Where wealth and poverty clash around every corner

from The Muskegon Chronicle

By Marianne Van Eenenaam
CHRONICLE SPECIAL WRITER

It's not easy to describe India. So many things about this incredible country stand out in memory.

Is it the Taj Mahal -- the exquisite, white marble monument that Moghul emperor Shah Jahan built in the mid-17th century to memorialize his favorite wife? She died at 39 after giving birth to their 14th child. Some wonder why the second-rate city of Agra does not spruce up to encourage tourists to linger after visiting the Taj Mahal.

Is it the crumbling forts and palaces that date back hundreds of years or the domed mosques where men bring their offerings to gain favor from Allah while women wait in the outer court? Both men and women cover their heads and remove their shoes before entering.

Is it the sari-clad women, some obviously well-to-do and others, also in saris, born into the caste that sweeps the streets? Many women wear beautiful, brilliantly-colored saris, but some younger women wear Western styles.

Perhaps most memorable are the sheer numbers of people crowded on buses and streets and everywhere. The population in the subcontinent is more than 1 billion, with half under the age of 25. A controversial law to fine families who have a third child is not enforced. Controlling population is important, but increased discrimination against girl babies is a grave concern.

Sacred cows roam the busy streets,

crossing to lie on medians and traffic islands and causing cars, trucks, buses, auto-rickshaws and motorcycles to make room for them. Hamburgers here are without beef. Fish, chicken and vegetarian burgers are on the menu at the local McDonald's.

Where else can you ride down a busy street in your air-conditioned, chauffeur-driven car, sandwiched between an elephant that lumbers along on your left and a small motorcycle carrying an entire family on your right while monkeys play along the road's edge?

The cost of renting that car and driver for five or six hours is between $10-$12, depending on the availability of air-conditioning and the English proficiency of the driver. Exchange rate this summer was 46 rupees for one U.S. dollar.

All the traffic moves rapidly. Vehicles squeeze into any available space with no regard for orderly lanes. Because vehicles move on the left side of the road and round-abouts are common in New Delhi, we were happy to let someone else drive.

Small children wait at traffic lights to tap on car windows. They sell cheap items or simply beg with outstretched hands for money they say will help care for the small child many carry. We hear that they turn over their money to an adult who in turn gives them a pittance for their work. Who knows? We felt helpless and guilty, sometimes angry, mixed emotions we experienced frequently as we were aggressively pursued by beggars in most places we visited.

On this, my second trip to India, I realized how fundamental to India are the religions. Hindus are the majority, but there are Muslims -- mystical, spiritual Sufi Muslims, turbaned Sikhs, ascetic Jains, Buddhists and others. A visit to the Gandhi and Nehru museums presents a history of the events that led to the end of the British raj (dominion) and partition in 1947.

The events sent Muslims to newly formed Pakistan and Hindus from that region that was once India east to what became a separate India. The forced migration led to mass violence and has been called a holocaust but one I never heard of in history class. The hostility between Hindus and Muslims continues to break out occasionally.

We visited several Muslim mosques. Each one has a story. Matka Pir, a mosque more than 750 years old, is a shrine to a Sufi saint. It is said that a poor man and wife brought a pot of dal (lentil stew) to the saint and asked his blessing that they might have a son.

A year later, their hope fulfilled, they returned and in gratitude brought more dal. A tradition grew and pilgrims continue to bring earthenware pots that hang in the branches of the surrounding trees and line the marble steps to the mosque. The pots, of course, are available for purchase at the foot of the steps.

Fatehpur Sikri -- Akbar's City -- is a huge grouping of buildings in a walled enclosure built in the last half of the 16th century. Here the childless emperor Akbar housed his wives in separate pavilions. He too asked a holy man's blessing that he might have a son. When three sons were born, he dedicated this place to the holy man who is entombed there.

To while away their time, the privileged residents of Akbar's City played pachisi (parcheesi) on a large grid built into the sandstone floor of the central court. It is clearly visible today. Instead of small tokens used in the game now, people took the place of tokens.

The 15th-century Neemrana fort/palace just outside of Delhi had fallen to near ruin when it was rescued and renovated, becoming an elegant hotel. It was built with a labyrinth of narrow hallways, presumably to confuse attackers, with corrugated, sandstone ramps enabling elephants to carry heavy burdens to the upper levels. Today, a hotel "bellhop" carries five or six pieces of heavy luggage on his back up the original ramps to the guest rooms.

High on my list of memories is the lengthy procession of people walking to bring gifts to the Hindu goddess, Durga. The human stream, people of all ages and many of them barefoot, trudged along for miles as we drove beside them. The northern Indian-Gypsy connection was apparent in their red-and-gold, garishly decorated pushcarts and often their clothing.

Without a doubt, India is a land of contrasts. Its advances in technology and medicine have created wealth and raised India's worldwide standing. But the countless poor who sleep on the floor in train stations or on traffic islands, who depend on begging for their living, have little hope of benefiting.

In the rural villages we passed through, men hunker down in groups, oblivious of the huge piles of trash nearby, while women carry loads of various things on their heads and shape dung into patties to use as fuel.

A man we observed herding his goats might have stepped out of a much earlier time with his long caftan and leather sandals.

Perhaps in a few lifetimes the outlawed caste system and gender inequality will be a thing of the past and more people will have better lives.