(Note: I wrote this while in Varanasi but couldn't post from there. I am now back in Mumbai. I will post about Varanasi tomorrow.)
Sorry for the long delay in postings. Srinagar and Varanasi have only Internet cafes for access and they tend to be slow. Quick update on things.
Srinagar is a beautiful place. Nestled in the Himalaya's around a huge lake called Dal Lake it's famous for it's houseboats. The British couldn't buy land so they built these. I stayed in one and it was gorgeous and confortable. Rhe scenery and climate are great this time of year. Srinagar is also the heart of the Kashmir region. Which as you may know was the cause of two wars between Pakistan and India over whoi controlled the region. There was a cease fire in 2005 which has held except for the occasional gun fire from Pakistan over the border (I was 300 kilometers from the border. But there is a heavy armed militaru presence in Srinagar.Soldiers every 200 feet or so alond main roads. Gives it a slightly uneasy feeling to a regular tourist like me. Also Kashmiris don't consider themsleves Indians. They don't seem to like Indians very much either. But they do make up 95% of the current tourist trade.
I just got to Varanasi so no comments yet except the hotel is great, Hotel Ganges View, and the Ganges is impressive.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Ankleshwar
I couldn't take it for one day, yet people live there all all their lives. Ankleshwar Junction, comprised of seven towns, is in the heart of the Gujarat Industrial region. I went there because I had seen photo's from my friend Srinivas. They depicted a polluted industrial wasteland. They barely scratched the surface.
In the mid 1970's the Government of Gujarat decided they needed to spur economic growth in the region. To do this, put simply, they used eminent domain and bought the land from the farmers for about 1 - 2 Rupees per square foot. Land the farmers had been farming or generations of course, and was worth about 10 - 12 rupees per square foot. Some farmers have yet to receive the money. The Government then gave subsidies to corporations to locate there. And even though environmental regulations exist they were widely ignored. Chemical plants, die plants, pharmaceuticals, fertilizer plants, and many others sprang up. Workers came in from other Indian states taking jobs from the locals, and since the locals now had no means of income they began the downward cycle into extreme poverty. 40% of the region lives on less then a dollar a day. Meanwhile the factories got built. More and more of them. Hazardous waste piling up and being dumped randomly. Chemicals of all types sinking into the ground water. Smoke billowing into the air. It goes unchecked to this day.
Yesterday even. I met a man by the name of Rohit who has been investigating the pollution since 1995. (Nobody even thought about it for 20 years). He's been filing reports and court battles regularly since then. The Government will hold public hearings, promise reform and do nothing. Corporations agree to fix filtration systems and don't. Rohit took me around to several of the worst sites. Contaminated water bubbling up in the middle of a crop field. Children playing in black water, men from the die factories whose skin is now permanently red, or blue, or yellow. Broken pipelines leaking contaminated water that is supposed to flow directly into the sea 20 kilometers away. Air that burns your nose at certain times of the day when chemicals are released. A constant stench of pollution.
I met several people who told me there personal stories. Children with asthma. High cancer rates. Health care is expensive. Crops not growing due to contaminated fields. I've never been in a place like this. It feels deadly just standing in town. The chemicals seem to permeate into everything. I left earlier then planned because I couldn't take it and I could leave. The people who live there are too poor to leave. They drink the water. They eat the crops. They breathe the air. The government of India is allowing them to die.
And unknowingly, we buy the jeans died blue with the dies made there. We eat food grown with fertilizer made there. Take pharmaceuticals whose components are made there. I don't know what the solution is to Gujarat. Except removing everyone from there and giving them the resources to start over and condemning the land. But what's happening there is wrong. And just because it's not next door to me or you doesn't make it any less wrong.
Benjamin
In the mid 1970's the Government of Gujarat decided they needed to spur economic growth in the region. To do this, put simply, they used eminent domain and bought the land from the farmers for about 1 - 2 Rupees per square foot. Land the farmers had been farming or generations of course, and was worth about 10 - 12 rupees per square foot. Some farmers have yet to receive the money. The Government then gave subsidies to corporations to locate there. And even though environmental regulations exist they were widely ignored. Chemical plants, die plants, pharmaceuticals, fertilizer plants, and many others sprang up. Workers came in from other Indian states taking jobs from the locals, and since the locals now had no means of income they began the downward cycle into extreme poverty. 40% of the region lives on less then a dollar a day. Meanwhile the factories got built. More and more of them. Hazardous waste piling up and being dumped randomly. Chemicals of all types sinking into the ground water. Smoke billowing into the air. It goes unchecked to this day.
