2010 ROW Lecture Tour - Delhi,India.

This year my first port of call was to Delhi, India. My initial reaction was one of extreme surprise on the lack of beggars that I saw in my wanderings around the city. This was at complete odds with what I had expected. And yes, there is extreme poverty, with people living on the streets, yet not once was I approached by any-one begging. In spite of their lack of wealth, and worldly goods,the people I saw and came into contact with, and I can assure you, I visited areas of the city which were occupied by the poorer people, as well as those which were not lacking in wealth, were basically happy and friendly.

On my journey I had picked up a book written by a Catholic Priest, on his time spent in the slums of Calcutta. In it he describes how the people used every possible occasion for the celebration of life, and inspite of the hardships they were confronted with on a moment to moment, and day to day basis, as they struggled to survive in the harsh environment, were ever assisting one- another whenever possible. And through it all they maintained a level of happiness, and humanity that is almost hard to imagine given the prevailing circumstances.

Nearly everything was carried out on the street, including barbering

Within a short distance in one street I passed three barbers plying their trade.

Each of them having a different modus operandi. From the most simple with just a plastic sheet covering, and squatting on the ground to the more elaborate and sophisticated chair and all the accoutrements to be found in most western establishments. Albeit though, still on the roadside and in the open air.

The bulk of the population live in these high rise apartments separated one from the other by the mostly narrow ,dark, cavern, like laneways.

And some are even wider with much more light.

And the main interconnecting streets are much wider with, on the whole, far less rubbish obstructing the passage of cars and multitudes of people. This photo was taken in the early morning before the bulk of the people were up and about.

Then there are the broader main thouroughfares along which trundle the ancient and rather decrepit buses, which appear to be kept mobile more by gosh and good-luck than regular maintenance and care.

This is another early morning shot, for within a very short time these roadways have become crowed with both foot traffic and motorised vehicles including the ubiquitous tuk-tuk.

These are some of the street scenes which are a true presentation of the ever present derritrus of our societies as occurs when the population is beyond the physical capacities of the infrastructure to cope with.

 

And through it all, the people struggle on in their endeavours to attain at least a minimum of dignity, cleanliness, and self-reliance.

Each day the residents endeavour to maintain a modicum of cleanliness and tidiness in their limited way. The mountain of accumulating rubbish though, is far beyond their ability to do so.

Even the goats live on the street.

In the midst of all this clutter and debris are to be found the flower sellers

Their efforts, as they laboriously weave the flowers into intricate and attractively pleasing displays, assists in offsetting the effects of the continual exposure to the mounds of rubbish on the senses.

One thing I did not do was to smell the flowers to see if they gave off an aroma. Or, as the case in most westernised countries today, the flowers grown are so hybridised that they no longer have any aroma.

The iceman still lays a major role with he cost of refrigeration and refrigerators being beyond the ability of the average person.

 

The delivery is made, as can be observed, on bicycles, right to your front doorstep. And as many people live on the streets, that happens to be the roadside.

The bicycle is still considered, and actively used as a major form of transportation.

In this photo not only can we see this man straining to transport what is obviously a very heavy load as he is unable to move it by pedalling.

We can also observe one of the modern replacements of the rickshaw - the pedal operated tri-shaw.

Although modern transportation methods are available, such as utilities and trucks etc., a large percentage of the goods are transported by these three wheeled bicycles which not only are they cheap to hire, they also can access the very narow streets and lane-ways that are to be found almost everywhere.

In this climate which is invariably warm and hot all the year round, these juice stalls selling freshly made fruit juices are a common sight. My taste buds indicated that the juice was well watered down, refreshing nevertheless.

The street stalls selling fresh fruit and vegetables were always a welcome sight. In the background can be seen the motorised form of transportation which has replaced the rickshaw - known commonly throughout Asia, and even in Cuba, as the tuk-tuk.

The food available is certainly of equal quality and flavour to any I have sampled anywhere in the world. Perhaps even superior in many instances. Much of the food is still grown by the traditional methods without the use of artificial fertilisers and poisonous sprays, the farmers beeing too poor to purchase them. And in those instances where they have been introduced they have often bankrupted the farmers, causing total disruption to the local economy and resulting in the suicides of many of the farmers.

This stall is selling juice made with a hand operated juicer.

And this stall is selling cups of tea, and freshly laid eggs

Here we see the old and the new forms of transport, both actively in use. With in the background the admonition to exercise, which for the tricycle operator appears rather superfluous.

Women still use the traditional method for carrying anything by placing it in a basket on their heads.

In this instance the women are carrying the sand from one side of the street to the cement mixer on the other.

All types of vehicles are utilised as people carriers, such as this LandRover. Stacked in they are.

The rear end of all the trucks, and buses all have this very same sign, or a variation of it, painted on them, which says, "Please sound your Horn". And you may rest assured that every-one does just that, resulting in the senses being continually exposed to this great cacophony of sound, which as you may well imagine results in no-one really taking any notice.

Here is to be seen another very normal street scene. It would appear that the replacement of water pipes and subterranean cables is a never ending process with almost every street being involved.

The street is just as common a place as anywhere for your daily ablutions. All you require is a bowl of water and a cake of soap.

Each street has its roadside temple dedicated to one of the many deities that are worshipped in India.

And in the midst of all this poverty you find these beautifully maintained mausoleums to some past dignity, his wives, and concubines.

Each one is beautifully constructed, with the inticacy of the carved stonework and frieze' rarely, if ever, seen in our buildings today.

Each is unique in its own right, with the acres of surrounding grounds so well cared for and places of peace and quiet, so different from the surroundings, with its wall to wall people, traffic, and inevitable cacophony of sound generated by the people,motor traffic, blaring horns etc.

This brings us to the prime reason for my visit to Delhi. Not only to view the lifestyle of the local inahbitants - also to visit the local so-called Nature Cure Hospital. So why do I refer to it as a so-called Nature Cure Hospital?  My reason for doing so is based upon the fact that, although it subscribes to the use of some of the principles of Nature Cure, such as Hydrotherapy, Heliotherapy, Exercise etc., it also uses Ayurvedic Medicine. And by its very name of Ayurvedic Medicine we are informed that it is the practice of medicine, and not that of Nature Cure. For in the practice of Nature Cure there is no place for medications of any type or description. Medications are used for the treatment of disease. And as Nature Cure subscribes to the principle that disease(acute) is the process by which the body heals itself - any treatment by medication will only result in suppression of the healing process and contribute towards the development of chronic disease.

I was very graciously received by Dr Pradhan the director of the Hospital, and after a viewing of the facilities that they offered, spent the next two hours in discussion of matter of mutual interest, ending with the most kind invitation to visit again any time I wished.

This is the room from which the Ayurvedic medications are dispensed.

These are the various rooms which are used for hydrotherapy with this photo depicting the equipment used for the foot and arm baths.

In this last view we see the room for the teaching of Yoga. I did not enquire as to the capacity of the Hospital, yet from the size of this room it would indicate that it is quite substantial..