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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-05-21, Page 19Co unity In « is is a lan ed. note—Lenore Bradley, of Goderich visited India last November with an Elderhostel group from Boston. Elderhostel is an educational program for adults over 60 which promotes the idea that retirement is a new beginning filled with opportunities and challenges. In the following story, Bradley outlines her adventures in India. BY LENORE BRADLEY Under Elderhostel's "Experiment in In- ternational Living" program, Isobel Mac- Donald, of Goderich and myself applied to go to India last April. Since we were 17th and 18th in line, we waited for any cancellations. By July, we were seventh and eighth, by August third and fourth and by September we were first and second in line. On Oct. 4, we were told to be ready on Nov. 4, 1985. We made it! We arrrived in Delhi, India on Nov. 6 early in the morning and soon discovered that India is a country of great contrasts and extremes. It has the highest moun- tains in the world and some of the deepest rivers in the world. Temperatures range from freezing in the north in winter to 45 degrees Celcius in the south in the summer. There are 22 states in India, several religions (mostly Hindu, Muslim and Christian) and Hindu and English are the two official languages. India is the sixth largest producing na- tion yet soap and toothpaste are con- sidered a luxury. Ninety per cent of the people are without a means of transporta- tion, 50 per cent live below the poverty line and there is no medical aid in the rural - areas. Education is compulsory for children from nine to 14 years old but only the wealthy take advantage of this. Poor peo- ple feel that they will always be poor and do not tryto better themselves and their children who often have to work to support their families. In one state, children are employed bet- ween 10 and 12 years of age in a carpet fac- tory since their small fingers are better for weaving carpet thread. In the cities, there are a large amount of young educated people in both education and government. All Indians as a whole have great respect for elderly people. The seventh largest country in the world, India has a population of 700 million with a civilization seven centuries old. In our first tour of New Delhi, we visited the Nehru Museum and then were taken to a special show of folk dancing. Divali, something like our Christmas, was just starting and we were taken around the city to see the special lights. We also saw two nights of beautiful fireworks, the likes of which I have never seen before. We visited a 100 -year-old hotel with mar- ble bedrooms designed after temples with cross -ventilation. Two people dressed as matarajahs met us at the door. Marble is everywhere in India. It's in homes, churches and government offices. I could hardly believe the comparisons in living conditions. Some people are so poor, and others are so well-off. Indians are very kind people. When I went into a store, the merchants ran to get v^ a stool or chair for me to sit on the brought the merchandise to me. We visited the famous India gate and the Indira Gandhi Memorial, her home when she was prime minister. The sidewalk just inside the iron gate where she was assassinated has the drawing of,.her body on the cement plus a few drops of blood and the bullets that killed' her all encased in glass. Just outside the gate, is a beautiful mar- ble tombstone engraved with Gandhi's name. In the city, a huge statue has just been completed of her. It has an eternal flame which is lit up at night. Traffic in the streets includes lots of peo- ple, two -wheeled carts, wagons, donkeys, camels with big loads, elephants pulling lumber or large loads. of grain, buses with people hanging out the doors, all of which are trying to dodge the cars and trucks. The Taj Mahal was very beautiful and impressive. It was surrounded by parks gardens of flowers and beautiful ornamen- tal trees. This monument stands to express the love between a beautiful queen, the second wife of Emperor Shah Jahan end a great Moghui emperor. Before she died, he pro- mised to have a tomb built to remind the , world of their great love. It took 22 years to create. Not just a tomb, it is love immor- talized in white marble. • The emperor had 200 concubines but his second wife was the only one he really loved. Isobel and I flew to Lucknow where we lived with a family and accustomed ourselves with their way of life. Ltic CWn W i the capitatt Uthir Pradesir,- one of the biggest states in India. It is famous for its parks, gardens and unique archaelogical monuments. Our host and his brother each have a farm where they grow fruits, vegetables (sometime§ two crops) and wheat, rice, lentils and grass for hay. They have cows and their own machinery. They lived off what they raised buying only bread, butter, one fruit and cheese. They pasteurized their own milk, ate their own vegetables and fruit and pickled their own preserves. Hindus are strictly vegetarian but our host's daughter-in-law was Christian so we had meat, potatoes, bread, eggs