The Music of India

The last few weeks in India have really been punctuated by lots of travelling. After Deli and Agra we have ventured to Varanasi, Darjeeling and South Bengal. A combined total of 74 and a half hours of travelling mixed with work in between (I promise you we are doing something!) I finally feel like we are getting a bit more of a rounded India experience. And the truth is…. I LOVE INDIA. Hand on heart this country has really captured me.

Just like no two things in life are the same, no two places in India bare resemblance. From the beautiful quiet hills in the Darjeeling mountains, the ghostly cremation ghats of Varanasi, to the totally secluded villages of Laxmikantapur, India is a place with more contrasts than anywhere I have ever seen. Even just travelling ten hours from Kolkata, the local people speak a different language, have a distinctive look and eat a different cuisine. All these places have such beauty in them. Yet isolated they give a very distorted picture of what India really is.

Moving on from the variety of places we’ve seen to the variety of people we have met while here. Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and even a ‘lost tribe’. People from the highest casts, women from the slums, villagers, celebrities, missionaries, businessmen, shop keepers and even some fellow Brits. Every person I have met without fail has given some sort of personal philosophy, whether on politics, religion, sport or life – opinions vary like nothing I’ve ever seen. There are so many contradictions in India; the top two phrases people have said to us while here are totally conflicting, “Not possible” and “Anything is possible in India”. Even their cricket team which was the best in the world just lost to England! There is no way to describe this country – nowhere is there a place with such contrast and conflicting faces.

Yet nearly everyone we meet will tell you one thing in common: “I love India” “I love my home country”. One of our good friends here is moving to Switzerland to live with his wife but you can see the pain it causes him to leave India. How much it is in all their hearts. But what is ‘India’? What is this thing they love so much? How can a child in Manali and an old man in Kolkata be talking about the same thing?

The truth is that I have seen this before in one other place not so far from home; in our own community. Gosh if you put a load of Jews together and Indians we’d be arguing until the end of time! The deserts of Israel and the green mountain hills; the polar spectrum of politics, culture and Jewish practice; Ashkenasim and Sephardim. Is this why Israelis feel so at home here?! Their ability to criticise and damn their government and fundamentally oppose another’s religion and yet remain unified as one people is remarkable.

While we have been away I have watched the rioting in England with horror and seen the hate many English people have for each other. It almost feels like at times in England there are so many separated communities who are fearful of each other, radicalising in their own enclave of society. Ignorance, boredom, social problems, a long summer? The historians will debate the causes for time to come but how can we move forward, how can we unify again as a country? How can we retain that passion and move critically forward without erupting into more violence? How can we learn lessons from India, a country that is not immune from issues of fragmentation yet seems to have an inbuilt ability to deal with it?

I don’t really have any clue at an answer and I really don’t know how India works. That is just another beauty of this land though; it dances to its own music with conflicting rhythms. Just like two notes of music – when they are sounded alone, they are totally opposing sounds, so different in every way and yet when played together they produce a unique and beautiful melody. This tune is distinctly Indian and our inability to narrow that unique aspect of being Indian is in essence what makes this place even more amazingly stunning.

“It is this variety which provides a breathtaking ensemble for experiences that is uniquely Indian. Perhaps the only thing more difficult than to be indifferent to India would be to describe or understand India completely. There are perhaps very few nations in the world with the enormous variety that India has to offer. Modern day India represents the largest democracy in the world with a seamless picture of unity in diversity unparalleled anywhere else."

A Rough Guide to India

Big questions...

There is one place in the world where you really could be anywhere in the world – an aeroplane. The overdressed air hostesses, highly unhelpful safety instructions (surely they could be simplifies to, ‘if the plane crashes you will die’) and those small overhead light/call for help buttons which invariably you will always get mixed up and up end with 3 hostesses trying to assist you when all you wanted to do was read your book… One thing though most definitely meant that this plane was not anywhere but India:

“Good evening ladies and gentleman, welcome to Spice Jet flight number….”

‘Spice Jet’! Well I couldn’t stop laughing; I was definitely still in India!

Last weekend I took the two hour flight from Calcutta to Dehli. I was not at all sure what to expect. My friends here in Calcutta told me nightmare stories about tourists being ripped off and not so friendly locals. One very interesting observation was made by an Indian friend about why he prefers Calcutta, “In Calcutta it is so cheap, even the most poor can live. They cannot survive in Dehli”. Well it seems that location really is everything for some people and New Dehli with its wide, clean western streets and high prizes would certainly prove a challenge for the vulnerable. In contrast, Old Dehli managed to take the biscuit from Calcutta as being highly overcrowded, cramped and simply manic.

