photography

despite india’s recent economic boom, more than 350 million indians live below the poverty line.  many have become urban poor: living on the streets, begging for a meager existence, and addicted to drugs, yet fighting to maintain the hope that characterizes the human experience.

the salaam baalak trust runs a heartbreaking walking tour of the area around the new delhi train station, delving into the lives of the 2,500 street children living in the area.  20-year old tour guide brijesh tells his own extraordinary story of running away from home in bihar to delhi at age 8, collecting garbage, flirting with gangs, and sniffing glue, before using the support of the salaam baalak trust to graduate high school and achieve matriculation to technical college  on the tour, he’ll introduce you to the street children and provide stories about their relationship to gangs, police, and prostitution.

the experience is shocking.  less than a few hundred meters from a major delhi tourist hub – and the platform for a luxury train that glides through new delhi station every few days – young children on the margins of society crawl under train trolleys, pillage garbage heaps for items of value, and experiment with drugs.  and while the salaam baalak trust has achieved remarkable results in its efforts, the scope of the problem is simply too large for a single organization to tackle.  at the conclusion of my tour,brijesh took me to visit the nearby red-light district: the sight of scantily clad women beckoning at the men on the street from their upper story windows (the better to prevent potential escape) reinforced the horror in his stories.  the sadness and depravity were stunningly, overwhelmingly real.

despite its subject matter, this tour is safe, insightful, and hopeful: this is an experience that will stay with you long after you leave india.

Contact:  Salaam Balak Trust or Brijesh (99100 99348)

high on glue, a street boy poses in the railway station.

three street children in the new delhi railway station.

a teacher struggles to retain his students’ attention at a street school run by the salaam baalak trust.

a street boy at salaam baalak’s school.

cycle and auto rickshaws wait outside of #64, one of delhi’s best known whorehouses, near the ajmer gate.

young, daytime prostitutes beckon for clients from high above the street.

two young prostitutes fight for attention in a window above the street.

low level railway employees make their homes near to the tracks at the new delhi railway station.

…that you forgot something?

there aren’t many experiences that will get you into the swing of india like the early morning flower market across from the hanuman temple, on janpath near to connaught place, in new delhi.  at 5 am each morning, hundreds of flower wholesalers line the area to hawk their colourful wares. delhiwallas love flowers; more than us$100,000 is spent on flowers each day in delhi, making this market one of the largest of its kind in asia.  be sure to get there early to watch wholesalers unload thousands of orchids, roses, and colourful garlands out of cars, lorries – even rickshaws!  a great, authentic, and fragrant introduction to delhi’s world-famous hagglers and india’s extraordinary colours.

some of these are just wonderful.

this one’s my favourite, taken on his way to make a victory speech on the evening he won the nomination.  which is yours?

i had the incredible good fortune of seeing the dalai lama on the day before i left  india.  the dalai lama - as head of the tibetan government-in-exile - spends a good portion of the year in his adopted home, mcleod ganj, a small village near to dharamsala, about 15 hours bus from delhi.  mcleod ganj is magnificently perched on a mountain ridge 1800m above sea level, surrounded by lush green forest and spectacular waterfalls; it is a great place to spend a week, month, or year, and is accordingly filled with foreigners, many of whom graciously donate their time to the local tibetan community in exile.

more than 30,000 tibetans live in mcleod ganj, part of a diaspora that numbers into the hundreds of thousands.  travel for tibetans in china is highly restricted; the vast majority of the diaspora were forced to brave the high himlayan passes to escape tibet and seek asylum in india and other countries around the world.  many of the tibetans in mcleod are working in government, ngos, or in the monastery; sadly, many are dealing poorly with the internal effects of losing a homeland.  yet mcleod is unconditionally inspiring: hundreds of foreigners live year round in mcleod to provide education and technical skills that will help ease the adjustment period.  the spirit is one of hope, and in a place so inspired by love and compassion, it’s hard not to get caught in the idealism.

most optimistic of all is the dalai lama, who overwhelmed my experience with his serenity, laughter, and smile. the dalai lama arranges public teachings several times annually to discuss varied topics in buddhism; the dalai lama is the rare political leader who unselfconsciously integrates his spiritual belief into his political affairs.  nothing i can say about him can do justice to the power of experiencing his presence; his baritone voice  sang with emotion and understanding that i am not poetic enough to describe.  nor am i well-versed enough in buddhism to responsibly recount his teachings.  but the experience was exceptional, and it inspired a deep interest in the pursuit of further awakening and understanding.

nearly four weeks earlier, i stopped in shimla, a regional capital high in the mountains, en route to the high valleys of the transhimalaya.  tibetans had come from across india to participate in a peaceful protest, similar to ones that had been broken up by chinese soldiers in tibet earlier this year.  while the leadup to the olympics in beijing have shed some deserved light on the plight of tibetans still living within the territory that was annexed by china in 1949 - and while the facts remain unclear to this uninformed observer - the passion of these seemingly non-violent and loving people alarmingly hints at the monstrosity of the reality.  here, below, are a couple snaps of that candlelight vigil.

a tibetan man on the streets of shimla, near the beginning of the protest.

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