, fires where women were cooking, men brushing their teeth out in the open spitting in a drainage ditch, community outhouses with no doors.so no privacy even to go to the bathroom. That has to affect your basic sense of human respect and dignity. And this is how the majority of the people live. There are one billion people living in India. It will take years to eradicate this kind of poverty. Our return train trip was after dark and the same villages we passed earlier in the day were now completely dark without electricity It made me realize how much we take for granted in the U.S.
The Taj Mahal was beautiful and did not disappoint. Made of marble with patterns of flowers and mosaics of inlayed semi-precious stones. An incredible tribute to a women who was intensly loved by a man. Said to be the most beautiful building in the world. It was all very hard to take in as most of the way to the Taj people were living in squalor. Again, the land of extremes.
The next day we travelled to Varanasi the holiest city for Hindus and Buddhists. I learned that Buddism originated in India and was an off shoot of Hinduism. Centuries ago the poor of India were not allowed to worship the gods of Hinduism so they started their own philosophy which became Buddaism around 500 B.C. Buddah was a Hindu who became enlightened and was known as Siddhartha before his attainment of enlightenment. Varanasi is the city where the holy River Ganges is located. In the early morning hours before the sun rose we boarded a boat to witness the religious practice that has continued unchanged for thousands of years. At dawn the pilgrams converge at these holy waters for the ritual immersion and prayer to release their souls from the cycle of rebirth. This is also where people bring their deceased to be cremated and their ashes tossed into the river..We actually saw three or four bodies being carried down to the river by their male family members. As we approached the river you could see smoke and there was a certain smell that I can't describe but we all knew it was the smell of death. It was kinda creepy. The bodies are then placed on a stack of fire wood with fire wood placed on top just steps from the river. It takes about 2 1/2 hours for the corpses to be fully cremated. They then take just some of the ashes and toss them into the river. The men that do the actual cremations are the wealthiest men in the city but are also of the untouchable class. Families come from all over India to place the ashes of their loved ones into the river. Many of the poor can't afford cremation so they put the dead bodies in the river. We witnessed all of the above and it was like watching a dream--none of what we saw seemed real. We all were in a state of shock. After we left the river one of the faculty members from the ship, who was on our bus, was finally able to get ahold of her daughter who was in labor back in the states. Sure enough she had the baby 45 minutes ago. So here was the cycle of life-- birth and death.
Extremes of life, absurdities of contrasts, and the hope of the future; India has it all and more.
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