First weekend for a while that I stayed in Delhi. We had a little launch event for a comic and film on forests Saturday night so I had to stick around for that.
Sunday I went to the 'Great Indian Rock Concert', which wasn't great, but was ok.
Unfortunately the international act that was there, Sweden's Freak Kitchen, were a terrible heavy metal group, and were supported by several equally terrible Indian heavy metal groups. I enjoyed seeing rebellious Delhi teenagers dressed up in their coolest heavy metal clothes (plenty of Iron Maiden fans keeping the spirit alive in India).
There were a couple of other bands which were ok, sounding something like The Strokes and also playing several of their covers.
The highlight was seeing 20 Indian bikies arriving on their fat motorcycles in synch with each other...they all rode up to park at the same time, roared their engines for a minute or so, then got off their bikes and started posing.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Sanchi
Sanchi was the destination last weekend, a small village in Madhya Pradesh (central India) famous for its Buddhist shrines built around 200 BC.
After a marathon 14 hour train trip and 2 hour bus ride, we arrived. It was nice to get out of the Indian cities - Sanchi was a lot more laid back and you didn't have to deal with touts and other hassles.
Click on the photo to see more photos from Sanchi. Again, they're Kate's not mine, still haven't gotten a camera.
The shrines were good but not what I was expecting. The famous 'stupas' are basically big domes made out of bricks, surrounded by impressively carved gates. But you can't go inside them; they are something like pyramids, apparently filled in aside from tombs which are possibly inside depending on who I asked, but in any case not visitable. To be honest I left quite confused about what the hell their purpose was. I don't think the people there were really sure why they were built either. There were also some ruins of temples which looked very similar to Greek temples, and the foundations of a few monasteries.
It was a nice spot with some beautiful country around and a few of the ever-present monkeys hanging about scaring tourists.
We briefly saw Bhopal on the way back, a town famous for one of the world's worst ecological disasters, the leaking of some poison gas by a Union Carbide factory (us owned firm) caused by inadequate maintenance and cost cutting. More than 30,000 people died, and about half a million were left with permanent serious health damage which in many cases has been passed on to their children.
Aside from that, it was a pretty city with a lovely lake.
This weekend I'm taking a break and sticking around in Delhi. I've started a Yoga course which has been fun; in the house, we've got a new Japanese girl in, Ruth & Susannah have left, and Kate is leaving this weekend; and at work, we've got a book launch on Saturday night. Oh, and I'm going to an Indian rock concert Sunday. That's about it. Oh and its starting to get damn hot.
After a marathon 14 hour train trip and 2 hour bus ride, we arrived. It was nice to get out of the Indian cities - Sanchi was a lot more laid back and you didn't have to deal with touts and other hassles.
Click on the photo to see more photos from Sanchi. Again, they're Kate's not mine, still haven't gotten a camera.
The shrines were good but not what I was expecting. The famous 'stupas' are basically big domes made out of bricks, surrounded by impressively carved gates. But you can't go inside them; they are something like pyramids, apparently filled in aside from tombs which are possibly inside depending on who I asked, but in any case not visitable. To be honest I left quite confused about what the hell their purpose was. I don't think the people there were really sure why they were built either. There were also some ruins of temples which looked very similar to Greek temples, and the foundations of a few monasteries.
It was a nice spot with some beautiful country around and a few of the ever-present monkeys hanging about scaring tourists.
We briefly saw Bhopal on the way back, a town famous for one of the world's worst ecological disasters, the leaking of some poison gas by a Union Carbide factory (us owned firm) caused by inadequate maintenance and cost cutting. More than 30,000 people died, and about half a million were left with permanent serious health damage which in many cases has been passed on to their children.
Aside from that, it was a pretty city with a lovely lake.
This weekend I'm taking a break and sticking around in Delhi. I've started a Yoga course which has been fun; in the house, we've got a new Japanese girl in, Ruth & Susannah have left, and Kate is leaving this weekend; and at work, we've got a book launch on Saturday night. Oh, and I'm going to an Indian rock concert Sunday. That's about it. Oh and its starting to get damn hot.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Last weekend I headed to Gwalior with Kate, whose photos I have selfishly claimed as my own; they are posted here.Gwalior is in Madhya Pradesh, central India. The town wasn't really too special, but they did have a nice fort with some good views.
