"No More Bhopals" Part 1

Bhopal, with its crowded streets and choking pollution, may never feel like home, but I'm finally comfortable and settled here at Sambhavna Clinic. I now have a meaningful (although sometimes monotonous) project and I have become acquainted with the local microbiological fauna (my digestive system flushed itself clean thanks to some unknown bacteria in the water). So I’ve been enjoying the wireless internet, delicious Indian meals, and being a part of one of India's most innovative and progressive organizations.

It isn't hard to be comfortable here since they treat volunteers so well - I hardly have a reason to leave the property except to remind myself how lucky I am to be staying in this oasis of calm in a sea of chaos. Sambhavna is located in an impoverished, chaotic area for a reason – it is only meters away from the site of the Union Carbide pesticide factory which caused the world's worst industrial disaster 25 years ago. Union Carbide chose the slums of Bhopal because there was plenty of cheap labor, the property was inexpensive, and the disenfranchised neighborhood was unlikely to protest when the plant emitted foul gases or toxic materials.

My project is to digitize Sambhavna's comprehensive collection of news clippings concerning the gas tragedy. Every article ever written that is related to the gas leak and its aftermath is housed in the clinic's library. In order to make this information more durable and accessible to people doing research I am reading, scanning, and categorizing each article in chronological order. At times the project is really engaging – I get an in-depth look at the history of the tragedy and the legal battle that follows – but it can also be monotonous – scan, save, scan, save, scan, save. I'm just happy to be contributing in a measurable way. Once the project is complete, researchers and lawyers will be able to make use of the database of articles without having to come to Bhopal, they can just download pop in a disc.

Reading the daily reports describing the suffering of thousands of people and Union Carbide's shameless evasion of all responsibility has forced me to think about three questions:

1. How was it that a corporation killed thousands of people due to gross negligence and faced almost no consequences?

2. What should have been done after the disaster to give justice to the victims?

3. What needs to change in order to be sure that something of this nature never happens again?

How was it that a corporation killed thousands of people due to gross negligence and faced almost no consequences?

First it is absolutely necessary to recognize a fundamental fact about corporations – they have no souls, no conscience, and no ethical responsibility towards anyone or anything. Corporations have only one motive – profit. This isn't some left-wing, anti-capitalist view, it is economic fact. CEOs and corporate boards are bound by law (a Supreme Court decision, no less), to act in the interest of the corporation's bottom line. If a CEO makes a decision based on ethics that negatively affects the bottom line, he can legally be sued by the shareholders. There is no room for good-deeds, except those trifles which are necessary for good PR. This isn’t a conspiracy theory, it is the result of the current legal and economic framework within which corporations operate.

Following the disaster the CEO of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, did his duty - evade responsibility and minimize costs. Luckily for UC and Mr. Anderson, the global economic/political system is stacked in favor of trans-national corporations. Union Carbide simply left India. There is no global political structure which has the ability to control trans-national corporations, despite the fact that they exert an enormous amount of influence everywhere in the world. It is like the old Wild West where a bandit could simply cross state lines to evade justice.

Despite UC's best efforts, they were eventually pressured to pay a settlement to the victims. How much for a permanently injured victim? $500. How much for the family of someone who was killed? $1000. How is it possible that Union Carbide could get away with paying such a laughably small amount? Simple, all the victims are poor and brown. Indian lives are worth less than American or European lives. The settlement would have been hundreds of thousands, if not millions, per person in the US, but as a UC official put it, “500 dollars is plenty much for an Indian”. The fact that he said this during my lifetime gives me chills. After the settlement was announced, the price of UC stock instantly rose. Investors knew they got off cheap. In an audacious speech meant to reassure stock holders, Warren Anderson stated that the entire “Bhopal incident” cost the company 43 cents per share. $0.43 PER SHARE! What does message does that send to other companies with dangerous operations in the developing world? Get in, make some money, and buy your way out of any messy situation for mere pennies.

So, to get back to the original question, UC was able to avoid any substantial consequence because it did its best to avoid responsibility and there was no legal body which could force it do to otherwise. When it did dispense money, it calculated the health and life of an Indian the way tourists haggle for souvenirs – things are cheap here, including the people’s health and lives. Sickening.

What should have been done after the disaster to give justice to the victims?

