Day 27 - Why We Work

5-2-2 BONDED LABOURERS FREED.
Not a Typo! 

See? They don't all fit in the frame!

Beyond happy news from our sister office! On Thursday the team entered a brick kiln to rescue one man, and the RDO (mid-level government official) was overwhelmed by pleas from (literally) countless labourers begging for their rescue. He called his boss and explained the situation claiming "I can't bring everyone out." But that is exactly what his superior said he must do.

The story in the largest English daily in India can be accessed here.  

This case is replete with miraculous evidence of the public justice system working for the poor:

1. The government set up a medical clinic to screen every labourer as they disembark the rescue trucks.
2. The government arranged for immediate food and housing for over 500 people. This is like planning a Hindu wedding in a matter of hours.
3. The owner is already under arrest.
4. The government has already issued 1,000 rupees to each person and arranged for train passage home to their native place in Orissa.

These details are truly amazing, as the demonstrate the government exceeding their legal responsibilities with an outpouring of love and concern for the well being of these dear people.

The article provides a glimpse into some of the daily abuses a bonded labourer endures in India. For the last year, details of labourers' abuse have been my vicarious reality, peppered with joyous days when we are able to assist in the rescue a couple families at a time. Yet days like this, are evidence that our hope for structural change are not naive.  God graciously showing us how the dreams we dream are small (hoping to rescue one man) in comparison to the mighty deeds he is ready to display. That this watershed moment came after 1,000 supporters assembled to pray against slavery in India two weeks ago, cannot be explained away as coincidental. (Video below.)

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV

Please pray for the teams as they arrange logistics for this staggering number of labourers, and for the labourers as they begin the difficult journey to freedom. Thank you!

~

If you really want to dive in, check out the aforementioned plenary session on slavery. (It's AMAZING, but a 2 hour commitment. I hope you can multitask.) 

Watch live streaming video from globalprayergathering at livestream.com

Day 28 - "My" Village

One of the most difficult things to cope with in India is the gap between the haves and have nots, especially when they live on top of each other. The contrast is startling and even after 11 months, disconcerting. Even the posh-est zip codes will have a slum, which is where the majority of the wealthy's housekeepers and drivers will live. The village pictured in my clip below is 100m from my apartment building.  Though we're neighbours, if I walked through instead of taking the auto I'd cause quite the disturbance.

I apologise in advance for the inane commentary, apparently all I can muster before my morning brew is stating the oh-so-obvious. Feel free to watch on mute. 

Stray dogs, cows blocking traffic, men selling tender coconuts from pushcarts, morning trips to fetch water (which they can't drink  until it's been boiled), open sewage, and open space that becomes a dump because waste management is not a thing. This is the side of the new cosmopolitan Bangalore that Thomas Friedman didn't see. Really Tommy. Bangalore isn't flat, let alone the world! (Though the title was derived from a statement by  Nandan Nilekani, former CEO of Infosys,  one of the largest IT companies in India based in Bangalore.)

Images captured during an afternoon trip along the same path paint a more romantic picture of their daily activities, catching vendors as they sort their produce in the sun. There's an impressionist quality to the first shot. Enjoy!

The white chalk drawing in the lower left corner is called rangoli and indicates that this home has been swept clean today. I'll do an entire post on this practice as it's a lovely way many Indian women incorporate beauty and art into their daily routine.

Onions.

For his pushcart!

Colour!!! But the most amazing thing about this picture is how white the womans hair is. Beautiful! (And I'm not sure what these women are sorting. Looks like coffee? Perhaps thats wishful thinking.)

Day 29 - Life Lessons for Auto Drivers

Just in case anyone thinks I get to ride around in a white SUV all the time like expat royalty, please know that my primary form of transportation is a glorified golf cart, also known as: the auto-rickshaw.

We live at the mercy of auto drivers whims, and boy are they an opinionated group! Legally, they are supposed to charge the metered rate (starting at a 17 rupees for 2 km) however extenuating circumstances like holidays, light rainfall, Sundays, sunsets, and their personal disdain for your destination may all necessitate a fare hike. 

It will be nice when every trip doesn't have to start with a heated argument over the price. My coworker Mark tries to give life lessons to the auto driver by explaining the merits of regular maintenance on one's auto or carrying change. But these lectures must fall on deaf ears because I haven't had an auto make exact  change for two weeks.

But Bangalore auto drivers aren't representative of all auto drivers throughout India. As with most things there's a range of experiences. 

Bombay autos are known to be quite honourable, will take you anywhere (except Town where these fellows aren't allowed) and are good about giving exact change to the rupee! 

In Chennai the majority of drivers claim their meter doesn't work and demand a fixed price.

But Delhi is the worst. There, a auto will agree to a low fare, take you halfway to your destination and stop, and  you might hear something like this:

"There's a violent political protest up ahead. I cannot go down that road."He says as you watch trucks and sedans whiz past to their apparent doom. " The road is blocked"  he may continue. "It will take at least two hours to clear, and there are no other routes!" While he says this I'm looking at the traffic on Google maps, and it looks is normal throughout the area. "Perhaps you would like to do some shopping until it is safe?" He gestures to the large Crafts Emporium to our left. Ahhh...Where he will doubtless get a 20-40 percent cut of the sale. We exit his auto and begin walking the rest of the way.