Yesterday even. I met a man by the name of Rohit who has been investigating the pollution since 1995. (Nobody even thought about it for 20 years). He's been filing reports and court battles regularly since then. The Government will hold public hearings, promise reform and do nothing. Corporations agree to fix filtration systems and don't. Rohit took me around to several of the worst sites. Contaminated water bubbling up in the middle of a crop field. Children playing in black water, men from the die factories whose skin is now permanently red, or blue, or yellow. Broken pipelines leaking contaminated water that is supposed to flow directly into the sea 20 kilometers away. Air that burns your nose at certain times of the day when chemicals are released. A constant stench of pollution.
I met several people who told me there personal stories. Children with asthma. High cancer rates. Health care is expensive. Crops not growing due to contaminated fields. I've never been in a place like this. It feels deadly just standing in town. The chemicals seem to permeate into everything. I left earlier then planned because I couldn't take it and I could leave. The people who live there are too poor to leave. They drink the water. They eat the crops. They breathe the air. The government of India is allowing them to die.
And unknowingly, we buy the jeans died blue with the dies made there. We eat food grown with fertilizer made there. Take pharmaceuticals whose components are made there. I don't know what the solution is to Gujarat. Except removing everyone from there and giving them the resources to start over and condemning the land. But what's happening there is wrong. And just because it's not next door to me or you doesn't make it any less wrong.
Benjamin
Thursday, May 8, 2008
1:30am Blog
So I'm not quite adjusted to the time difference. It's 1:30am here but 4:00pm in New York.
So here was today's itinerary. The morning was spent in Dahravi. Dahravi is famous as the worlds largest slum. Around 1,000,000 live in it. The thing is it's been around a while and is really it's own city. It has many businesses that have been passed down. And it has all it's own services. I wandered through a small part of it and yes it looks and feels poor, but it also feels vibrant and active. As much so as any the part of the city I've been in. The city actually wants to raze it and put up new buildings but the problem of course is what do you do with the people living there. If you tear down their buildings they won't have anyplace to work. And maybe you could supply low income housing but without jobs how could they afford anything. They should have better living conditions but how do you change the lives of 1,000,000 people with out destroying those very lives.
One quick fact, for the first time in human history more then 50% of the worlds population is living in urban areas. And that number is going to increase.
After Dahravi I went to a very nice place, two actually. The Hanging Gardens which are a renowned tourist attraction. They are very pretty and peaceful with many Mumbai-ites walking around admiring the grounds. Not very much is actually hanging as far as I could tell but the plants and trees are beautiful. It also overlooks the bay on one side and the ocean on the other.
Then came the Gandhi Museum. It's the house where he lived from 1917 - 1932 and from which many of his most famous actions were launched. It's a beautiful place. Very informative and inspiring. And in a beautiful part of town. Pictures of all three places should be posted.
Tomorrow a train ride to Ankleschwar for two days. I'm not sure about connectivity up there, it's a little more remote, but I'll be
in touch as soon as possible.
Benjamin Solotaire
Gooch Senior Foreign Correspondent
So here was today's itinerary. The morning was spent in Dahravi. Dahravi is famous as the worlds largest slum. Around 1,000,000 live in it. The thing is it's been around a while and is really it's own city. It has many businesses that have been passed down. And it has all it's own services. I wandered through a small part of it and yes it looks and feels poor, but it also feels vibrant and active. As much so as any the part of the city I've been in. The city actually wants to raze it and put up new buildings but the problem of course is what do you do with the people living there. If you tear down their buildings they won't have anyplace to work. And maybe you could supply low income housing but without jobs how could they afford anything. They should have better living conditions but how do you change the lives of 1,000,000 people with out destroying those very lives.
One quick fact, for the first time in human history more then 50% of the worlds population is living in urban areas. And that number is going to increase.
After Dahravi I went to a very nice place, two actually. The Hanging Gardens which are a renowned tourist attraction. They are very pretty and peaceful with many Mumbai-ites walking around admiring the grounds. Not very much is actually hanging as far as I could tell but the plants and trees are beautiful. It also overlooks the bay on one side and the ocean on the other.
Then came the Gandhi Museum. It's the house where he lived from 1917 - 1932 and from which many of his most famous actions were launched. It's a beautiful place. Very informative and inspiring. And in a beautiful part of town. Pictures of all three places should be posted.
Tomorrow a train ride to Ankleschwar for two days. I'm not sure about connectivity up there, it's a little more remote, but I'll be
in touch as soon as possible.
Benjamin Solotaire
Gooch Senior Foreign Correspondent
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Not everyone loves cricket
Not everyone loves cricket, but at least 25,000 screaming fans do. But more on that in a minute.