Switch to another scene in Dehli: down a dark alley way full of shops, in a backpackers haven is a security man with a huge gun, protecting the entrance to a single door which on any other day you would walk straight past. To gain entrance to this man’s private club you not only needed a passport but proof that you were Israeli. After some negotiations he decided I could enter; Beit Chabad Dehli. Manned by three young yeshivah bochers, this Chabad house is really a home for any Jewish backpacker. Friday night I was completely overwhelmed by the 60 odd Jews sharing dinner together, singing songs, drinking whiskey and wine and sharing experiences. Within just a few hours I felt that I was with family, transported to my own Friday night table, eating my family’s food. To have spent four Shabossim, with at times, no other Jews this was a highly emotional moment. There is something so special about the Jewish people, these people, none of whom I had met before, were singing my songs, shared my experiences and a deep connection. We spoke the same language (or tried to!) and had the same desire – to spend Friday night together. Shabbat morning I sat opposite a Canadian man. It turned out that he had been living in Calcutta for a year and this was the first time he had met another Jewish person – he was nearly crying. Needless to say we will be in contact. It was an amazing experience. That bond of Am Yisrael could make Dehli be ‘any place in the world’ for me; last Shabbat I was at home.

This idea about the importance of location and the transference of your ‘home’ to somewhere else has been something which as Jews, over the last 2000 years of exile, we have had to deal with. Making home wherever we go. In today’s society however, with international news at our fingertips, most of our possessions made abroad by people we cannot relate to and eating food from any country we so wish, are we now not part of a global society as well as own our community? Multi-cultural Britain after all is all about staying true to your own community while at the same time being part of a wider British society based on the rights of all. Should our model for helping others then reflect this wider society? Is how we choose to give our time and tzedaka still all about location location location?

The Chief Rabbi in his book The Dignity of Difference, points out this modern day conundrum:

“Traditionally our sense of involvement with the fate of others has been in inverse proportion to the distance separating us and them. What has changed is that television and the internet have effectively abolished distance.”

Commenting on to whom we as Jews are obligated to help, the Chief Rabbi makes the point that a more globalised society has brought the suffering of others closer to home and diminished the distance separating ‘us’ and ‘them’ potentially giving us more reason to want to help those in need abroad. However baring this in mind Americans gave nearly three times as much money after Hurricane Katrina than after the Asian tsunami even thought the tsunami killed many more people (Levitt and Dubner, 2008). Have things really changed and is it natural that they do?

Does this sense of one large global community though increase our obligation to others, make us care more about the plight of those further afield and does it really make us into one big community? These are very large questions and ones that being in the international development field one is confronted with every day. Ignoring the potential pitfalls of volunteering and giving charity we must ask ourselves more- fundamental questions. Why these people, why this place?

If you heard someone screaming on your street would you help them? What if they are a homeless person on the street where you work? What if you saw them on T.V? Would it make a difference if you knew them personally, if they were English or Jewish?

This is what as a group we have been discussing this week and the truth is it requires a lot of soul searching and I think a lot of truths need to be confronted. I have my own personal reasons and motivations for being here but I also believe that you are put in situations for reasons unknown to yourself and it is what you do with that that counts for the most part. Do you also ever feel like you have heard something you cannot ignore and you are somewhere for a reason? That you have been given this opportunity for a greater reason, that simply by being born British and in a globalised world you have an opportunity to help bring peace and order to our world that those before you simply could not have?

There is an idea that when G-d spoke to Abraham in the first instance that actually he spoke to everyone in the world but it was only Abraham who listened. He was a radical, he wanted to bring about drastic change which takes ultimate courage – he listened and he answered. Every day we are confronted with choices, messages, decisions – which will you answer, what will you do and most importantly – why?

Delhi belli.....

“Don’t worry we all get sick here in India – you are my new friend and I will help you like a real Indian”

I am sat at home with a severe bout of what can only be described as Delhi Belli (soon to be diagnosed by a doctor) Not wanting to run into details (for your sake!) lets just say it’s not pleasant. The reaction to my sickness has been so lovely – everyone around me is helping and getting me whatever I need – I am certainly not wanting for anything. The above quote though was from a man that I met while visiting the Victoria Memorial on Sunday. I got to talking with his friends and he was most adamant that we should stay in contact. His contact with me since has been nothing but diligent, to the point that I was starting to get a bit annoyed – if I didn’t reply to one of his messages with 30 minutes he would also get annoyed – so I decided to tell him that I was sorry but I couldn’t be in contact because I was unwell. And the above quote was what he sent me. It’s very nice that he sees himself as my new friend and wants to help – trust me though when you have Delhi Belli you want nothing more than to be alone!

