Kurt Archer

Ranthambore was beautiful, and I got to hear amazing stories about the tigers, the old Mughal and Raj wars for the fort, and how a community mobilized to help save the tigers who were fast going extinct due to rich Poachers from Delhi and China who collected Tiger skins. It has now become a major tourist spot for locals and foreigners looking to spend time at the beautiful park.

After returning back to Delhi, I heard news of the 5 bomb blasts in Delhi, in places that I had personally walked by only 2 days before. That was a bit of a shocker, and my heart goes out to those affected. Bomb blasts have become a matter of everyday life for people in Pakistan and India, with extremist groups trying to rouse attention, and Media going crazy selling so many papers and making the radicals famous, no matter the tragedy, somebody profits. That’s how people are these days, they want to know everything in an instant.

From Jaipur, I left for Ajmer and again stayed in an AIESECers home, I enjoyed myself as I got to talk to the family (who were Sufi) about Sufism, Reiki and the like. I even got a chance to visited Pushkar while I was there, and got tricked into performing Pooja, for a price you see. Pushkar was beautiful, and well worth the visit, would have spent more time there, but had to return and prepare a presentation about DAMU to a class of 70 boys from Mayo, one of the top secondary schools in India. The presentation was great, and the depth of their question was incredible. I’m looking forward to doing more presentations at schools.

From there, this takes my journey to Baroda, in an overnight train in rainy weather. Needless to say, I woke up feeling a bit sick for the first time on my trip. Baroda is nice though, got to see the movie: Rock On! A Hindi version of a Hollywood film about 4 musicians who meet up after years of breaking up. I also met a cool American guy at the trainee flat I am staying in, yes, I mean it, he’s cool! Jokes aside, we had some great discussion about politics, war, terror, religion, music, hip/hop dance and travels. Was great to share experiences and meet someone well cultured and relaxed as him.

That’s all for now folks, stayed tuned in later as my journey goes into the heart of Mumbai and beyond to southern India.

Since McLeod Ganj, I now find myself amidst the Gujarati riots in the city formally known as Baroda ( I have a hard time pronouncing Varodera, as it seems many people living here do as well). Much has happened on my journey, from visiting holy people in mazars, to saving tigers, dodging bomb blasts, catching up with old friends and seeing some amazing environmental initiatives that are happening in India. I’ll recount some stories now.

We left McLeod Ganj without having seen the Dalai Llama, we did however enjoy the Tibetan food and even took a couple classes in Yoga, damn that gets the energy flowing, never felt so great, I hope to continue classes throughout Asia, or at least on my own in the mornings. The bus to Delhi wasn’t too exciting, we broke down for an hour, but hey, this is India, no worries

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Delhi is traditionally among the last places you would think about stepping out into the fresh air, but that is exactly what the Government is aiming for with its new control on tobacco consumption.

As of October 2nd 2008, all public establishment shall be smoke free zones, thus ending the majority of the threat caused by second hand smoke. In their campaign they targeted schools colleges and restaurants with signs that not only read no-smoking, but also “It is an offence here” just to drill home the point that there will be no tolerance.

Delhi is the first city to adapt such laws in India and the subcontinent, and can only hope that others will follow suit. This action was put forward by Dr Ramadoss from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as a series of city wide pollution clean up efforts leading up to the commonwealth games in 2010.

Along with this campaign, Delhi University has seen a massive transition as the students union (DUSU) who speaks on behalf of the 40,000 plus students has also enacted a non-smoking rule in and around the campus. They have made it illegal for cigarette vendors to sell cigarettes within 100 meters of any college establishment, and for staff students and visitors that don’t comply, there is a fine up to Rs. 500.

This example just goes to show that tobacco companies don’t have the developing countries fooled any longer, that awareness is building, and there is only hope that other institutions will follow close behind. Recently, I had a chance to visit LUMS campus, one of the top universities in Pakistan, and it appalled me the sheer amount of smokers, both male and female, smoking all over campus. Whether it’s an act of poor enforcement or lack of policy, the students of LUMS should be encouraged to take action to make their campus a smoke free environment, with the hope that other institutions will also follow suit.

In the heart of beautiful Amritsar in Punjab, the jewel city of the Sikh followers, lays the Golden Temple, by far one of the most ambitious developments of the millennium. Over 750 years old, this temple was enacted by Guru Nanak, the first Guru of Sikhism.

The religion boasts a very humanitarian approach to life; to serve humanity is to serve God, as some signs around the compound will tell you. This feat is proven in its entirety on the sheer volume of travelers, pilgrims and devotees that come through the gates. All throughout the day and night volunteers are working to sweep the premise, to clean the temple, and enacting their duty to service the people of this sanctuary.

Most noteworthy are the eating grounds provided here. The Langar Khanna (Blessed Food) is a completely systematized wheel of food for the people. No cost for entrance and all are welcome. Everyone eats together in lines on the floor so there is no distinction in class here. Thousands of people come through these gates everyday, and everyday they provide this service. It is all funded by the amount of donations and volunteers provided.

First, you get your metal dish, a metal bowl for drinking and a spoon. Then you, like hundreds others like you at this time, enter the large hall where everyone will sit in lines, cross legged. Volunteers then come by with spoonfuls of daal (lentils), rice, curd, or halva (a sweet flour mixture) in the mornings. All vegetarian options. Water is poured into the bowls for drinking and the food is eaten with small rotis (similar to pita bread). After you are done, you carry your plate outside, hand over the spoon to these men sitting in chairs, and then you pass your dish and bowl down an assembly line of volunteers who take the dirty plates in large trolleys over to the dish washing area where even more volunteers are ready to clean all the dishes that come their way. Then you move along to the side of the Langar Khanna and take another metal bowl for chai (tea with milk) and enjoy it amongst a crowd.

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Renewable action in practise before my eyes.

I had the pleasure of visiting Teri Gram estate today in Gurgaon, which is on the outskirts of Delhi. It is a project of The Energy and Research Institute (TERI) foundation, which began under the patronage of Ratan Tata in the 1970s. It is now under the leadership of Dr. Pauchauri, noble laureate winner for sustainability.

The campus is literally in the middle of nowhere, which symbolizes its removal from urban waste societies, but what a retreat it was indeed. Upon arrival, I was given an electronic car which resembled a CNG rickshaw, green in colour obviously. We passed by golf courses, cricket fields and lush vegetation. The retreat itself was a very modern design with high end facilities. Its primary source of light was from the sun, and it had no air-conditioning. In fact, this facility produces no waste.

I got a guided tour of the facility which began with looking at the structure itself, its energy efficient design, its use of wind-air ducts that run 4 meters below the earth and is cooled and shot up through the building with the use of fans. To complement this invention, warm air ducts run up the building so that when the cold air enters the room there is somewhere for the warm air to go. The idea first emerged in ancient Greece and is now something taught in elementary science – hot air rises! So why have contemporary builders not heard of this concept? Got me.

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