It is not only the amount of compensation from UC that is so insulting to the victims in Bhopal, it is the fact that a billion dollar corporation can destroy a community and environment, make a paltry one-time payment, and then be off the hook. Handing victims a large check does help to make their life easy for the short term, but that should not be the end of it. Union Carbide should be responsible for cleaning up its mess and setting up a healthcare and economic stimulus infrastructure to lessen the suffering caused by its negligence. It should also be forced to undergo a thorough review of all of its facilities to ensure that the kinds of safety lapses that caused the Bhopal catastrophe won’t happen again. These steps would begin to give justice to a people who were first exploited for cheap labor and then poisoned and killed by a multi-billion dollar corporation.

The Indian government has been attempting to extradite Warren Anderson for the past 24 years. There is a warrant for his arrest, and if it is actually served, he will be tried for culpable homicide in an Indian court. I really don’t know how to feel about extraditing an octogenarian to India to be tried for murder. Realistically, as CEO of such a large corporation, he did not know that the Bhopal plant violated nearly every safety measure and regulation in the chemical industry, but maybe he should have. Maybe if he is tried and convicted and imprisoned future CEOs will ensure that such disasters don’t happen, since they could be held responsible. Someone has to be held responsible. Anderson surely was given credit for UC’s financial success while he was CEO, so why should he not be held responsible for its mistakes? Thousands of innocent people are currently being poisoned by contaminated water. Thousands more are chronically ill due to the disaster. Thousands more lost family and friends in one horrific night. These people deserve justice, so who am I to tell them that it would be unfair to interrupt a wealthy old man’s retirement?

What needs to change in order to be sure that something of this nature never happens again?

Everything. The entire, supposedly inviolable, idea that a corporation has all the rights of a person without the accompanying ethical and moral responsibilities must change. Trans-national corporations must be reigned in by an effective international body that is able to enforce safety standards, environmental regulations, and human rights laws. The age of outsourcing our dirty work, which damages the environment and health of employees, to poor countries must come to an end. If a job is unsafe for an American, it is unsafe for an Indian, a Malaysian, or a Mexican.

We can not continue to exploit the poor in order to have “Everyday Low Prices”. Our entire economic system, which is pathologically driven by wealth production, must begin to factor in the costs to human beings around the world. It may mean that Americans will have to pay a little more for the endless array of unnecessary consumer goods at their local Wal-Mart (actually in my perfect world Wal-Mart would be broken up since it has a veritable monopoly in many locales). Globalization works great for the top 1% of the world’s population, and for the rest it means long working hours, miserable manufacturing jobs, and being exposed to products and lifestyles which they will never be able to afford. It is time to include the rest of the world into our decision making. If we don’t, we should no longer be considered the “Home of the Brave”.

Good News! People awareness is growing and you can help!

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is an acute symptom of a larger global malady. It is a case study in globalization’s discontents. Never before have the winners and losers in the trans-national-capital-game been so clearly demarcated. Thankfully there are brave and persistent people in Bhopal who are not looking at the tragedy as an event which occurred in the past, but rather as a part of an ongoing battle against injustice on a global scale. Check out the video below if you want to get really riled up (I got goose-bumps).

It is an example of how the tragedy has resulted in a city full of motivated and talented activists who are keenly aware of their place in the global socio-economic scheme. It is unfortunate that it took the world’s worst industrial disaster to wake up a community to the shenanigans of global corporations, but now they are unstoppable.

Part 2 will be about ways that Americans can help the fight for justice in Bhopal and to ensure that there will be “No More Bhopals”.

Holi Cow!

If I've learned only one thing during this year of traveling it is how to quickly adapt to new situations. I arrived at Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal on Tuesday evening and woke up Wednesday morning to my fellow volunteers sneaking into my room to cover me with colored powder. This wasn't a new volunteer initiation or a hazing ritual, it was the morning of the Holi Festival, possibly the most colorful festival in the world. Literally.

The clinic was closed for the holiday, so we left early to go to a party nearby; more colored powder, lots of music, and a potent beverage brewed with bhang and milk. By early afternoon everyone was exhausted and brightly hued (inside and out), so we went to the local samosa stand before we cleaned up and relaxed on the clinic roof for the rest of the day. All in all, not a bad first day on the job. Now it is time to get serious and determine how I will spend the next four weeks. I know that I will be helping in the garden in which all the clinic's medicine is grown, and I'll also probably be helping to digitize the clinic's extensive library about the Union Carbide gas leak.