and cereal. The house had seven bedrooms and seven bathrooms and we were lucky to have a bath and a bedroom to ourselves. The floors were all marble. We greeted by many notories such as the agriculture minister, a judge for the ® Entertainment e Features * R6Iigion ® Family ® More SECTION of many contrasts teL Susan Hundertmark uclear fallout could be failing India, a country of great contrasts, has a wide gap between the very rich and very poor, says Lenore Bradley. Indian villages, like the one shown above, are often very isolated from the'main cities and therefore have difficulties receiving education. However, some agricultural programs have set poor farmers up with their own small farms to help them make a living, says.Bradley. The Red Fort, shown in the background, was one of the buildings Lenore Bradley saw on her sight-seeing trips around Delhi when she visited India last November. Elephants, like the one shown, are used along with camels to transport people and supplies through most • village streets in India. women are allowed at the ceremony even though it could be a' man or woman who died. We also went to a zoo. There were lots of wild animals including majestic lions, tigers, panthers, leopards, cheetahs, deer, bears and elephants. When we told our host we had never seen an Indian wedding they were very surpris- ed. They had two weddings to go to before we left so they decided to take us. Planned weddings are still common. Brides have dowries and don't see their grooms until the wedding day. But, young people are gradually break- ing away from this custom. They meet at parties and then tell their parents they would • like to be engaged. A brother or parents arrange an engagement party and the date of the wedding is set. The groom may live two blocks or 10 miles away but he is still dressed in his wedding costume, placed on a beautifully decorated horse and led by a procession of members of his family and friends to the bride's home. There is much singing and dancing and the whole procession is head- ed by a 10 to 16 piece band plus 12 torch bearers. At the bride's house, he is taken to a rais- ed dias and stands there awaiting the beautifully -dressed bride wearing a gorgeous sari and much gold jewellry. She is led by six young bridesmaids throwing petals and roses on her path. Two bridesmaids in front of her carry a tray up in the air with four lighted candles. Once she arrives on the dias, the groom stands and she puts a garland of flowers around his neck. He then puts a garland of flowers over her head and puts flowers on the tray with the ring which is then put on her hand. The next hour is a confusion of picture - taking and people milling about but the bride has still not spoken to the groom. The wedding party plus 150 guests are taken in- to the bride's home for dinner. After dinner, the ceremony, which last three hours, takes place. After that, the party continues sometimes as long as two days with maybe .1000 to 2000 people. The bride is taken to the groom's house to meet his people, The next day, we left for New Delhi but will always treasure our memories of our stay in Lucknow.. Poor people who are willing to be helped are installed in a small farm with a small plot of land, a few tools, three cows, three or four fruit trees, a well and a small house and some land for crops. They are also given education and help to they can make a living with so little and still be able to sell some. • This is used as a means to reach the poor people who seem to refuse help. By bring- ing a few of the poor .people to these places, they learn and go back and try to help themselves but it is a slow process. It is really difficult to help the poor as most roads are only trai sand people who are educated do not wanttp go to the coun- try to help teach. Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian leader who t `Sfur-rned ti telralian I3s iofeal ^ gres into a mass movement against British col- onial utile, is responsible for a lot of social reforms. He was a very clever man who started the movement that all people are equal: He used nonviolent resistance and non- cooperation to seek his goals. He said anyone should be able to enter a temple, everyone should have good water, be self- reliant and be educated. There has been a tretnendous advance in the development of India though two- thirds of the people are still, illiterate. In- comes range n e from $50 to $300 a month. The whole process of raising the status of people is very slow. Aly trip to India has been very educa- tid' al and satisfying. It would take months to see the country, its beauty, its wealth and even its poverty. One really needs to see and experience this complex land and people: Lenore Bradley, of Goderich is shown second from the right with a few of the women from the Elderhostel group who travelled with her last November to India. Dressed in saris, the Women met some ,wealthy Indian women who owned as many as 200 saris each. �. • ..... •............ ... .. ..... :::::::.'4;G: +.Y �K;. •YS'J+?F•:•:::::•:•:ti: ii:: ;::•'y'f,•;Y,•::•:•: '•iE r {'•:•�:{" e::r•r>S:{r:s•v.