The Sikh Temple

           We finished up our dinner in downtown Delhi and headed home as a very united, satisfied, group. As we strolled along, we took in the night villages, which pop up as the sun falls down. Children ran about scavenging for food or money and were summoned back to their parents for sponge baths in the middle of the square. People were everywhere, scattered about on benches and cardboard cutouts.  Indian women lurched toward us, offering henna tattoos and bangles- “Special price. Only for You”.  A wealthy woman strolled by in her exquisite saree and jumped into a car, seemingly oblivious to this unfolding scene.  We continued on and saw a golden dome looming prophetically above a scarf-selling stall. A random man came over stared at us

and said “Beautiful”, before walking away.

            We pulled out our cameras and instantly captured the moment. Mesmerized, we weaved our way across the crowd following a continuation of the same scene.  Stray dogs fighting. Street vendors pushing. Children washing. Several different entrances with attached parking lots led to this central mecca of the Sikh Religion in Delhi- The Gudwara Bangla Sahib. It was created in honor of Harkrishan Dev, the eighth Sikh guru. He was in this very area, where the temple was constructed in 1664, for many months in order to better the living situation at the time for the ill and the poor.  (136) As we approached the temple, we were overwhelmed by the smells and sights. Food was readily available- both to purchase and to eat for free. We stood for a long time deciding whom to send in as our scouts with the requisite headscarf. However, all of our musings were put to an end when a kind woman pointed over to the shoe minders and explained that they had scarves to lend out. We piously approached the ‘in’ and ‘out’ gated lines and turned in our shoes in exchange for numbered chips. Then we passed through the area where worshippers systematically stepped into a footbath and washed their hands in a communal sink. After that, our group walked up the huge walkway leading up to the entryway where we tried to imitate the bowing movement that the other visitors completed as they entered the building. We were immediately approached by a kind man who sat down with us on the rug and thoroughly explained his beliefs.

             In the Sikh religion, there are five Kakkars or emblems: kesh (not to cut one’s hair for saintliness), kangha (to keep the hair in good condition), kaccha (loose-fitting undergarment, designed to exude modesty), karpan (knife which represents power and dignity) and karra (steel bracelet, which stands for fearlessness). All of these items are to be worn and all of these practices are to be followed at all times. Even when Sikh followers shower, they must keep these objects attached to some part of their body. True followers do not drink alcohol, cut their hair, indulge in a woman other than their spouse, or use their knife except to protect an endangered woman. Sikhs call themselves “Singh” which means “lion”.  Langar is a meal offered in the basement of the temple, which is free to all people no matter what their caste or class or age ranking or religious inclination.   (71)

            Sikhism arose from people who felt that Muslim or Hindu rituals and beliefs were unfulfilling as well as unjust. It holds true to the same principles of rebirth and karma, but deviates from what Sikhists feel are other unfavorable religious restrictions in those religions. Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, believed in the equality of all people regardless of caste, which was very forward thinking for his time. His frustration with other religions was spurred on by the fact that only Brahmins were allowed to perform the highest of sacred procedures in other religions at the time. He lived from 1469- 1539. He preached that meditation was critical and could lead to miracles. The Guru Granth Sahib showcases the preaching of the 10 Sikh gurus.

            This experience was not only significant in terms of the facts that we learned. Instead, it had a tremendous impact because it showed us the importance of religious tolerance.

Works Cited: Singh, Sarina. “India”. Lonely Planet. 13^th edition. USA: Sep 2009.

GMOs effecting US milk industry

While staying at Navdanya Institute in Dehra Dun our group was fortunate enough to sit down and have a Q&A session with global food activist, Vandana Shiva. She is an absolute mountain mover and I swear I had an out of body experience while talking with her. Shiva has essentially waged war against seed modifying corporations like Monsanto, for they take away biological diversity and farmer's independence. Here's an article I came across on Public Radio International shedding light on the immense power the private food corporation has in deciding what we add to our bodies.

Monsanto strikes again



Paige

Northern Monuments

Although monuments are not covered under the Melon Grant, as a group we found that visiting many of the world famous landmarks was an important cultural experience while we were in India. We dished out our own rupees so we could see some magnificent forts and one of the man made wonders of the world.