For those of you who are not aware of the Bhopal gas tragedy, here is a quick synopsis. At midnight on December 2nd, 1984, a chemical plant operated by Union Carbide (Now owned by Dow Chemicals) leaked 27 tons of poisonous gas, killing thousands instantly and leaving tens of thousands more injured. Twenty-five years after the disaster, victims are still suffering from the effects of the gas and the soil and water of Bhopal are still contaminated. The company refuses to pay for the clean-up or medical expenses related to the disaster, but there is still a case in court which could give additional compensation to the victims.

This isn't just another case of corporate irresponsibility, it is the largest chemical disaster in history - one which continues to harm innocent people. The Sambhavna Clinic was set up for two main goals; to help the victims through the use of alternative medicine and to serve as a center for research regarding the gas disaster. I'm only beginning to understand how the clinic functions and what my role can be, I just hope that I can find a meaningful way to contribute and earn my free meals!

Sweating the Big Stuff, Enjoying the Small Stuff

First, an apology for the last post. A travel blog to keep family and friends up on my whereabouts and activities is probably not an appropriate venue for a controversial and personal political rant, so now back to our regularly scheduled programming from Sadhana Village . . .

As I expected, I learned more from the people at Sadhana Village than I could have possibly hoped to teach them. The way of life in this enclave of acceptance and good-will has made an indelible impact on how I envision my future career and lifestyle. It really is the little things that make all the difference. Sadhana Village does not aim to change the perception of people with disabilities in India, there are no plans to expand globally or even regionally – Sadhana is content to remain a quiet community in a remote location. This does not mean that Sadhana isn't making a difference, only that the organization is doing it individual by individual. People come first at Sadhana, not publicity, recognition, or finances.

When confronted by a problem, such as how to help people with developmental disabilities live a happy and healthy life, I too often focus on the macro-scale, societal level solutions, but the best place to start is by focusing on individual people. Finally the classic “top-down versus bottom-up” distinction makes sense to me. Any solution that is formulated by bureaucrats (as well-meaning and educated they may be) at the top of an organization or government is unlikely to be effective at the local level because the it will not be ideally suited for every environment and group. A solution that is formulated by the people working at the grass-roots level will be much more effective because they are more knowledgeable about the local environment's resources and specific individual's needs. Furthermore, they are working with people, not abstractions, and are immediately aware if an aspect of their program is not working. Since it took me two degrees and almost a year abroad to figure that one, I guess I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Although it is not their intention, Sadhana is making a global impact. People from all over the world visit to volunteer or to learn about Sadhana's system so that they can bring it back to their home country and organization. There have been numerous articles published and several new organizations have been spawned using Sadhana as a guide, a perfect example of “bottom-up” or horizontal movement of an innovative idea.

When I arrived here I immediately wanted to work on towards increasing Sadhana's organizational capacity through grant-writing, staff training, fund-raising, technology acquisition, etc. I think I'm attracted to this type of project because I can walk away in a month with a quantifiable result, which may or may not become a line on my resume. I quickly learned that this is not my role at Sadhana. I was welcomed, fed and housed so that I could enrich the lives of the residents. After this realization, that I'm here to work with the residents rather than the organization, I experienced an unexpected wave of relief. Instead of worrying about funding organizations and grant deadlines, I could slow down and get to know the unique and interesting residents. I helped Sarang learn how to use my digital camera, upload photos to his personal computer, and put them into a presentation that he will show to all guests and new volunteers as the official welcoming committee of Sadhana. I worked with Yetin to practice his English writing and eventually compose a short biography which he read at a community meeting. I had long and interesting discussions with Vankadesh, who is a linguistic savant and speaks seven languages, about geography and linguistic anthropology. These may be small contributions, but I left Sadhana knowing that my presence made a few people happy; something I couldn't be sure of if I had spent my time editing grant applications.

