Daily Dump

Yes there is a lot of that going on here in India but this is one with a difference and one well worth talking about. We have been doing it for years and at this point don't you all want to fall about laughing.Actually I am talking about a slightly different dump and this involves the creation of compost from you organic waste.
When you have peeled your potatoes and your onions and carefully cleaned your pineapple dont just bin everything - keep this waste in a separate container and start the process of turning it into compost.

I came across the first organised example of this in India on Saturday and I was very impressed. The Daily Dump tells you how to organise your waste and has several products which assist in the process which are particularly useful to people who live in apartments and do not have much room to put waste outside.

The Leave- it- pot and the Kambha are both versatile ceramic pots which can be used to serve as a storage and maturation chamber for the waste.

Basically the message is that in this country where there is no organized waste collection except for the rag pickers this is the way society can start taking responsibility for converting waste into something useful and introducing the concept widely to builders and planners so that this becomes a part of every apartment block and organised community.

Even this small separation actually helps the rag pickers who are likely to make a few rupees more by recycling cardboard and plastic which is not soiled by rotting fruit and other food products.
If you do it already spread the word
If you dont start today

Dr Jaya Deshpande
email drjayadeshpande@yahoo.co.in
mob 9810886949
or go to http://www.dailydump.org/
email dailydumpcompost@gmail.com

New Delhi Railway station and Lost railway children

I want to share a story with you that is close to my heart and which has made me view things here in a wholly different light.

Did you know the railway station raises children ? Not as we would expect from a mum and a dad but because there is no mum and no dad and there are children, hundreds of children, indeed thousands who find themselves taken in by this strange, rather large, frightening parent where they can live, if not thrive, barely eat and yet survive.

Children who come because of the thrill of riding one of these beasts into the unknown. God knows all our children have wanted that adventure. The difference is that ours return and these do not. Children who are brought here by impoverished parents, like Shahadutt whose father brought him to Delhi to work in an embroidery factory aged 6 and was then abandoned. Children who come to festivals and events and just lose the grip of a parent and end up in an unknown city seeking refuge in a place that is alive and going 24/7. Street children who have run away from abuse, and ill treatment and find solace in peer groups and companionship.These children number over 3000 a year. It is a staggering number of lost little ones.

The amazing thing is that the railway for all its noise,dirt, congestion and dangers is the place where these children come to find food and comfort. Food, I have found out, is never an issue. They eat the remnants off the train and the temples nearby will never turn them away. They make some money being chai wallahs and shoe shines boys or running errands but never more than they can spend because as one boy said - it just gets stolen. If they have a few rupees in their pocket they spend it watching a Bollywood movie.

There are drugs and there are gangs. There are pimps and there are young girls who are shamelessly abused and led into prostitution. The boys are hardier though not immune to the precariousness of their existence, sleeping in the eaves beneath the railway bridges and eating what scraps they can find.

Salaam Baalak trust which basically translates to "Salute a child" was started in 1988 and now runs three boys shelters and one girls shelter with hundreds of children that agree to abandon their ferous parent for another, an institution that promises education,sometimes a vocation, food and shelter and above all safety.

I went on a City Walk led by a former street child which is conducted in and around New Delhi Railway station where I was shown the contact points for the kids, where they live and sleep, where they get their supplies and where if they need to, they can access medical care. For me however the most moving part of this experience was meeting the little boys who are being held in the holding shelter a few roads in from the railway station. Boys of 5 to 15 with smiling, loving faces, waiting to hear the outcome of their lives. If they agree to come away from the station they are kept here where they are investigated to see whether they are able to find their families and return to them or whether that would not be suitable.

These boys seemed like prisoners but I acknowledged that they were locked in to keep them safe from the predators that would otherwise take advantage of their vulnerable lives. They can then be returned or accommodated in one of the hostels where they are able to go to school and live normal lives.

I have found their innocence and their acceptance of what life has dealt them heartbreaking. I hope to help whether it is to advertise the City walks - anyone can participate, just ring 9910099348 / 9873130383 and ask to go on one.

or to ask for sponsors of the children's education for rupees 28,500 per annum, less than £500 a year.

or to see what what some of the children have managed to achieve.

Log on to http://www.vickyroyphotography.com/ to find out about how Vicky rose from being a lost railway child to a celebrated photographer able to make his own living.

or to collect Lego which is my small hairbrained western idea of something to occupy idle hands

There are opportunities for volunteers and for materials like pens and paper, clothes and shampoos.