In the center of the bustling area of Old Delhi rickshaws motor by, and street venders yell down the crowded, narrow streets. The alleyways are dimly lit, there is an overwhelming amount of old wires knotted around cement poles, and the smell of street food saturates the air. It is a scene worth experiencing. The towering Red Fort acts as a backdrop to all of this and dominates most of the skyline. A group of us walked through metal detectors and were welcomed through red sandstone arches by armed Indian soldiers.

The fort was built in 1648 by Mughal emperor Shan Jahan as a residence for the royal family of India. At one point the fort housed about 3,000 people. Inside the fort it seems to go on forever. There are areas for fountains, gardens, a photography museum, and a lot of area the public cannot see because it is under military occupation. The next time I’m in Delhi I want to go to the Red Fort at night time to see the light show that is put on every night.

When we got to Agra I expected our only monument that we saw to be the Taj Mahal. Much to my surprise the Agra Fort was my favorite monument of the trip. Similar to the Red Fort, it is partly occupied today by the Indian military. It is 94 acres and beautifully made out of red sandstone. The fort is surrounded by a mote and located on the Yamuna River. Inside there are places where spies used to hide, areas for dancing, and a palace where the emperors used to live. The emperors that had lived there in the past left very distinct evidence of their architectural differences, each having their own area built in very different styles. At the top of the fort there is a nice view of the Taj Mahal set a few kilometers away. Its milky color blended in with the hazy sky. It made many of us very excited to see it up close.

The next morning we all woke up around 5am to walk from our hotel to the Taj Mahal. We were told that seeing it around sunrise was not just the most beautiful and physically cooler times of the day to see it, but also the least crowded. Our great tour guide lead us to the entrance where you are unable to get a good view of it before you come in. After going through security we turned the corner and saw the beautiful ivory colored mausoleum, one of the most recognized structures in the world. The Taj Mahal is known around the world as a symbol of eternal love because the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built it in memory of his third wife, the same emperor to build the Red Fort in Delhi.

The perfectly symmetrical building casts a mirror image of itself in the water that sits in front of it. I wish we could have spent ours there just sitting and looking at it. Inside the beautiful white marble continues and the walls are perfectly dressed with stones and jewels from all over the world. It was spectacular.

We were one of the first groups to get there in the morning and it was totally worth waking up early. Even being there for just over an hour, it was clear that it was getting much hotter out and more crowed. I would highly recommend stopping by Agra to anyone going to India to see these two monuments.

The monuments were one of our very few personal expenses on the trip and I am very happy we visited them. In addition to being just interesting to see, it also provided a historical background on some of the topics we were studying, especially the development of India. They were both beautiful to see as well as being educational at the same time.

The Red Fort

The Agra Fort

The View of the Taj Mahal from the top of the Agra Fort.

The Taj Mahal!

New Delhi

New Delhi, the capital city of India, famous of its monuments, political life, developing each day, dynamic metropolis – it is spectacular but also a shocking place. Spectacular buildings established by Hindu and Muslims – such as Qutub Minar (the highest in the world minaret), the Red Fort, Humayun’s tomb… what is shocking the most – the streets… the streets on which dwell children, elderly, women and men – there are no exceptions. There is only one rule – the rule of streets, and one fate – the fate of poor people. The law of marginalization which makes them invisible to many eyes; invisible because they do not fit to the modern architecture of neo-liberal capitalism, nor they fit the statistics of the positive economical growth. Street dwellers have their own statistics and their own politics – of surviving from day to day. Although they are invisible to the politicians, they can be seen all over Delhi, laying on the lawns, benches, and the bus stops. They fill every empty spot of the city which has officially 12 million people; unofficially: No one knows! Because no one is willing to count people who live inside the cardboards. Poverty is not surprising, what is surprising is the indifference for poverty. The indifference also of those people who stubbornly claim that “everything is all right until we can note the positive economical growth,” moreover who say that “people who live in the poverty are only byproducts of development.” Yet, no one cares that the same people are thrown away from their homes just because ‘someone’ has its plan to build a dam or to establish Special Economic Zone.