These experiences working with individual residents are what have made an indelible impact on how I envision my future. I still vacillate between the macro and micro ways of helping; a career in the United Nations or as a social worker, making public policy or teaching children, international NGO or local non-profit. While these alternatives are not mutually exclusive, they represent two different ways of doing good in the world. I am coming to realize that both are equally important means to an end, but that I must first ground myself in reality by working at the micro/individual level before I can be focused or effective on a larger scale. Getting your hands dirty, sometimes literally, working directly with people is the only way to learn how to help. I guess that is why I am on this trip – to figure out what it is I need to learn in order to be useful to those in need. In other words, find a niche for myself.

I don't know if I've found my niche, but everywhere I go I learn something new about what it takes to be helpful and what I should learn to make myself more effective in that role. What have I learned that I need to learn? Here is an abbrieviated list:

1) Language – because not everyone in the world, or even the US, speaks English
2) Language – because you can't get much done without it.
3) Language – because being mono-lingual is seriously not-cool
4) Hard-skills – because just being well-meaning and well educated only goes so far.

As far as the first three are concerned, I am committed to building on my meager Spanish in the next few years to become competent enough to have a casual conversation. The issue of hard-skills is a little more complicated. I have witnessed other volunteers who are useful no matter where they go because of their skill-set. These skills are as diverse as teaching music, massage, construction, yoga instruction, physical therapy, gardening, and teaching art. For example, two occupational therapists just arrived at Sadhana and I am amazed that I have never looked into this profession previously because it is so aligned with my interests and experience; helping people with physical or mental limitations to reach their goals by using their unique skills and interests to overcome environmental obstacles. That is the extent of my knowledge of what an occupational therapist does, I just find it interesting that so many means exist to the same end; helping disadvantaged individuals live a happy and healthy life.

So to get to the point of this post, I still don't know what I want to do with my life, but I know that the best place to find my niche is by working with individuals. As some of you know, Jess and I are returning to the US of A in July/August and will be seeking employment as teachers! Becoming an educator will undoubtedly teach me a great deal and open many doors to other possible careers. Maybe I'll never know what I want to be when I grow up, but at least I'm having fun trying to figure it out.

My next, and final, stop in India is at the Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal. I have almost no idea what my role will be, but it is a worthy organization with a good reputation, so I'm looking forward to my time there. Also, I should have regular internet access!!!! Thanks to everyone who has read this far – you are my blog super-stars!

Read at Your Own Risk!

DISCLAIMER: If you have any affinity for the Bush Dynasty, unquestioning adoration for Obama, or a firmly held belief that the “American Way of Life” is a God-given right, please do not read this post! I promise to have a fluffy post with anecdotes and photos by next week :-)

Barack Hussein Obama, the son of a Kenyan immigrant, is now the most powerful man in the world. I was certain it was impossible and I still find it difficult to believe even after reading “President Obama . . .” repeatedly in the papers. Luckily, I am constantly reminded of Obama's victory by strangers in India immediately after confessing that I am an American. “Oh Yes, Obama! He is a good man, I like him very much!” Overnight it became OK to be an American abroad! To many Indians, and to millions of others around the world, Obama represents the possibility of a new world order, a world where America does have a conscience and a moral responsibility to consider the well-being of hundreds of millions of impoverished people around the world. All of this optimism and enthusiasm is based on two facts; 1) Obama is not a member of the white and privileged establishment and 2) his last name isn't Bush or Clinton.

Unfortunately (I seldom express this sentiment to excited Indians) I am not expecting change, at least not any deep or lasting change, during Obama's presidency. Economic exploitation of the third world through economic imperialism and the unquestioned reign of transnational corporations will continue during the next four years. Obama may represent many positive things to many deserving people, but he is an ardent centrist (and he wouldn't have been elected otherwise) and the bulk of his policies reinforce the status quo. He may be an exciting breath of fresh air in the global political scene, but his image, charisma, and rhetoric can only go so far.
In some ways America under Obama is more dangerous than it was under Bush Junior. Of course this is blasphemous to my liberal friends, but the truly liberal have reason to be disheartened. The Bush regime was so utterly simple, so brazen in its actions, so arrogant in its behaviors, that the mechanisms behind global exploitation were clearly visible to even the most casual observer. An ex-president's simple-minded son (himself a former oil tycoon) gets elected through a technicality in the state his brother governs, hires a bunch of his Dad's old buddies (Oil tycoons and defense contractors) with the sole aim of making a more “favorable global business environment” for his CEO buddies. Of course this includes acquiring, through unapologetically dishonest means, the oil necessary to lubricate the wheels of production and consumption. Of course this is all old news, it will all be in history books soon enough, but the point is that Bush made it easy for opponents of the American led trans-national corporate empire to criticize the unjust system and to rally people in the fight for change. In many ways Obama is a godsend to the status quo; he appeases the masses with the appearance of change while business continues as usual. I don't think we will be illegally invading and occupying as many countries during the next four years, but I have little doubt that our tax dollars will continue to pour into the defense industry, that the richest one percent of Americans will continue owns more wealth than the bottom twenty percent, and that corporate campaign contributions will continue to guide public policy making.