Gwalior is not really on the tourist map; I saw only a couple of other foreigners in the town the whole time I was there. While this can be a good thing, you tend to get a lot more attention than you might in more frequented parts of India. Everyone will say hello, laugh at you, joke about you. Sound good? On a hot day when you are doing a lot of walking, you get really sick of it and start to wish you could just blend in. Some of the people are good natured (especially in villages etc) but some of them just take the piss. It is ten times worse if you are with a girl. I know plenty of Indians who treat girls with respect; but a lot of the men here are terrible. Staring, whistling, making kissy noises, and groping girls here is common and frequently happens to all my housemates. They would never treat an Indian girl this way, but for some reason western girls are fair game. If any Indians can tell me why this is, please do. And tell me also if you think I'm wrong and Indian girls get treated the same way.
Possibly its dress? The funny thing is I consider the Sari to be much more revealing than a tshirt and jeans...you've got your whole stomach and your side showing, jeans and tshirt is just your arms. Saris are great here I have to say; you'd never catch a western woman over 35 wearing one because of the way they seem to cause your stomach to spill out over your front and your love handles to be more visible than other...but Indian woman don't seem to mind the spare tyre look, and the older woman get, the more common Saris become.
I've also posted up some photos of a going away get-together we had for a couple of my housemates, Ruth & Susanne.
Jodhpur
A couple of weekends ago I took a trip to Jodhpur with Dorin my housemate (I've stolen his photos and uploaded them here).
Jodhpur is in the western part of Rajasthan, which is quite barren and on the edge of a large desert called, from memory, the Thar. The landscape reminded me of Australia; a lot of low, scrubby brush, a few trees, a lot of dust. Like SA or inland victoria. Bloody hot too.
Jodhpur is known as the blue city for being painted blue. Original, huh? Apparently the mineral that made the paint blue was supposed to repel mosquitoes.
The Rajasthan culture of the last 1000 years is steeped in chivalry and sacrifice, and is very similar to the European culture of the middle ages. A number of Maharajs ruled different parts of the state from their forts, frequently fighting each other on points of honour, and later battling first the Mughal (Muslim) and later the British colonisers. They were known to battle against overwhelming odds and when defeat seemed certain, men rode out to their death in waves while women and children killed themselves by jumping on huge funeral pyres.
Actually, women had a habit of dying this way; when the Maharaj died, Maharaja's donned their wedding dresses and rode through the city praying and giving away their things to the poor. Finally they arrived at their husbands funeral pyre, where they burned themselves to death, in the legends without uttering a word. One of the forts we visited had the saffron handprints of all the Maharaja's who had commited this act.
I have to say, I love the way Rajasthani women dress. In stark contrast to the barren wilderness they live in, their clothes are full of the brightest colours you can imagine.
Often though you will never see their faces - they have a strange way of pulling a veil in front of their faces when they are in public around strangers. Apparently this habit started as a reaction to Muslim invaders - Rajasthani's did not want their women looked at by their invaders. Or possibly, it was something taken from Muslim culture - there seemed to be two different interpretations. The forts and palaces are also designed in a certain way so that one can see out, but not in, a way to allow women to see out and observe the city, without compromising their modesty.
The highlight in Jodhpur was taking a little tour around the countryside there. We got to see a few different communities and the different ways they lived; farming, pottery, carpet making, etc. We also got to see them prepare opium, which has been used for centuries in Rajasthan. Most people in the countryside apparently take small amounts frequently, even daily, generally with their tea.
Jodhpur is in the western part of Rajasthan, which is quite barren and on the edge of a large desert called, from memory, the Thar. The landscape reminded me of Australia; a lot of low, scrubby brush, a few trees, a lot of dust. Like SA or inland victoria. Bloody hot too.
Jodhpur is known as the blue city for being painted blue. Original, huh? Apparently the mineral that made the paint blue was supposed to repel mosquitoes.
The Rajasthan culture of the last 1000 years is steeped in chivalry and sacrifice, and is very similar to the European culture of the middle ages. A number of Maharajs ruled different parts of the state from their forts, frequently fighting each other on points of honour, and later battling first the Mughal (Muslim) and later the British colonisers. They were known to battle against overwhelming odds and when defeat seemed certain, men rode out to their death in waves while women and children killed themselves by jumping on huge funeral pyres.
Actually, women had a habit of dying this way; when the Maharaj died, Maharaja's donned their wedding dresses and rode through the city praying and giving away their things to the poor. Finally they arrived at their husbands funeral pyre, where they burned themselves to death, in the legends without uttering a word. One of the forts we visited had the saffron handprints of all the Maharaja's who had commited this act.