 When after three weeks of being in India, I landed at my home-airport in Poznań, I understood that relative social equality – it is a real treasure, of course we are not the best in it, but the Bukowska Street for sure does not look as the streets of Delhi – and here appears our duty, to keep our streets like that, or even improve them, and to bring more equality to those in India, in addition to that we should try to bring more awareness to those streets all over the world where residue corporations and governments, and those who are luckier – who live in villas or in vast apartments, because the awareness is the first and the most important step towards the change. When the world will start the awareness campaign? For now, the colorful magazines talk exclusively about the charming monuments, TVs about the Bollywood stars, and we – we keep saying that “this is not our problem…”

COCOEDECON

COCOEDECON brought into view the core of humanity, where women, men and children fight the daily battles of poverty, water shortage, malnutrition, and patriarchy, and, with the help of the inspiring NGO, come out with community-driven smiles and conviction. Too often in my travels have I seen NGOs powered by individuals with the selfish desire for selfless action. COCOEDCON rids pretense from the equation, not only focusing on the needs of one issue, but on any issue at the forefront of human well-being in Rajasthan.
COCOEDECON spans environmental issues such as climate change, agriculture, and water harvesting, while maintaining the perceptivity to realize these issues are connected to community health, malnutrition and finance. The revolutionary NGO has the boldness to challenge the paradigms of patriarchy while questioning the dominant paradigms of feminism. COCOEDECON’s definition of gender justice, as conveyed by program coordinator, Ritu, in a squeaky, but forceful and resonating tone: “If one wheel is bigger and one is smaller how can you keep the car on the road?” The NGO does not assume that historical patriarchies are the reason for today’s problems, but rather that equality – two wheels the same size – is the answer. Men, as well as women, shined in the organizations programs of social and gender justice.

In terms of structure, COCOEDECON engages an incredibly wide geographical area with a comparatively small staff. Just 150 employees in nine offices across the deserts of Rajasthan engage in hundreds of social and environmental justice projects. This is possible due to a focus on community empowerment instead of institutionalized progress. By listening and understanding the needs of communities, the NGO facilitates problem solving instead of trying to impose or control projects. The idea is independent, sustainable social justice, not falsely enforced justice as so many NGOs and governments weakly attempt.



Going into the details of COCOEDECON’s programs for community health (i.e. family planning, malnourishment, maternity health), would breach the boundaries of this post. But that just goes to show the span and gravity of this admirable organization. When asked about problems the village faces, Kalyan Mal Kissan, head of the Village Development Council, with the rapturous voice of a true leader responded, “We used to have problems. Now there are few.” He attests this progress to the work of COCOEDECON. One problem he did note was that schools in his village only go up to standard 10, so students have to leave the village to get up to standard 12 for the opportunity of higher education. If I were a gambling man, I’d bet on COCOEDECON formulating plan to remedy this issue.
This is by no means the full overview COCOEDEON deserves, but it would take full-scale academic projects to fully explicate its tremendous accomplishments and projects. The only critique I can offer, and the NGO’s workers and administrators agree, is of the corporate funding of the program. PepsiCo and Tata are two major contributors. As Dr. Jayman is quick to point out, the only reason these donations are made is a small condolence to the vast problems of neoliberalism. According to Jayman, the problems being solved are product of, and perpetuated by neoliberal policies and opportunistic multinationals, such as Pepsi and Tata
As an anti-corporate and generally anti-neoliberal mind I tend to agree with such claims. But finding the direct connection between Tata, Pepsi, and these people isn’t exactly clear. These companies have contributed to substantial economic growth, which creates funding for such contributions. Though I would prefer to see these companies regulated by governments and taxed to hell, how can we blame neoliberalism (Dr. Jayman is going to kill me) when multinationals are funding projects as revolutionary and admirable as COEDECONS?
Grassroots, social activism is the answer to the problems of modernity. CECOEDECON, despite being funded by the parasites of globalization, is quite possibly the most genuine and productive organization of its type. If Pepsi and Tata support organizations like COCOEDECON, the corporations may just meet their end, or at least their match; people, not corporations and co-opted governments, will once again be the speakers of justice and sustainability. Maybe, just maybe, neoliberalism, globalization and modernity, will fold upon the will of people empowered by organizations such as COCOEDECON. The NGO fired in me not a Leninist inspiration, but Lennonist one. So Dr. Jayman, you may say I’m a dreamer. But I’m not the only one.