I have no doubt that Obama is a good and honorable man, and he may even turn out to be one of the great presidents of the modern era, but good and honorable aren't enough. The world needs a revolutionary president who is not afraid to work outside the two-party political system in order to bring justice to the hundreds of millions who are on the losing end of global economic inequity. Sure, he is the American president and he was elected to further America's interests, but as September 11th proved, we don't live in an impenetrable bubble. Global peace is impossible without global equality, both economic and political. How can we expect the rest of the world to watch contentedly as we gluttonously consume vastly more than our share of the world's limited resources? Do we deserve to live a more comfortable life than the rest of the world? Do they deserve to live in poverty? Do we work harder, or are we born smarter? (I can tell you firsthand that the answer is a definitive NO to last question.) Or was it a fluke of history and geography that endowed the people of America and Europe with power and wealth - power that we use without hesitation to acquire more wealth, which we are very hesitant to share. A powerful minority can only hide behind the supposedly sacred concept of the sovereign nation-state for so long before the rest of the world realizes that the world's resources belong to everyone and that no one group has a right to live a life of luxury while others suffer in poverty. This is the exact reason why conservatives have been pushing the idea of a missile defense shield since Reagan - we would finally get our impenetrable bubble that would protect us from any retribution, righteous or otherwise, from those who seek a more equitable global balance of power.

Even a missile defense shield can't save us from the effects of environmental collapse. As you read this, weather patterns are shifting, glaciers are melting, and sea levels are rising. We're already running low on oil and soon much of the world will be short of the water it needs. The evidence is clear – our unsustainable lifestyle and careless public policy has altered the planet's delicate balance and we are unprepared for the inevitable effects.

Two more, albeit late, disclaimers:
1) I am no expert on Obama's policies
2) I benefit every day of my life from the plundering of the American empire, and will probably continue to do so for the rest of my life.

Despite the cynicism of this rant, I am genuinely excited by Obama's presidency. He is bound to improve public infrastructure, education, and the status of scientific research in the United States. I am also fascinated by his victory as a historic milestone. Less than five decades ago he wouldn't have been allowed to sit at the same table as white people in some states, but now he is sitting at the head of the table, and everyone is listening – a monumental step for a nation plagued by racial discord. Of course hundreds of years of wrongs can not be corrected by a single electoral gesture. A great deal of work has yet to be done, but at least we are moving forward. Obama's election is in many ways the culmination of the war over racial identity that has been fought in America since the civil rights movement. I hope that we really are in a new post-racial era of American politics because a united citizenry is needed to fight the next great battle for equality. The rally cry of this new battle is a logical extension of the civil right movement; all people, not just those born in America, deserve equality, both economic and political. This battle will not be won until economic and environmental exploitation of the third world are no longer considered valid means to accumulate wealth. I look forward to the day when it is just as easy and affordable for the average Indian to travel to America as it has been for me to travel to India.

. . . . . .

Although the tone of this posting is urgent - and even slightly angry - I assure you that the atmosphere at Sadhana Village is the polar opposite. Perhaps the only problem is that I have too much free time to observe the surrounding villages and write about my reactions, hence this post. I hope that the cardinal rule of conversation – don't discuss religion or politics because you'll either bore people or piss them off – doesn't apply to blogging. Even if it does apply, I hope I didn't piss anyone off, or worse, bore anyone with an exceptionally long and pictureless post. Just throwing my 2¢ in . . .

