Denise says hello to friends and family

Well this is my first entry on this er! travel blog thing.

Well on our 13th day in India and already much to reflect upon. I'm reading a short story collection by the writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and 'A fine balance' by Rohinton Mistry, in order to get a real flavour of life in India. I am very ignorant about this country and feel the need to verify some of the things I'm reading about, like is there still an informal caste system here?

We have got friendly with a waiter at the hotel (Varanasi) he seems to want to talk about such things. So I feel free to ask the question. He informs me that the only division between people is those that have and those that don't, he includes power as well as money in this judgement. He is young and although by his own admission 'uneducated' he feels the injustice strongly and I think finds it hard to hold down his indignation. He makes comments like, " this independence is worse than British rule." He apologises for his rudeness. This is a risky business to make such comments, we could take offence and complain to the management. But he is full of the energy and risk taking of youth and is fighting comformity in his heart. I like him.

It is the subject of inequity that cannot help but trouble the mind of the socially conscious traveller. Yes there are beggars, slums and hunger, strangely I am not deeply moved by these everyday sights. I have been exposed to the reality of poverty in Africa and England. It's more what appears to be the exploitation of workers (our waiter, for example works 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, a common scenario as confirmed by my reading) and the way in which we travellers are encouraged to take part in it. Why wait until you get the price of the taxi to the bear minimum? I heard someone in the internet room arguing over paying 25 rupees ( 20 pence) for 45 minutes air time because he couldn't do what he wanted to do. There are words to describe how this makes me feel but , this is a public site, my nieces may read it and I possibly can't spell them.

Everyday on the news there's mention of new jobs in India brought about by the outsourcing of jobs from the west. This is welcomed news for India, but not if it enslaves people to desks 7 days a week. I take the argument that it is better to have food on the table than no food at all, but surely food plus fairness can still produce profits? Surely if the rich democratic and of course cilvilised nations have so much to offer the world (as we keep hearing the Blairbush say) shouldn't they be using outsoucing and trade liberalisation as a conduit for disemminating such values. Cheaper and more profitable than war? I can hear the waiter saying, " will the rich nations ever cease to plunder the world?" And I think I agree.

I hope I'm wrong in all my assumptions as I cannot authenticate them in this context at least. But assuming I'm not, I look forward to hearing about the emergence of some sort of trade union movement here.

There are other things that bother me like 5 star hotels that bus folk in and out in a few days, at the same time discouraging people from going outside the hotel. How will the local businesses benefit from such policies?. It is I agree, a madness going out on the streets; a constant onslaught of rickshaw and taxi drivers offering their services. But this is because they are merely catching the crumbs from under the table. More tourists out on the street, will mean more work for the drivers etc, etc.
So you get the drift of my reflections? I kept telling you all that it was not just a holiday but an educational trip!

And what an education I have when I went for an Indian massage. Apart from being told to strip naked which being British I don't do, I was given a full massage, front and back with no towel. When I got back to my room I told Gerry that I don't know whether I had been pleasured or abused? A few hours later I have to say I felt a little liberated at the whole experience, but only a very tiny bit!

We shall be leaving this lovely friendly hotel today, in which we have had a wonderful rest and are off to stay down by the ghats on the river Ganges. A crazy, crazy exciting place. Will update you again soon.

Denise

However, apart from all that stuff I am reflecting on the fact that I've been off work for 1 month now and it feels good!

Sorry, no photos yet as we're having problems downloading them from the camera.

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