Many drivers rent their autos, if only to sleep in. Autos seem to be impervious to market forces, and competition actually results in price fixing rather than a better rate for the customer. Being respectful of your passengers' time is not a thing to the auto driver. Right after he picks you up he may pull into a petrol station to fill up, or stop at the electricity supply center to pay his electric bill, as the auto pictured below did. (no joke.) The best story is when I was with my roommate and her mom. The auto went the wrong way down a one way street to get to a petrol station, and was caught by a traffic cop. The cop asked for a 50 rupee bribe, and the auto driver asked us to pay. no way!

 

Many autos have a Napoleon complex, and try to masquerade as bigger, more important vehicles, fixing the Porsche crest or Audi emblem on the back. And no, Porsche doesn't make autos. The Flatbed Truck Auto below.

I 

I will leave you with a glimpse the most rare and excellent breed of auto: the Party Auto.Enjoying the Party Auto's many perks does not cost extra, unless, of course, you need a ride on a Sunday. (Blast this THIS while strobing your kitchen light for full effect.)

Thanks for reading!

Day 30 in the life - Rules of the Road

I realise that this blog has only really highlighted, well, the highlights of my experiences in India, and my readers--the 14 of you out there, most of whom share my last name--don't know what my day to day life looks like. To resolve this issue, as well as create a memoir in pictures and words that I can come back to when I leave and suffer from intense nostlgia for this crazy place, I hope to make a short posting each day until I leave exactly one month from today.  Things will only get more intense as I close out my time here, and I'll need you to hold me to it.

Day 30 - Rules of the Road in India:

Common sight: car, motorcycle, and cow/cart sharing the road 

Traveling on Indian Roads is an almost hallucinatory potion of sound, spectacle and experience. It is frequently heart-rending, sometimes hilarious, mostly exhilarating, always unforgettable -- and, when you are on the roads, extremely dangerous.

Most Indian road users observe a version of the Highway Code based on a Sanskrit text. These 11 rules of the Indian road are published for the first time in English:

ARTICLE I:
The assumption of immortality is required of all road users.

ARTICLE II:
Indian traffic, like Indian society, is structured on a strict caste system. The following precedence must be accorded at all times. In descending order, give way to:

Cows, elephants, heavy trucks, buses, official cars, camels, light trucks, buffalo, jeeps, ox-carts, private cars, motorcycles, scooters, auto-rickshaws, pigs, pedal rickshaws, goats, bicycles (goods-carrying), handcarts, bicycles (passenger-carrying), dogs, pedestrians.

ARTICLE III:
All wheeled vehicles shall be driven in accordance with the maxim: to slow is to falter, to brake is to fail, to stop is defeat. This is the Indian drivers' mantra.

ARTICLE IV:
Use of horn (also known as the sonic fender or aural amulet):
Cars (IV,1,a-c):
          Short blasts (urgent) indicate supremacy, IE in clearing dogs, rickshaws and pedestrians from path.
          Long blasts (desperate) denote supplication, IE to oncoming truck: "I am going too fast to stop, so   
unless you slow down we shall both die". In extreme cases this may be accompanied by flashing of headlights (frantic).
          Single blast (casual) means: "I have seen someone out of India's 870 million whom I recognise", "There is a bird in the road (which at this speed could go through my windscreen)" or "I have not blown my horn for several minutes."
Trucks and buses (IV,2,a):
          All horn signals have the same meaning, viz: "I have an all-up weight of approximately 12.5 tons and have no intention of stopping, even if I could." This signal may be emphasised by the use of headlamps.
Article IV remains subject to the provision of Order of Precedence in Article II above.

ARTICLE V:
All manoeuvres, use of horn and evasive action shall be left until the last possible moment.

ARTICLE VI:
In the absence of seat belts (which there is), car occupants shall wear garlands of marigolds. These should be kept fastened at all times.

ARTICLE VII: Rights of way:
Traffic entering a road from the left has priority. So has traffic from the right, and also traffic in the middle.
Lane discipline (VII,1):
          All Indian traffic at all times and irrespective of direction of travel shall occupy the centre of the road.

ARTICLE VIII: Roundabouts: India has no roundabouts. Apparent traffic islands in the middle of crossroads have no traffic management function. Any other impression should be ignored.

ARTICLE IX: Overtaking is mandatory. Every moving vehicle is required to overtake every other moving vehicle, irrespective of whether it has just overtaken you.
Overtaking should only be undertaken in suitable conditions, such as in the face of oncoming traffic, on blind bends, at junctions and in the middle of villages/city centres. No more than two inches should be allowed between your vehicle and the one you are passing -- and one inch in the case of bicycles or pedestrians.

ARTICLE X:
Nirvana may be obtained through the head-on crash.

ARTICLE XI:
Reversing: no longer applicable since no vehicle in India has reverse gear.

These articles sent to my by Jameson Cunningham.
Origin unknown. Thanks Jamie :-)