Whatever the Trust or any one of us can do for these children will be a fraction of what they deserve and can expect from life so please think about ways in which you can make a difference to these children today.

Finally there is an additional reason why I am writing today to encourage you living in Delhi to go to the Indian Habitat Centre The Visual Arts Gallery to see the Art Exhibition entitled Where the Streets have no Names curated by Dr Alka Pande with a string of well known artists who have teamed up with the children to produce some fabulous works of art. If you are in Delhi go along on the 29th and the 30th to see this wonderful collaboration.

http://www.salaambaalaktrust.com/

The deserts of Rajastan are in the air

Last night at about 900 pm I went out with the dog and while I did not capture for you the lightning and the thunder I can tell you that the tall eucalyptus trees were swaying wildly in a wind that was full and I mean full of dust particles. You could sense them and breathe them. Even this whirly wind of dust had its silver lining ( and in this case literally ) because all of a sudden we felt big drops of water in the air pelting down us as we dashed for cover. Its preciousness not unfelt.

The moisture was too little and was sucked away almost immediately. There was a perceptible coolness in the air this morning and a tree that had been brought down by the storm. The house was covered by this thin layer of dust once more, the bain of every housemaid within miles.

The 15 Minute Morning walker

An advertisement in the paper had the testimony of 15 people whose lives have been changed by their 15 minute walk. Oh I thought a group I can relate to and hungrily read on only to discover that this was a machine where you lay down put your feet on it and it walked you 10,000 steps in 15 minutes.
I applaud the entrepreunership
I howl at the joke value of such a machine
I am unbelieving that even 15 people have even contemplated using it
It is extraordinary what people will do to avoid walking
Is there a greater pleasure than to walk and take things in all around you ?
Why would you want to play dead and pretend you did it unless you were old and infirm and had medical cause to need this assuming it was even proved to be effective which I doubt?????
Readers get real, look around you and see the obese people and kids who are the future of diabetes and heart disease in this country.

Burnt earth calls for bright colours

There is nothing left to the texture of Indian earth - it is parched and pulverized. Its particles find us at every corner and outlet. A thin film of dust covers everything and it is of no consequence how diligent you or others are at cleaning - dust is the outright winner of this season. The reason I write about it is because I have never lived in a country where the conditions are SO harsh and so punishing and yet and yet ...

This is the season for Flame trees. (Flamboyants )These eternal trees of spring and joy in Africa which brightened so much of our life when we lived in that continent and whose origins are from Madagascar.Here they are blossoming now all over the city but we often have to lift our eyes way above our normal horizon of lines of traffic or autorickshaws to get any view of them.They are resplendant and glorious. In India they are known as the Gulmohar. In West Bengal  and Bangladesh they are called Krishnachura.



And then on my daily early morning walk with beloved pooch who is also feeling the heat there are these.

Behind Closed Doors

In temperatures like these there is a tendency to stay inside and perhaps behind closed doors where the rooms are dark and the currents are cool, where mattresses and cushions are laid out on the floor and where refreshing drinks are served to parched souls. I walked through a hot old Delhi and I could not help being curious about life behind these doors if only because the doors themselves are like works of art waiting to be displayed and admired by every bystander. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

When in Delhi ....

Do like the Delliwalllahs do ....

The temperatures are sky high at the moment. A heat wave is gripping us and at 44 C it is ripping every bit of energy and moisture out of us. We look like this piece of ground from a pond nearby.

Delhiwallahs and perhaps other cities as well have found their own way of keeping cool and these systems have intrigued me ever since we arrived. They look like giant fans in a big box and they have grass lining in them which is kept wet. When the fan sends air through the wet grass the moisture translates into a noisy (to add to all the rest !) but effective cooling system. I tried to find out who invented this because it is ingeniously simple and clever. We have one installed in the house which cools communal areas which are not air-conditioned and every year the system is serviced - well new grass needs to be put in the frames for it to work efficiently. I captured the men doing the service in the garden.

On three sides of the cooler there are "curtains" or "filters" made of grass. Sometimes a fragrant dried grass called khus is used which gives a nice sweet smell to the air

I have found out they are called Nagpur desert coolers because they are very common in the central Indian city of Nagpur where the temperature is usually over 40C (104F) during summers.In Delhi the temperatures in May are closer to  40C - 45C.Some people prefer these desert coolers, not to mention that these are significantly cheaper compared to an air conditioner and more ecologically friendly. A good Indian Invention if it is that - any information gratefully received.