NGOs and Villages

In the North of India, at the footsteps of Himalaya, but also to the South of Delhi in Jaipur (the capital city of the state Rajasthan) we visited villages and towns which main source of income is agriculture. Surroundings of Jaipur have serious problems with the lack of water what affects crops, but also creates many social issues and accelerates poverty. People who live there are poor, yet they do not give up, and thanks to the aid of humanitarian NGOs (non-governmental organization) which is supported by farmers’ hard work - they try to improve their own fate. Especially extraordinary are women from those villages who want to break the old and patriarchal cycle of oppression, and thanks to the micro-loans they open their small workshops where they manufacture clothes and process food. This is a very good message about the Indian countryside that was till now known  only from its decay caused by the mass suicides of farmers, the displacement of farmers, and the land seizure in favor of industry or dams construction. Thanks to the work of such NGOs as CECOEDECON and Navdanya the future of Indian farmers can be different.

  CECOEDECON (Center for Community Economics and Development Consultants Society) was established as a response to the flood that in 1981 tremendously affected Jaipur’s surroundings and destroyed many villages and towns in Rajasthan. Later, CECOEDECON moved to its mission of educating farmers about the self-organizing and started to provide them with micro-loans, as well as systems of water-harvesting that became a great solution to the daily lack of water in the region (which is half-deserted). Today, they also help street children and promote campaigns against the global warming; each year CECOEDECON participates in the United Nations Climate Change Conferences.

  During our stay there, the volunteers of CECOEDECON who are not afraid of challenges and have great contact with the locals proved that the motto of their organization: “Where actions speak louder than words,” is not taken for granted. We could see those actions in every place we were visiting where each social group, each age, each gender is positively affected and transformed. It is sometimes very hard to believe that this change originate from a micro-loan that for us is an equivalent to a cinema ticket; yet for them means equality, development, and sustainability. It was the first time since long time, where I have seen an organization and people who “believe in the beauty of their dreams,” and who can change their local world, and by this little bit also change the global world.

  In the opposite to CECOEDECON, Navdanya which has its head-quarter at the footsteps of Himalaya takes care of only one – yet very important issue – the preservation of seeds. Navdanya established so called “seed banks” that preserve seeds use in agriculture, and those that for decades have been forgotten and now thanks to Navdanya are restituted to the common use. In 16 chapters of Navdanya that operate all over India, farmers can borrow seeds, grow them, and return back to the bank their surplus after the growing season. Why is this so important? In the last years, all over the world we observe a decrease in biodiversity in agriculture due to our activity - especially due to industrial farming, use of genetically modified food, and food monocultures. If this process will continue, soon we may face a global famine; like one in Ireland in the 19^th century.

   Navdanya was started by one of the most known Indian and global activists – Dr. Vandana Shiva, and is fulfilling its mission by saving seeds, promoting biodiversity, and global activism. They teach farmers how to cultivate their farms ecologically without the need of using non-natural fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals. Education of local farmers, and also people from all over the world that you can meet at Navdanya’s birth place close to Dehradun plays very important role in this organization. Dr. Shiva and Navdanya try to influence also world’s policy makers in order to protect farmers from big corporations and consumers from buying genetically modified food. What is the most important Navdanya gives freedom to farmers, freedom from corporations that try to take out of farmers’ pockets more and more money every year.

  Meeting such organizations as CECOEDECON and Navdanya gave me hope that such literally ‘organic’ work and volunteerism can lead many people to the permanent improvement of their lives; people who used to be marginalized and impoverished. Therefore, I encourage everyone coming to India to escape little bit the tourists’ paths and try to volunteer for a while at one of many India’s NGOs.

