Hi.. so, here we are in India. I wish I could say I have been having a huge adventure full of deep cultural experiences and learning about the intricacies of Indian life, but I can't really. We spent the first two days of our trip in Delhi. This place is quite hard to put into words. I have written pages of notes on the issues I see India, and Delhi in particular, facing at present. The big issue when we were there, and still is, are the Common Wealth Games. The Indian media and goverment appears to be very sensitive to its image, especially internationally. I couldn't help notice how often they used the words "showcase" and "modern". They seem to see this whole thing as a big opportunity to show the world how they have become a modern, rich and powerful society which can be a player on the big stage. I have no doubt that huge progress has been made, for example there is now a tube running throughout Delhi, its a really good one too. The problem is not many people can afford it. It really got me thinking about what being modern means. All I could come up with was compassion, equality and respect for others. I have real doubts about this with regards to Delhi and I am not surprised about the chaos regarding the games village etc. There are still homeless people everywhere including children. There is rubbish everywhere, the streets are full of holes and there are still open sewers in many of the streets. The main train station has people living on it and defecating on the platforms. Dogs still roam the streets and many of the rickshaw drivers still live in their riskshaws 24 hours a day. Ironically they often park outside the tube stations and take people who come out of the station. I wonder how much they have lost now their customer uses the tube for part of their journey? Can a city profess to be modern with all this happening? I am really not sure. There is no doubt the upper classes of India are doing well, but spending time in Old Delhi you can see that there are parts of the city which has made no progress at all. It is almost medieval. I discussed this with a guy on a train. He was a well educated young man from the north. He said "no one can change Old Delhi" and "the problem with this country is there is too many people".. I am sure I have heard that somewhere before. He is among an obvious group of young, English speaking people who are doing well. I wanted to say to him "why are there still kids on the street then?" but it just wasn't the right moment.. I fear it maybe easier for the well off people to look out into the world for their aspirations rather than to look inside and fix the problems of there own country. A poster I saw on the wall said it all really, it was a government poster which read "Help the homeless of Delhi, and paint a better picture of our city to the world". Its this twisted, upside down value that I see as a real problem here. I hope one day India will see that the best way to gain the respect of the world is to respect itself.
I have so much more to say about our time here so far... much of it positive too! It's a true assault on the senses. I am officially blown away by India again. However this time I have had a different experience, one which I wasn't planning. After a few days in Delhi I started to get a cough. Nothing too serious just a tickle. I just ignored it. We ended up in a city called Haridwar, one of Indias holy cities on the river Ganges. Every night there are ceremonies on the river and hundres of worshippers arrive to wash away their sins, its quite a sight. The next day we decided to get up into the himalayan foothills as the heat was getting oppressive.. all the time still with a cough. We arrived in a lovely place called Mussoorie, its at 2000m above sea level so nice and cool compared to the plains below. That night (sunday) my cough was really bad and I decided I obviously had a chest infection. I didn't sleep all night after having a bad night the night before anyway so the next day we went to a doctor who prescribed some antibiotics. I thought in a few days and I would be fine. If only. By 9pm I was in hospital.
Probably the most surreal experience of my life to be honest. (Sats-79%, Pulse- 115, Temp-39.4) I was proper ill, not man flu, not Delhi belly, proper ill this time! The guy in our hotel said I had him really worried.. Had Marianne not been with me I have no idea what would have happened she was amazing. I was lucky too, the standard of care in India is variable, at best. The hospital here is part of a group of Christian hospitals which are based in remote locations, except this one is not so remote luckily for me. I have to say I have been in dirtier hospitals in the UK and witnessed worse standards of care in the UK. They were happy to use our sterile needles we had with us but it was soon pretty clear that there were using sterile equipment for their IVs etc. I was admitted for 2 nights and diagnosed with an Upper Respiratory Tract Infection. I had x-rays, loads of meds, blood tests.. the works. I had my own room which had a spare bed for Marianne. It was weird, the room was on the maternity unit! The nurses told me there had been 6 babies born there while I was, in from what I heard there was more than that!... one lady brought her baby out to show us.. hours old... it was bizarre! (but lovely too;) The hospital is supposed to be for poor people, so we made a big donation (it all cost less then a hundred quid). If you would like to do the same see here: http://www.eha-health.org/clinical/hospitals/72-hospitals/54-mussoorie
and here:
So, not the start we planned.. but who could have planned that? We will stay in Mussoorie for a few more days as I am still on meds and feeling a bit rough but should be fully fit in a few days. Then its back on the road in this crazy crazy place :)
Some pics below.....
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