Best of the East and West

Volunteering after months of touring is truly refreshing, kind of like taking a long, hot shower after an overnight bus ride. Of course there are no showers here, but Sadhana Village has everything else I could ask for and more. It is set in a dramatic valley 30 kilometers outside of Pune and is much more peaceful than the tourist-infested beaches of Goa or the traffic-clogged streets of Pune and Mumbai. My biggest concern before arrival was a language barrier, but that fear was washed away within minutes of my arrival by scores of questions from the curious residents, all of which were formed in perfect English! The multitude of international volunteers and educated staff have given the residents a firm grasp of the English language, which unfortunately means I probably won't learn much Hindi or Marathi.

Sadhana Village isn't a village in the usual way; it is a home for people with developmental disabilities that is structured like a community. The community was founded by Vasante Deshpande after his daughter had a debilitating accident that left her unable to care for herself. He was told by the doctors that a “rehabilitation home” was the best place for her. Mr. Deshpande was shocked by these so called homes, abuse, malnutrition, and neglect were widespread. He decided to travel abroad in search of a more humane organization, and was inspired by the Camphill Schools in North America. Sadhana Village was founded in 1993 with the aim of becoming a place where people of varying abilities could live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives. The basic premise is simple; people with disabilities have the same needs as everyone else – adequate food and shelter, opportunities to express themselves creatively, and to belong to a family and community. Sadhana Village meets these needs better than similar organizations in India because each resident's individual needs and desires are emphasized, but it is also more successful than similar organizations in the United States because familial and cultural relationships are very highly valued. In many ways it is the best of the Collectivist East and the Individualist West.

Sadhana Village consists of three main buildings, each of which is a home to ten “special friends” (their term, not mine). Each building has a kitchen, a living area, and two dining rooms. In order to cultivate a more family-like environment, meals are eaten in smaller groups of 5 residents and at least one volunteer or staff. Dividing the residents between three buildings and then into smaller family groups (albeit unisex families) gives the residents a more stable, private, and familiar environment in which to live. The staff and volunteers all live on site, which also adds to the stability of the community.

The daily schedule at Sadhana is also very stable and organized. Everyone is up by 7:30 for chai, followed immediately by a walk around the property. Breakfast is served at 9:00 before all the houses gather together for a morning community meeting and prayer at 10:00. Everyone then heads to the garden for morning work, which ends promptly at 12:00. After showers and some rest, lunch is served at 1:00. My favorite part of the day, nap time, goes from lunch until 3:00 when the afternoon cultural activity begins. Sweet snacks are served to everyone at 6:00, dinner at 8:00, and bed-time prayer/meditation at 9:00. I like the structure and predictability of the schedule, it helps everyone to be at ease and on time.

Despite the rosy picture I have painted of Sadhana Village, behind the scenes things are not running so effortlessly. An organization of this nature is expensive to operate and Sadhana receives exactly zero rupees from the Indian government. The parents of the residents pay a nominal sum each month, but the fees do not cover operating costs. International foundations and corporations only donate money for capital-raising projects, such as new buildings and land purchases, but rarely will give money for daily expenses. The international financial crisis has caused a decrease in international donations. There are only two alternatives, to raise the monthly fee for each family, which would result in some residents being forced out, or to create an income generating enterprise of some sort, which would force the residents to work for many hours of the day. It is interesting that this is the exact same problem that the Temi Community in Georgia faces, people are willing to give money for new projects and buildings, but no one wants to cover the mundane daily expenses which are necessary to keep them operating.

I hope that I will be able to help this group in a meaningful way, but I will undoubtedly learn more from them then they will from me. That seems to be the theme of my entire year; getting credit for volunteering, when in fact I am getting fed, housed, and educated for free. Not exactly a fair trade, but if they are happy with the arrangement, there will be no complaints from me.

I'm NOT Goin' to Goa

I don't know how many times I said that exact phrase when talking about my Indian itinerary. Goa is infamous as the destination for world-weary hippies looking for a beautiful place to relax and European couples looking for a cheap place to drink and get a tan. Despite belonging to the same category, I generally don't like tourists. It is easy to get arrogant and righteous when observing groups of sunburned sixty-somethings who have over-indulged in the cheap booze, but i have no right to be indignant. I may think of myself as a traveler rather than a tourist, but it is all a matter of perspective. My perspective. To the people in Goa who rely on tourism for their livelihood, I am just as much a tourist as any drunken pensioner from Europe, just another person who has come for the cheap food and beautiful beaches.