On Sunday evening I also had a meeting with a man who has vast experience working with NGOs all over the world including Cambodia, half of Africa and all over India. He was telling me some of his annoyances with working in the NGO world. It was the egos of some NGOs that seem to get to him and more so the NGOs who he felt were ineffective and unnecessary, working alongside NGOs who were doing a better job at the same thing. He mentioned one example following the tsunami. International aid efforts came along and asked villages what they needed and more often than not they said that they needed a boat as theirs was destroyed. Along came another NGO and asked what they needed – the village would say that now they needed a new engine for their boat. Very nice – now all the villages had been contacted and they now all have boats and engines….

One year down the line - the local port has now been completely over-fished and the price of fish has dropped to the point that you couldn’t give it away. The government stepped in to take drastic measures and imposed a ban on fishing in that area until 2020, completely ruining the livelihoods of families that had worked as fisherman for generations. On taking a survey of the number of boats in the water before the tsunami, the number was around 600 with far less having working engines. Post-tsunami and with the help of the, international aid effort, there were around 20,000 boats in the water all with working engines. We all want to help but what help we provide and how that help is delivered are crucial to gaining the best outcome.

Another prime example of ‘help’ not going where it’s needed is at a leprosy clinic one of my fellow volunteers works in. At the clinic it is practice to put Betadine on all wounds seen at the clinic. This drug is often used pre-surgery and helps infected wounds but when used too often can seriously damage the thyroid. Patients though are insistent that it is used on absolutely everything and constantly ask for ‘medicine’ not realising that this bright yellow paste which they have gotten accustomed to helping them is actually doing them harm in the long run. Changing people’s perceptions about overly using this drug is a constant issue for this volunteer.

It got me thinking, sometimes when you have Delhi Belli are you in fact better left alone?

The Rambam tells us the eight levels of tzedaka that a Jews can give. The greatest being:

is that of the person who assists a poor person by providing him with a gift or a loan or by accepting him into a business partnership or by helping him find employment – in a word, by putting him where he can dispense with other people’s aid. With reference to such aid, it is said, “You shall strengthen him, be he a stranger or a settler, he shall live with you” (Leviticus 25:35), which means strengthen him in such a manner that his falling into want is prevented.

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Gifts to the Poor 10:7)

From this we can see that the greatest way we can help someone is so that they are no longer dependent on us or anyone. Furthermore it is to be done with dignity and with a ‘partnership’ so neither side is superior. Perhaps this also distinguishes between ‘tzedek’ and tzedeaka’ – the preventative and the reactive which are both necessary. As the Sages explain:

It takes one person to support something before it falls, but after it falls, even five people may not be able to lift it

(see Rashi’s commentary on Leviticus 25:35)

The preventative though is also just as hard. It is no easy fete to work in the NGO world – it takes time and assessment to make sure you are doing work that will help someone in the long run and not the temporary. The first volunteering I ever did, the organizer took far greater time to tell me not to ‘do any harm’ never mind to help anyone.

This idea must be transferred to the charity sector. For too long people have barged into situations, with the best intentions, and in the long run the people involved are no better and in some situations worse off. The organisations we are working with here in Kolkata provide an example of this. When we first arrived we had two options offered to us with our volunteering – at Ankur Kala (the women’s empowerment home) we could help doing some of the work of the women chopping vegetables and helping produce some of their needlework and at SPAN (a children’s advocacy organisation) we had an option to teach some of their classes. All very lovely and we would get lots of great facebook photos with ‘vulnerable women’ and ‘deprived children’ but how lasting is that impact and will it really help or takeaway from what they are doing well themselves?

Instead we are working on projects that will be there long after we have left, such as improving teaching legislation, editing annual reports, overseeing long-term budget proposals and creating new, manageable P.R opportunities. This is the less glamorous side to NGOs but perhaps the area where our knowledge can truly make a difference.

A project that Tzedek is looking into applying in Kolkata is creating a forum for all NGOs to work together and communicate more. Currently there is great suspicion among the NGOs and there is little to no work done together. With over 2000 registered NGOs in the area – there is bound to be an overlap of aims and with some collaboration more people could be helped. By more people talking and investigating what the real issues are in the area, resources could be shared, ‘competition’ amongst NGOs eliminated and instances like those during the tsunami could be avoided.