I started out yesterday by going down to the shipyards, or at least a part of them. (Quick aside, I learned yesterday that Mumbai, which a lot of people still call Bombay, was originally seven islands that have been joined together. Isn't that wild. So there's a lot of water around.) I'm still trying to figure out how to describe the experience. I'll post pictures later, that will help. There's essentially row after row of workshops, some small, some large, with men bending, grinding, cutting, and melting steel of all sizes and shapes. Big moving machines moving big pieces of metal. And above and around the workshops the families of the men living and going about their lives. It's dirty and seems pretty dangerous.
One photo you'll see sums it up for me. There's a few boats pulled up to the shore a couple of feet from the waters edge. And between them and the shore there are several kids swimming and playing. The boats are there to be worked on and the water is murky and grimy but the kids are swimming there because that's where they have to play.
And in the great dichotomy that is our world, that evening I went to a cricket match. The 25,000 screaming fans mentioned above. I've never seen a cricket game before but I found it very exciting. The pitching, actually called bowling, is weird and the batting is funny, but it's obviously a game of strategy and skill. I won't try and describe the rules, but I don't think they are as complicated as some would have you believe. The Mumbai Indians won which pleased the crowd. I would watch again.
In between those events I went to a nice museum of Indian culture and an art gallery with some fantastic contemporary work by an artist named Vipta Kapadia (www.viptakapadia.com).
More Mumbai today then tomorrow up to Ankleschwar for two days. Followed by Srinagar on the 12th and Benares (also called Varanasi) on the 16th.
until next time,
Benjamin Solotaire
Gooch Senior Foreign Correspondent
I started out yesterday by going down to the shipyards, or at least a part of them. (Quick aside, I learned yesterday that Mumbai, which a lot of people still call Bombay, was originally seven islands that have been joined together. Isn't that wild. So there's a lot of water around.) I'm still trying to figure out how to describe the experience. I'll post pictures later, that will help. There's essentially row after row of workshops, some small, some large, with men bending, grinding, cutting, and melting steel of all sizes and shapes. Big moving machines moving big pieces of metal. And above and around the workshops the families of the men living and going about their lives. It's dirty and seems pretty dangerous.
One photo you'll see sums it up for me. There's a few boats pulled up to the shore a couple of feet from the waters edge. And between them and the shore there are several kids swimming and playing. The boats are there to be worked on and the water is murky and grimy but the kids are swimming there because that's where they have to play.
And in the great dichotomy that is our world, that evening I went to a cricket match. The 25,000 screaming fans mentioned above. I've never seen a cricket game before but I found it very exciting. The pitching, actually called bowling, is weird and the batting is funny, but it's obviously a game of strategy and skill. I won't try and describe the rules, but I don't think they are as complicated as some would have you believe. The Mumbai Indians won which pleased the crowd. I would watch again.
In between those events I went to a nice museum of Indian culture and an art gallery with some fantastic contemporary work by an artist named Vipta Kapadia (www.viptakapadia.com).
More Mumbai today then tomorrow up to Ankleschwar for two days. Followed by Srinagar on the 12th and Benares (also called Varanasi) on the 16th.
until next time,
Benjamin Solotaire
Gooch Senior Foreign Correspondent
Break from the midday heat blog
It's like 95 degrees out there so I've come inside for a little bit. The train station has many weight and fortune machines so I tried one. It said I weighed 121.5 kilos. That's 267.5 pounds. I don't weigh that much. The fortune was, or advice really was "Travel Wisely, Not Wildly." Good advice at a train station. And the personality reading was "You have the fiery passionate nature of the ideal lover. Compelling, masterful and absorbing." Also not something most people would mind hearing. But reminder how far off it was on the weight.
It's weird sitting in my hotel room after just having walked through slums for the last couple of hours. More on those later. Off to the Gandhi museum shortly then the cricket match.
Benjamin Solotaire
Gooch Senior Foreign Correspondent
It's weird sitting in my hotel room after just having walked through slums for the last couple of hours. More on those later. Off to the Gandhi museum shortly then the cricket match.
Benjamin Solotaire
Gooch Senior Foreign Correspondent
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
A nap and a mosque
Day two was less, shall we say explicit then Day one. I had the morning to myself and just wandered around the Fort neighborhood where my hotel is. I would of say this neighborhood is sort of like Park Slope but wildly different. Park Slope with a cow or two in the street and beggars with leprosy and three times as many people.
