Saturday, May 23, 2009

Allan: India, what I have seen...

Although I haven't 'seen' India, I have spent a few days in Delhi, Agra and Dehradun, not to mention the 200 KM car ride to Agra from Delhi and back. With those cities and areas in between as reference points from which to draw, I share with you what I have seen in India. This, of course, excludes the Westernized hotels behind gated walls and the newer airport that could be anywhere in the world with it's fine eateries, coffee shops and shopping opportunities; what I'll be drawing on is virtually everything else. As David mentioned in the previous post, it's difficult to share what we have seen, each of us learning to receive information without formulation of thought or judgement from ones vantage point. My intent is to provide only what my eyes have seen, without commentary, embellishments or implied judgement coming from a Westernized point of view. With that said, it's hard to just see, as the emotions of compassion and empathy arise for my fellow human being. I don't know how to think of what I've seen, but for now I have chosen only to see. Over the next several weeks I hope to understand what I have seen, learn from what I have experienced, hopefully taking with me a broader understanding of the hardships in the world and myself in response to those hardships. I know I have a lot to learn, well beyond the gratitude for my own life. Following is my attempt at sharing through the written word, what my eyes have seen.

What I have seen...

...dull things, no shiny things, short of the sequins on a soiree or the bangles that adorn the wrist of a traditionally dressed Indian woman. The shine is obscured by the dirt and the dust that shares the air with the sweltering 100+ Degree heat

...buildings; storefronts, houses, businesses in the shadow of a former self, in disrepair, without paint, roofs that apparently leak as they are covered with tarps of blue, brown and clear plastic held down by random bricks, rocks and branches

...stacked bricks on a public sidewalk, the Taj Mahal in the background, with an open flame in the center, an old woman in a squatted position cooking

...vehicles of all types; cars, trucks, 3 wheeled motorized rickshaws, buses, motorcycles that are scratched, dented, rusted, older

...piles of unearthed dirt; lining the roadways, resting in front of buildings, in heaps on the landscaped medians, left long ago by evidence of the withered weeds that now call them home

...people; young, old, men bathing in catch basins under communal water hand pumps in the neighborhoods and that line the roadways

...small wooden buildings/houses, on raised feet, with shed like doors lining the streets, roads

...many people on their way to somewhere

...abandoned vehicles dotting the roadside, nature now consuming their carcasses

...goats rummaging through the piles, layers of garbage several inches thick if not feet, in front of houses, storefronts, along the roadside

...stacks of orange red brick occupying many roadsides, building parking areas and street sidewalks

...children playing

...traffic coming to a slow as vehicles navigate around the broken down truck on a bridge undergoing repair, the rear axle dropped and disassembled like an exploded view in a Mechanic's text book

...paved roadways, while building approaches and storefront lots are dirt, misshapen by use and the monsoon season

...carts pulled by oxen, donkeys and an occasional camel, carrying goods and fruits like bananas, mangos, limes, and vegetables like cucumbers, carrots

...men relieving themselves, often in open view, as their bodies require

...lined roadways of two, becoming 3, and sometimes four lanes to traffic

...once used, disfigured plastic bottles everywhere; along roadsides, floating in creeks, lining the edges of small lakes

...rickshaws, designed for two people plus the driver, carrying up to 8, 9 or maybe 10 people

...people gathered in conversation, business

...NIKE billboards adorning a roadside building face, one for each direction; a shoe in profile, the caption reading, "NIKE Air"

...watermelon stands along the roadway, cut sample melons obscured by flies, reading more black than red

...brilliant white smiles, set against a skin tone unlike my own

...divided roadways for the vehicles, with exception of the occasional tractor, bus or an Ox pulled cart headed toward you

...stopped or slowed vehicles at intersections presented with a variety of items being sold; water, jewelry, magazines

...of the people they are primarily men, dressed in Western styled shirts and trousers

...traffic stopping as a herd of cattle or goats cross the major roadway

...people working physically hard, as evidenced through their lean bodies and the sweat on their brow

...skinny dogs stretching after a nap in the afternoon heat

...the morning sun emerging from the haze (it appears not to rise) and the evening sun vanishing behind the air's glaze as it nears the earth from my view (it appears not to set)

...restaurant dining rooms of plastic chairs around wooden tables of various sizes and shapes, on dirt floors, under tarps branded by Vodafone

...Monkeys scampering about, like squirrels




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