Often it is not enough to help, we have to start helping with foresight and responsibility so that our support will be enough to eradicate the root of the problems. Hopefully my doctor will take this approach with me – I’ll keep you updated!

Viewing Calcutta

It has been a weekend of much contrast here in Calcutta.

On Friday I had an interesting meeting with an NGO. The head of this NGO spent a good 30 minutes telling me her plans to revitalise the NGOs of Calcutta – working on a basis of collaborative ventures and sharing of resources and ideas. She told me how she felt this was the right time for change and the organisations in Calcutta were ready to work together in order to help the most people possible. What an inspiring women whose goal is very simple – progression. She wanted to see India progress and she had a vision for it. Am really looking forward to working with her over the next month to see this vision come to fruition.

Shabbat is very quiet in Calcutta - something which I have been quite apprehensive about during my visit. What I gained this Shabbat though was a time of solitude and reflection that is little afforded in England. When do we ever get so much time to spend reading, learning and thinking at home? There is always someone to see or somewhere to go. What was something I was quite nervous about has become a small haven of the week. Although it would be lovely to share this with a community it has also given me an opportunity to spend time doing Shabbat activities that often get neglected in such large communities. This got me thinking about some of my new Indian friends. There are a couple of brothers who own a clothes shop next to my usual internet café. They open from 9am and shut at 10.30pm. They open every day and don’t take holiday for themselves. They work to support themselves and a large family. Young boys, not married and with little life outside of their work. Certain luxuries of time with friends, family and alone are not found in this shop. Shabbat has taken I new dimension for me this week and one that I will try and make the most of while here.

On Saturday afternoon I decided to venture with a friend to ‘Calcutta’s equivalent to Central Park’ – the ‘Maiden’ for a relaxing stroll. What greeted us was a small garden which had more couples knoodling than flowers! It turns out that this park is a favourite for young lovers who come to the park with umbrellas (to hide behind for some privacy) to while away the long hot sunny afternoons. I’ve never felt like such a gooseberry before or laughed so much! If I had ‘central park’ expectations before, I left with rather different things in mind.

Saturday night was also an interesting Indian experience. We went to watch the newest Harry Potter film at a local cinema. On walking into the cinema, my first impression was ‘this is the BIGGEST cinema I have ever seen’ – absolutely huge! Although barely a quarter of the seats were filled the lively crowd soon made up for it. Indians are well known for expressing their emotions and this definitely extends to the cinema. Every time Voldermort took a hit, the cinema roared with cheers and when Harry and friends seemed doomed the cinema was icy cold – the people seemed genuinely moved. Initially, me with my English habits, found myself quite uncomfortable with this public display of emotion and sympathy. But by the end I was happily converted to being a true Indian viewer – I cried when they cried, booed when they booed and I am proud to say that I got up and cheered at the end. Going to the cinema has never felt so uplifting!!!

Sunday was a very mixed day. One of the Calcutta Rescue volunteers who is staying on my floor of our accommodation was taken ill with Gastro Enteritis. That morning he had woken up sick and gone out to get some water from a local street seller. While walking in the street he fainted. A local rickshaw puller saw him, lifted him up and placed him into his rickshaw and pulled him (barefoot) to the nearest doctor, from where he was sent to hospital. Thank G-d he is fine but in this lays a strong message.

When viewing Calcutta there are many lenses one can use. Westerners (including myself) on first glance will see the chaotic noisy streets with terrible driving, thick pollution providing every visitor with a permanent cough, mothers sending their children begging on western prey, filthy street food stalls, homeless people lining the evening streets and yes, elderly rickshaw men pulling out-of-date equipment, barefoot for pennies. However under close inspection and with surprisingly little effort a very different image opens up. The lonely Planet guide calls it a ‘daily festival of human existence’ quite a fitting description for India’s capital of Intellectualism and culture. A city where people have fought over who can give me the best directions to the bus stop, where so many people are working so hard to support their families because ‘family’ is truly so important, a city where its people are thirsty to progress and a city where poor, exhausted rickshaw men stop to help a stranger. We are told that we should ‘judge every man favourably’ how come then so many find it so hard to approach the developing world with an open mind? Looks can be deceiving and although there are enormous problems and uphill battles for Calcutta to face – I have learnt that the people of Calcutta are so far in advance of us in many ways. It is this idea of learning from one another rather than going to ‘help the needy’ that Tzedek foster and try and imbed into the tzedaka we give.

