While traveling through South and East India, I was struck by the poverty and chaos of large Indian cities, but I wasn't exactly shocked. Somehow, it wasn't as bad as I had imagined or as Western media had described throughout the years. While still in the same regions, everyone warned me that the images that Americans traditionally associate with India (poverty, trash in the streets and rivers, pollution, mass population) would hit me in Delhi. I constantly heard about the lack of safety in the city as well. It seemed, before even arriving there, that people were trying to temper my expectations and prepare me for the worst.
Since arriving in Dehli, I have seen the population explosion while sitting in traffic for 90 minutes for what should have been a 17 minute drive. The poverty is very apparent - slums built upon slums, trash piled in the streets with overworked trash collectors simply trying to manage (and not remove) the trash, and people sleeping on the street. In one section of the city, I was heartbroken to see a young boy of probably 8 or 9 years old sleeping in a Muslim mausoleum. His bed was a beaten up portion of a billboard that he carefully folded and dusted when he awoke. It's hard to describe the guilt you feel when seeing such poverty while at the same time staying in a nice hotel and traveling by air conditioned bus.
While I've only been in Delhi for four days, I do feel that some of the reports were exaggerated, as I'm sure happens in all areas. But I have witnessed great success in Delhi, from the Manzil school that teaches students to love folk music and dance and to help each other learn new skills to the Katha school that prepared students for particular trades like sewing, while at the same time promoting independent learning in robotics and graphic design. Delhi, as will all major metropolitan areas, has its share of problems, city planning and infrastructure especially, but it does appear that there are many individuals in the city that are trying to dispel some of the stereotypes of the city that are presented by Western media and by Indians throughout the country. Change is not immediate - in fact, the most successful changes happen organically and slowly over time. I believe that I have seen some of that change here in the past few days.
Since arriving in Dehli, I have seen the population explosion while sitting in traffic for 90 minutes for what should have been a 17 minute drive. The poverty is very apparent - slums built upon slums, trash piled in the streets with overworked trash collectors simply trying to manage (and not remove) the trash, and people sleeping on the street. In one section of the city, I was heartbroken to see a young boy of probably 8 or 9 years old sleeping in a Muslim mausoleum. His bed was a beaten up portion of a billboard that he carefully folded and dusted when he awoke. It's hard to describe the guilt you feel when seeing such poverty while at the same time staying in a nice hotel and traveling by air conditioned bus.
While I've only been in Delhi for four days, I do feel that some of the reports were exaggerated, as I'm sure happens in all areas. But I have witnessed great success in Delhi, from the Manzil school that teaches students to love folk music and dance and to help each other learn new skills to the Katha school that prepared students for particular trades like sewing, while at the same time promoting independent learning in robotics and graphic design. Delhi, as will all major metropolitan areas, has its share of problems, city planning and infrastructure especially, but it does appear that there are many individuals in the city that are trying to dispel some of the stereotypes of the city that are presented by Western media and by Indians throughout the country. Change is not immediate - in fact, the most successful changes happen organically and slowly over time. I believe that I have seen some of that change here in the past few days.