I have to say, I love the way Rajasthani women dress. In stark contrast to the barren wilderness they live in, their clothes are full of the brightest colours you can imagine.
Often though you will never see their faces - they have a strange way of pulling a veil in front of their faces when they are in public around strangers. Apparently this habit started as a reaction to Muslim invaders - Rajasthani's did not want their women looked at by their invaders. Or possibly, it was something taken from Muslim culture - there seemed to be two different interpretations. The forts and palaces are also designed in a certain way so that one can see out, but not in, a way to allow women to see out and observe the city, without compromising their modesty.
The highlight in Jodhpur was taking a little tour around the countryside there. We got to see a few different communities and the different ways they lived; farming, pottery, carpet making, etc. We also got to see them prepare opium, which has been used for centuries in Rajasthan. Most people in the countryside apparently take small amounts frequently, even daily, generally with their tea.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Slum Demolitions in India
We recently met with an Indian film-maker who has put together a documentary and photo-book on slum demolition India. We will hopefully be publishing his photo-book over the next couple of months.
Over the past two years India has destroyed thousands of slums rendering millions of people homeless. Generally there is little, if any compensation, and frequently, no notice of evictions. Allegations have been made of 'illegal' evictions done by lighting slums on fire to bypass laws. The laws generally favour the state though and tend to criminalise homelessness.
Its a really difficult issue here. On the one hand, people in big cities like Delhi and Mumbai, obviously don't really want to live next to acres of slums. Who does. So politicians get pressured into taking apart these slums, or else residents take the matter to courts who order the illegal dwellings to be taken down.
On the other side, often these people have been displaced from other regions by disasters both natural and man made. A lot of the slum dwellers living in a slum destroyed this year in Mumbai were 'tsunami-refugees' and here in Delhi, a lot come from areas of land flooded by hydroelectric projects or gone dry because of water misuse. A lot flee because of caste conflict. Few come to live in slums through choice. And when their slums are destroyed, no alternative housing is provided so most drift off to other slums, further away from affluent areas.
There is an interesting article on the issue here:
But more interesting were the comments from Indians, ranging from this:
It is the mindset of the slum dwellers which has to be demolished. They prefer to be slum dwellers even when they are encouraged to come out of the slums. They do not want to change their habits or culture as they find peace and heaven in that atmosphere. Some slum dwellers I suspect may be richer than those who live in palaces and pansions. They cannot change their life styles. They believe they are smarter than those living normal lives who are considered foolish by them. UN will do well to make endeavours to change their psychology so that they voluntarily get out of their slums.
to this:
I am amazed what UN has to do with Slum demolition in Mumbai and Delhi. The Slums demolished are not created on free land. It was land that was purchased by individuals or civic body plots which are reserved for the facilities for the people who pay taxes. Does UN mean to say that tax payers not to be considered for their money beacuse someone puts lsum there! The report creator is seems Indian origin. It seems that the natural interest in Indian matters has reflected in report rather than the fair non-judgemental reporting. I would request Miloon Kothari to travel one week in Mumbai local train and lets see if he sustains the unhyginic air from the slum area. I bet, he will never write any report. Mumbai Authorities are strict on demolitions of slums after 1995. Its fair and profesional act. No nation, city or human in the world can bear forcefull occupation on legal owners land. Mr. Kothari, if you so lighthened and touched, please come forward, take one slum dewller person and give your flats one room to live. then talk this kind of non-sense report.
and this:
Kudos to Mr. Miloon Kothari for taking a stand on the issue of slum demolitions in Mumbai! Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh needs to do a reality check if he thinks he can make Mumbai a world class city at the heavy cost displacing an already vulnerable slum population. Blindly demolishing the slums and uprooting thousands of families and children is not a sign of sound city planning. If he wants to wish away poverty from the city of Mumbai, he needs to do more than bulldoze people's homes. Can the Shanghai-bedazzled Deshmukh please focus on applying some thought, time and resources to some strategic and concrete action plans for housing the poor???
I am looking forward to putting together the book, it should be an interesting project.
We recently met with an Indian film-maker who has put together a documentary and photo-book on slum demolition India. We will hopefully be publishing his photo-book over the next couple of months.