What jewels Calcutta has and beautiful lessons for us to learn. One thing is for sure, next time I am at the cinema – watch out, tears are in order.

Amazing people

Another crazy week in Calcutta. As well as starting work I have been trying to experience other aspects of life in the city. I have tried a not so successful Bollywood dance class, an absolutely hilarious Indian film and more methods of transport than I thought I would in a week. With rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, bicycle-rickshaws, trams, taxis, motorbikes and metros; who would have thought taking the bus would be the most dangerous?! Firstly they have no sign on the front to say where they are going, so it is just a matter of running after one and hoping for the best. Secondly they don’t stop…you just run on and jump off! While on board you are joined by more people than thought possible and their driving skills are just about on par with the regular Indian drivers so travel sick pills are definitely necessary….

I have also begun to get used to people asking to have a photograph with me on a regular basis (who knew I’d be so popular here?) and also the constant remarks about my height – “oooooooo you are a good height, yes..” A not so welcome comment yesterday came though in relation to my many mosquito bites from a random market seller, “Do you always have those red things? I might have a cream for you.” So being white, tall and now slightly red seems to be making me new friends everywhere!

This week I have met some of the NGOs Tzedek will be working with and had the opportunity to visit other organizations working in the area.

Ankur Kala is a women’s home for women from disadvantage backgrounds such as children of prostitutes, widows, orphans and women in abusive homes. They provide them a safe space during the day and teach them economic skills such as embroidery and jam making so they can earn some skills to help them our of their situations. Visiting them was such a pleasure. They start their morning with a yoga class which is followed by prayers the women have written (and a few psalms – hodu l’Hashem ci tov!) This was extremely moving to watch and highlighted their need for not only education and business/skills help but also there spiritual needs. The woman who runs the home founded it over 20 years ago and has watched it grow into the success it is today, Annie is truly a remarkable women. She is just one of the amazing people I have met in the 10 days I have been here. There are so many people here who have seen the many problems that people in Calcutta face and have decided to not wait for someone else to do something but to be the force for change which is needed.

Last Friday I had the opportunity to visit the clinics of Calcutta Rescue who help over 500 patients with much needed medical treatment and basic provisions. As well as the clinics they run 2 schools and have a handicraft centre where they train women from villages. This NGO was started in 1979, again by one man, an English Doctor called Dr. Jack, who while visiting Calcutta started treating people who were living on the streets and didn’t have access to medical treatment. Just 30 years later his charity has grown into a great success and a provider of care for so many people in trouble.

In addition to the incredible people who work at the NGOs I have visited I also get to live with other volunteers from around the world. The volunteers who live in my building have all given 6 months of their time (as well as one man who has been volunteering here for nearly 4 years!) to different organizations in the city. Whether its these long term volunteers or the local Indians working in charities, they have all made me think so much about the use of our time and what we really can achieve. With all the resources available to us, how exciting to think what we could be doing? What a great way to start working here and an inspiration for life these amazing people are being.

What a week

What a rollercoaster of a first week in India. I simply cannot believe that a week ago I stepped out of the airport with no idea what lay ahead of me. My first impressions of Calcutta were – there are so many people! It’s hard to describe a city where there are over 20 million people (around the same population of Australia) all packed into one place.

And they really pack everything in, which extends to the cars where in a normal situation there would be room for two cars, in Calcutta they manage to fit around 10. In the ‘Culture Smart’ guide to India it aptly says that there are two driving rules in India

1. If there is a space fill it and

2. The biggest vehicle has the right of way. I have added my own number three, which is:

3. If there is no noise you should be tooting your horn.

Calcutta is really a full sensual experience. Your ears are greeted with the sounds of the call to prayer, animals and car horns for 24 hours, your nose is filled with smells of spices and thick pollution, your skin feels the heat of the day and everywhere you look there is a different sight to be seen. You could never get bored in Calcutta – there is simply too much happening!

There was a lot of ‘new’ to get used to this week including the Tzedek intern Hadassah, the volunteers and Calcutta itself. During orientation we have had a chance to see some of the tourist’s sites of Calcutta including the beautiful flower market and Jain temples. Calcutta has so much culture and lots of sites to see but I have found some of the best moments so far being sat on the road having a drink, meeting the locals and watching the world go by or meeting other volunteers and hearing their stories.