I also went to the High Court of Bombay, kinda of like a Federal Circuit court I think. That was cool. The building was finished in 1878 and is this four story maze of rooms and people. There's no air conditioning just lots of fans. Based on the five or six I saw the courtrooms have a couple of rows of chairs in the back for spectators or participants, then a railing and a few rows for the lawyers to wait in. The lawyers all wear black robes as do the judges. Then there's a podium for the presenting lawyers and the judges or judges sitting up front. The proceedings seem to be both in Hindi and English. It felt like a solemn and busy place.
Then I got a bite to eat and came back to my room and took a nap. Jet lag and heat catching up to me I guess. After I woke up I met up with Srini and we went to the Hali Aji Mosque. India is about 80.5% Hindi and 13% Muslim but that 13% built this beautiful mosque here in the late 1600's. They built a a lot of mosques actually but this one is really nice. Pictures will be posted. (FYI, They don't let you take pictures of the High Court.)
Today I'm planning a trip to the ship yards and Dahravi (the world's largest slum area). Then a cricket match tonight. The cricket match is part of a tour that is what Srini is working on.
Benjamin
I also went to the High Court of Bombay, kinda of like a Federal Circuit court I think. That was cool. The building was finished in 1878 and is this four story maze of rooms and people. There's no air conditioning just lots of fans. Based on the five or six I saw the courtrooms have a couple of rows of chairs in the back for spectators or participants, then a railing and a few rows for the lawyers to wait in. The lawyers all wear black robes as do the judges. Then there's a podium for the presenting lawyers and the judges or judges sitting up front. The proceedings seem to be both in Hindi and English. It felt like a solemn and busy place.
Then I got a bite to eat and came back to my room and took a nap. Jet lag and heat catching up to me I guess. After I woke up I met up with Srini and we went to the Hali Aji Mosque. India is about 80.5% Hindi and 13% Muslim but that 13% built this beautiful mosque here in the late 1600's. They built a a lot of mosques actually but this one is really nice. Pictures will be posted. (FYI, They don't let you take pictures of the High Court.)
Today I'm planning a trip to the ship yards and Dahravi (the world's largest slum area). Then a cricket match tonight. The cricket match is part of a tour that is what Srini is working on.
Benjamin
Monday, May 5, 2008
First Day
After 17 hours of traveling I made it to Mumbai. I got to my hotel and was met by my friend Srini from NY. I knew he was in India but didn't know where exactly until I landed and had a message from him on my phone that he was in Mumbai. We went out walking around and let me say this is a crazy, beautiful city.
A couple of facts. Mumbai is the most populated city in the world measured by population with-in city boundaries, as an urban area it's in the top five. And India's population is growing by 50,000 a day.
The city feels like a combination of New York and Cameroon (where I just was if anyone reading doesn't know that.) Cosmopolitan in some places yet dirt poor in others. Less then dirt poor actually. I, of course, have barely seen anything. I saw the Gate of India (I don't why that's famous but I'll find out), and the Thieves Market. It's really just incredible. Hot, noisy, beautiful, fascinating. I'll post pictures sometime soon.
At the end of the day Srini and I went to a bar with some friends of his. That was interesting. As soon as we sat down the table was surrounded by women. The deal is they stand there until you pick one and then they sit down and won't leave until you buy them a drink a give them money. And of course if you give them enough money you can go upstairs and... well, you know. My first experience ever with the sex trade. I found the whole thing really weird and needless to say we had a drink and politely left.
Lastly, another interesting observation. We took the train last night, which is nothing like the train in NY by the way, and there was no one listening to their iPod. And for those New Yorkers reading this, you'll know that's different.
So now it's time to go back out and see and experience more.
Benjamin
A couple of facts. Mumbai is the most populated city in the world measured by population with-in city boundaries, as an urban area it's in the top five. And India's population is growing by 50,000 a day.
The city feels like a combination of New York and Cameroon (where I just was if anyone reading doesn't know that.) Cosmopolitan in some places yet dirt poor in others. Less then dirt poor actually. I, of course, have barely seen anything. I saw the Gate of India (I don't why that's famous but I'll find out), and the Thieves Market. It's really just incredible. Hot, noisy, beautiful, fascinating. I'll post pictures sometime soon.
At the end of the day Srini and I went to a bar with some friends of his. That was interesting. As soon as we sat down the table was surrounded by women. The deal is they stand there until you pick one and then they sit down and won't leave until you buy them a drink a give them money. And of course if you give them enough money you can go upstairs and... well, you know. My first experience ever with the sex trade. I found the whole thing really weird and needless to say we had a drink and politely left.
Lastly, another interesting observation. We took the train last night, which is nothing like the train in NY by the way, and there was no one listening to their iPod. And for those New Yorkers reading this, you'll know that's different.
So now it's time to go back out and see and experience more.
Benjamin
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