Lukasz W. Niparko

Observations From Afar

We in the United States enjoy sitting on our high horse and critiquing other cultures. We give them labels like "developing nations," and make grand statements related purely to economic statistics. There are many countries that lack even the most basic civil rights, largely because our economic corruption has allowed the installation of corporation-friendly government. Yet what we have seen here in India quite simply defies categorization. On the one hand, it is clear that industrialization is still very much in progress, that this country has not had the fifty year head start our own was afforded. Indeed, the U.S. has scored some minor environmental and social victories over the past half-century, yet in many respects we are no more developed than countries like India.

Kerala is obviously the best example of this. While all numbers point towards extreme poverty, on a USD scale, the people on the ground are in many cases more educated and mobilized than that of our own. Almost all sectors of labor are unionized and ready to fight for each other on the socio-political platform. Nearly everyone is educated to a high school level, and everyone understands their role in society and is proud to be from Kerala. The Kerala Model has been proven successful to the extent that it educates and informs the populations, making them valuable members of society. By stressing human development and social justice through a socialist government, Kerala has reduced poverty and leads India in health, education, and crime. This is no small feat from an economic system lambasted for decades by American economists. Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, the Republican party in the state Senate managed to pass a bill outlawing collective bargaining (granted, a judge threw out the bill almost immediately).  Say what you want about economic numbers, but from a social standpoint this has done our country little good. Our poor are getting poorer and our rich are getting richer. We extend tax cuts to the wealthy, give tax breaks to mega-corporations, and destroy local economies because we think that GDP is more important than social well-being.  Have you ever even heard of social capital?

Then there is the environmental movement. The United States is still pumping out 25% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, an astonishing number compared to our 5% of the global population. It is a simple fact that the rest of the world cannot live like us, because then there would be no world left to live on. Yet we continue our abuse of the environment in the name of economics, even turning "green" into a marketing phrase to increase profit. It is easy for us to sit from the top of our global economic mountain and say that we are superior, yet when it comes to the environment we are by far the worst offenders. The most astonishing marks of pollution in India is the rampant littering. Trash literally crowds the streets and the waterways because they don't have the resources to deal with it. Despite the blight on public appearance, it is really no better than dumping waste into landfills. Our elaborate waste management infrastructure allows us to move it all beyond sight, yet it is still sitting there and will be for thousands of years. While there have been limited successes in cleaning up and preserving our environment, rivers like the St. Lawrence are still virtually unusable to local populations that once depended upon them.

What is obvious in India, everywhere that we have been, is how in touch people are with their own personal consumption. It may not be out of a grandiose "environmentalism," as it is in the United States, but rather out of necessity. It is easy at home to blast those who waste more than others, but we all still have neatly manicured lawns and gardens, drive our own personal vehicles to work everyday, and spend the seasons in climate controlled homes. People here are acutely aware of their water, food, and energy use, because there is simply not enough to go around. In hotel rooms, there is a switch that requires the room key in order to turn on any electrical amenities. Every electrical outlet also has a switch turning it on or off. In the U.S., most of our outlets are constantly drawing energy, which not only raises energy costs but also wastes a horrific amount in the pursuit of nothing.

Unfortunately, here in India, global mega-corporations are pushing for more and more influence, using the dollar bill to exert their political will and take power away from the local economies that have developed through thousands of years of civilization. On almost every street their are small storefronts selling local foods, mostly fruits and spices, that we would obtain from a supermarket. There is a noticeable connection between food and place, a connection that has almost completely disappeared in America. If globalisation takes hold here, if industrialized agriculture becomes the standard, then this will evaporate in India just as it has in the States.

In short, the United States is doing almost everything wrong. When we do something right, we hold it up like little kids for the rest of the world to see. Look at us! we say. Look how progressive we are! We follow that up by dumping our waste on countries like India, China, and Mexico and say how "dirty" they are. We have become nothing short of the global bully, posing as a global role model. It is despicable to see the livelihoods of those in India endangered by our ideal of a global economy, when all the global economy does is increase the gaps of wealth between social strata. We view foreign countries through numbers, not on a human scale. The U.S. isn't on the right path either, and should stop resorting to critiquing other nations when we have larger problems building at home. If we can't solve our own issues, as the most powerful nation on the globe, then we are worthless hypocrites, bound to a destiny of pollution that will undoubtedly affect other nations more than it affects our own. And when the globe starts crumbling around us, we will have only ourselves to blame.