Tourism may be considered a legitimate route to economic development, but it irreversibly, and in my mind adversely, affects the local culture. Instead of relying on the land or the sea for their income, most people in Goa must now rely on the fickle demands of foreign tourists. Communities full of people who can only make money by pleasing tourists. The rich folks fly in and immediately stash their money in locked hotel safes and hidden money belts. All tourists everywhere, especially myself, have a disproportionate fear, almost a phobia, of the dreaded “Rip Off”. Not too many people stop to think about who is really getting ripped off every day. The tourists pamper themselves in one of the world's most beautiful settings for ridiculously cheap. while the locals make a meager living serving them, too busy to be able to enjoy their ancestral setting. You decide who is getting the short end of the stick. (No points for guessing my answer.)

Tourism's effect on the locals is evident every time I walk to town. I am staying in a lesser-developed section of Goa, but the road to the nearest village is lined with stalls selling the usual array of souvenirs. The necklaces, postcards, t-shirts, and trinkets are the same in nearly every stall. There is little or no product differentiation because in order to be competitively priced they must buy from a large wholesaler, which has a limited selection of merchandise. Since everyone is essentially selling the same thing, the only way to stand out is to catch the attention of the passing tourists, to hook their interest in whatever way possible. The hooks range from the simple and ubiquitous, “Hello, my friend!”, to the more sophisticated (and usually accurate) comments on nationality, “Hello! America, yes?” (I occasionally get mistaken for a German or Australian, but without me saying a word they usually know I'm American. Is it my clothes, my hair, or my shoes, or something more subtle? I don't really know how they do it, but I know it involves practicing day after day.) If the comment elicits any reaction, especially a verbal response, it is successful and is immediately followed by a heartfelt plea to, “just look here, no buying”. The hook which catches me without fail is the compliment. Hearing a stranger say “nice beard my friend!”, or “you look like a real Indian!” instinctively makes me smile and at least say “thanks” in return, not because I'm overly polite, but because I'm a sucker for a compliment.

The most creative hook I have come across was even more clever than a compliment or educated guess on nationality. “Please come look at my shitty shop. Just another shitty shop full of shit for you to buy”. When I was certain I had heard him correctly, I had to turn to smile. “Yes my friend, do you want to see my shit? You have never seen such shit for such good prices!” This guy would be a marketing executive had he been born in the West. He realizes that it doesn't matter what you say, as long as people stop and listen. Being a connoisseur of hawkers' hooks, I had to buy some postcards from this supreme souvenir slinger.

Like it or not, the tourism industry is not going to disappear anytime soon. People will always choose to go where their hard-won Dollars, Pounds, or Euros will go the farthest; it's simple economics. The problem is that this process always results in a unequal balance of power. The tourists, by voting with their money, have control over the services, food, accommodation, and entertainment in the area. The local residents are not helpless victims, they are just at the losing end of an economic exchange. If the people of Goa became organized and decided to guarantee everyone working in the tourist industry a minimum wage and guaranteed time off, prices for tourist services would inevitably rise. For every Rupee increase in the cost of a Goa vacation, Goa would get less tourists and the locals are aware of this economic fact. It is just as easy for potential tourists to book a vacation to Mexico, Thailand, Bali, or Vietnam – exotic, warm, beautiful, and cheap. Poor people in Thailand are competing with poor people in Indians; there is always another “undiscovered gem” on the tourist map, so if you want to be attract tourists, you better be cheap.

Tourism in the developing world is a one way street. We can go to their home and pay for their servitude, but 99% of them will never be able to even dream of a luxurious vacation in the West. Of course not, neither can most of the Western tourists who come to Goa, that is why many people are here. This all became embarrassingly apparent on a bus ride in which I was talking to a friendly engineer going to visit his home village. He was very curious and asked about all the details of my trip; how long in each country, average costs for hotels, food, and transportation, and how much I had saved before leaving. He then asked me about equivalent traveling costs in the United States and Europe. Being an engineer, doing the math in his head was not a problem. When he was finished with his mental spreadsheet, he looked at me and said, “It is impossible for me to visit your country in this way. I am an engineer, but I will never be able to afford a trip for that length of time in such an expensive place.” He said it as a matter of fact, without a hint of resentment or anger. It is just the current global situation and we too often take it for granted.