Over the past two years India has destroyed thousands of slums rendering millions of people homeless. Generally there is little, if any compensation, and frequently, no notice of evictions. Allegations have been made of 'illegal' evictions done by lighting slums on fire to bypass laws. The laws generally favour the state though and tend to criminalise homelessness.
Its a really difficult issue here. On the one hand, people in big cities like Delhi and Mumbai, obviously don't really want to live next to acres of slums. Who does. So politicians get pressured into taking apart these slums, or else residents take the matter to courts who order the illegal dwellings to be taken down.
On the other side, often these people have been displaced from other regions by disasters both natural and man made. A lot of the slum dwellers living in a slum destroyed this year in Mumbai were 'tsunami-refugees' and here in Delhi, a lot come from areas of land flooded by hydroelectric projects or gone dry because of water misuse. A lot flee because of caste conflict. Few come to live in slums through choice. And when their slums are destroyed, no alternative housing is provided so most drift off to other slums, further away from affluent areas.
There is an interesting article on the issue here:
But more interesting were the comments from Indians, ranging from this:
It is the mindset of the slum dwellers which has to be demolished. They prefer to be slum dwellers even when they are encouraged to come out of the slums. They do not want to change their habits or culture as they find peace and heaven in that atmosphere. Some slum dwellers I suspect may be richer than those who live in palaces and pansions. They cannot change their life styles. They believe they are smarter than those living normal lives who are considered foolish by them. UN will do well to make endeavours to change their psychology so that they voluntarily get out of their slums.
to this:
I am amazed what UN has to do with Slum demolition in Mumbai and Delhi. The Slums demolished are not created on free land. It was land that was purchased by individuals or civic body plots which are reserved for the facilities for the people who pay taxes. Does UN mean to say that tax payers not to be considered for their money beacuse someone puts lsum there! The report creator is seems Indian origin. It seems that the natural interest in Indian matters has reflected in report rather than the fair non-judgemental reporting. I would request Miloon Kothari to travel one week in Mumbai local train and lets see if he sustains the unhyginic air from the slum area. I bet, he will never write any report. Mumbai Authorities are strict on demolitions of slums after 1995. Its fair and profesional act. No nation, city or human in the world can bear forcefull occupation on legal owners land. Mr. Kothari, if you so lighthened and touched, please come forward, take one slum dewller person and give your flats one room to live. then talk this kind of non-sense report.
and this:
Kudos to Mr. Miloon Kothari for taking a stand on the issue of slum demolitions in Mumbai! Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh needs to do a reality check if he thinks he can make Mumbai a world class city at the heavy cost displacing an already vulnerable slum population. Blindly demolishing the slums and uprooting thousands of families and children is not a sign of sound city planning. If he wants to wish away poverty from the city of Mumbai, he needs to do more than bulldoze people's homes. Can the Shanghai-bedazzled Deshmukh please focus on applying some thought, time and resources to some strategic and concrete action plans for housing the poor???
I am looking forward to putting together the book, it should be an interesting project.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Mein Kampf in India
Last week here in Delhi I headed to a book fair as part of my work with Viveka. There were stalls there from thousands of publishers and distributors across India.
One thing I couldn't help notice was five separate editions of 'Mein Kampf', Hitler's little rant which he wrote while he was locked up, before coming to power in Germany. Five editions! I saw this book almost as often as I saw 'The Da Vinci Code'.
In fact, a few Germans here have remarked on how, when telling some Indians (Pakistanis also) that they are German, a common reaction is 'Oh, Hitler! Very brave man', which leaves the Germans, obviously, a little gobsmacked.
Now I am certainly not suggesting that Indians are all neo-fascists, but surely five editions of Mein Kampf at different publishers does suggest some strong interest in old Hitler.
Personally, I think its due a little to the nature of life in India. The traffic, laws, government, etc; one word which a great number of people, Indians and foreigners alike, will often use to describe India, is chaotic.
One of the people from Belgium that we hosted recently was a retired Indian diplomat. We were talking about the Republic Day parade, and she mentioned that while she was a pacifist, she could not help but be impressed by the Indian military at the parade...'In chaotic India, they are about the only thing that seem really organised!'.
So maybe Indians are really just looking for a leader who will 'make the trains run on time', so to speak. I can imagine that the idea of synchronised jackboots, traffic laws obeyed, a less corrupt government and the rickshaw wallah who ripped you off this morning being thrown into jail within hours, might have its appeal to an Indian who has put up with the chaos here for a little too long.
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