}5$?;y'e:i:;ttyYsy::•::::; ..+:• t+>bo-:;a,•.::'yr✓.;::+, •:.:+ United Nations, lawyers, business men and professors since Divali (like our, Christmas) was being celebrated. I enjoyed starting my sight=seeing best at 7 a.rn. since people were just being to get up and traffic was light. Every morning around 4 a.m., we'd awake to the sound of people saying . prayers which would die down around 5 a.m. One day we saw a funeral procession. Men were marching and singing eight feet in front of a covered body or bier which others were carrying to be cremated. No with the rain Rain has never been an uplifting topic. And, with recent news of nuclear fallout from the Chernobyl accident discovered in rain as close as Ottawa, it's become downright dismal. Like everyone else in Huron County, I watched the wet stuff come down for most of the long weekend, cursing it for preven- ting my planned enjoyment of the sun. But, I was probably one of the few people gloomy enough to ponder whether it was radioactive or not. Does it glow in the dark or what? (On the brighter side, I suppose that the potentially poisonous rain at least kept me from developing skin cancer from the hazardous ultra -violet rays of the sun.) It's scary when a life -giver like rain is feared for its deadly ingredients. We already know that acid rain can be blamed for destroying our trees and lakes. The ad- ditidn of nuclear fallout to rain that's already less than pure just adds to the gloom of a rainy afternoon. Invisible radiation While an American bone marrow`.' specialist estimates that as many a 100,000 Soviets will suffer long term effects! of radiation from the reactor accident, the, rest of the world is left to wonder how the resulting invisible cloud of radiation will; effect us. But, when we talk of polluting the en vironment, we can't stop after blaming the Soviet Union for its nuclear accident. A new"study released by a Toronto scien- tist shows that Great Lakes pollution is contaminating our food. After analysing a typical food basket of items. normally; bought at the grocery store by Canadians, the scientist discovered dioxin, one of the deadliest man-made substances. This report follows a previous one called Storm Warning which revealed that breast milk has been shown to contain cancer - linked PCBs (polychlorinated biphenals) and the pesticide DDT. The report stated that nursing mothers who live near the Great Lakes could be poisoning their nurs- ing babies without knowing it. It's the invisibility of such threats to our health that make them so frightening. Walking in the rain, swimming in the lake, feeding our families and exercising in the fresh (?) air are all wholesome, healthy activities. But, when the insidious element of pollu- tion is added, they become worrisome to say the least. And, we try not to think about it.¶.until a grey afternoon when the rain falling outside the kitchen window coincides with a number of news reports about invisible pollutants. Re-examine weaknesses An accident the magnitude of the one a Chernobyl demands that we re-examin our own crimes against the environmen�! and our own weaknesses which coul., result in disaster. What, for example, is the effect of th continuing underground testing of nuclea weapons in the United States? Does it hay: any effect on the food grown in that coun try? And, as consumers of American fruit and vegetables during the winter months, are we being poisoned by importe.` produce? Does such pollution have anything to do with recent reports that the American Cancer Society says it's losing the battle with cancer? If so, it's pretty ironic that in its frenzy to protect its country from the threat of Soviet communism, the American government is poisoning and slowly killing off its own citizens and pro- bably its allies and neighbors as well. Another of our weaknesses includes our dependence on nuclear generating stations such as the Bruce Nuclear Plant situated a short distance up the lake coupled with our arrogant response to the Chernobyl acci- dent that such an accident "could never happen to us." Could never happen Of course, we hope the experts are right when they continue to reassure us with our superior system and the great odds against such a disaster happening to us. But-, with aat_n,ar,made-thines touted as in- vincible, I can't help but wonder whether, like the passengers of the Titanic, we're being taken for a ride. It's hard not to feel helpless when pondering the rain and its invisible, ye potentially deadly ingredients. While th invisibility of such hazards makes the frightening, it also makes them easy t dismiss. It's easier to believe that what w can't see, cant -hurt us and that toxi chemicals are just the result of the raving of a few twisted, paranoid and anti capitalist environmentalists. Still, I find myself scrubbing m vegetables an extra five minutes tonigh before preparing dinner, even thoug reports say the most careful consumer are exposed to toxic chemicals. Crunching into a carrot, I wonder exact ly what I'm sending into my body and wha effect those ingredients will have on m long-term health.