This whole rant on tourism is a result of two and a half months of constantly and consciously taking advantage of this economic inequity. I need a holiday from being a tourist so I'm excited to start volunteering tomorrow - whether or not I'm able to really help their organization, at least I'll no longer feel like a neo-colonial voyeur. My next posting should be from Sadhana Village in Pune, hopefully on a much lighter note :-)

Bombay: Maximum City

It is natural to attempt to relate foreign locations to familiar places because an analogy can lead to a better understanding of a new place. While exploring Mumbai's backstreets, affluent suburbs, and tourist hot-spots I realized that there is no one city in America which contains the mult-faceted vibrancy that this “maximum city”, so no simple analogy is accurate. Mumbai is the financial capital of India, the fourth largest city in the world, the home of India's entertainment and fashion industry (Bollywood produces more films per year than Hollywood), the site of countless ancient and colonial landmarks, and is flanked by sun-drenched beaches and jungle. A fair analogy to the US could only be possible if Boston, Los Angeles, and New York were all stacked on top of each other somewhere in Florida.

Another way to describe Mumbai is to recognize what it is not; this city is no Kerala. As my previous post describes, Kerala is teeming with natural beauty and home-spun tradition. Like the citizens of Mumbai, Keralans are also struggling to survive in an India that is changing faster than anyone imagined possible, but Kerala is doing it on its own terms. The socialist government strongly encourages the retention of customs and traditions and promotes these traditions to attract tourists. Kerala is cultivating an image of traditional lifestyles and natural beauty, in some ways refusing economic gain which would destroy these two important aspects of their state. In contrast, Mumbai is racing towards the 21st century and not looking back. This is a city of extremes; the jet-set millionaires living in skyscrapers while 55 percent of the city lives in slums. Mumbai is home to India's wealthiest businessmen, but it is also home to Asia's largest slum. In some areas it is more common to see espresso and gelato shops than traditional chai stalls.

As with the rest of India, it is impossible to say whether or not I like Mumbai. I like the enterprising nature of the residents, with stalls selling every imaginable good and service at every corner. I don't like watching the ultra-wealthy ride in BMWs past children begging on the street. I like the unique flavor of Bollywood, with its singing/dancing/comedy/romance/action adventure plots. I don't like that Western style coffee shops are beginning to outnumber the chai stalls. Of course I do like that I can get a delicious double-shot latte anytime that I want. Mumbai just is, like it or not.
If you really want a glimpse at this crazy city, you must watch “Slumdog Millionaire”. Jess and I saw it at a swanky multi-plex here in Mumbai, which was incredible because we were within sight of many of the landmarks that are the setting for the film! I don't know how much publicity the movie is getting in the US, but it is obviously a big deal here in Mumbai, even though it is a foreign film. Slumdog really is an incredible movie, entertaining and heart-warming in its own right, but it does a particularly good job at portraying modern India with all its beauty, contradictions and harshness. My rating: three thumbs up and six stars.

The past week has been a little stressful here as Jess and I have spent our days running around trying to get her a Chinese Visa so that she can go back to work. As if the heavens were conspiring against her leaving India, Republic Day and Chinese New Year BOTH fell on the same week, meaning that the Chinese consulate was closed for the ENTIRE WEEK!! Thanks to some creative travel planning, she is now in Hong Kong getting a (hopefully) expedited visa so that she can get back to work next week.

After a week of running around the city with her I find myself alone in a an enormous city. Before I go to Pune to start work at Sadhana Village, I'm going to take a week in Goa to re-center and prepare for three and a half months away from Jess. A room with a balcony and long bike rides on the beach will hopefully prepare me for three months of volunteering and cultural immersion. I also bought a new “ultraportable” notebook computer here (for less than $200!), so I should be more accessible via email and Skype for the next few months. For those who are interested, my Skype name is lukintm, and for those, like me, who are new to Skype it is like an internet phone service, or a voice-chatting program, or a video-messaging service, depending on how you look at it. Either way, it goes a long way to make the world even smaller.

I just finished my espresso, so now it is time to dodge the BMWs and push through the begging children to find my bus . . .