Category: Social

Though I sat down to start to reflect upon the last few months, it’s pretty difficult to work out what to say. I think the hardest part is that so much of life runs in a grey area – yet we love to paint things as black and white. I’ll try and be less abstract, and get more to the point as the posts continue.

On Friday night, I watched “The Legend of Bhagat Singh.” I’d previously watched, and blogged about, Rang De Basanti – and as that references Bhagat Singh, it seemed sensible to learn a bit more.

There’s a bit of a paradox coming up here, which is unfortunate, but only goes to further the point. The massacre at Jallianwala Bagh is one of those horrible parts of our history that until fairly recently, I was completely unaware of. It saddens me to know that someone in British command was able to give the orders to shoot unarmed civilians. The paradox is that I believe that we should be educated more in Britain on such events. Perhaps knowing the capabilities of our history more vividly would help prevent us making the same decisions again and again.

I don’t think I’ll ever come close to understanding the feelings of those on which Britain as a country have imposed their rule, as there are many that would still support the British position, despite such atrocities. I’ll probably always have a British Passport, and British Citizenship and all the benefits that come with it. I just hope that rather than look into ways of advancing British Society post-depression, that we also look at ways in which we can constructively try and help other nations move forward.

In the past, people only looked out for their villages, then towns, then counties, then countries. However, that was mainly due to a common enemy of another village, another county, or another country. I hope that despite us probably not coming against the threat of another global community, we can work as a global community.

Since I’ve been back two weeks already, it’s probably time to let the world know I’m back in the UK, after an enjoyable and challenging stint out in India.

My time out in India was an absolutely brilliant learning experience, and it tested me to my limits. It’s such a fascinating and brilliant country, in which you bombarded on all fronts. I got to see both the beautiful side, and the not-so-beautiful side – and though I wished I could have stayed out there longer, I concede it would have been for selfish motives.

Since getting back, I’ve been ultra busy. I’ve stepped right back into my old job doing Systems Administration. It may not be the most logical of steps after seeing the potential for working in a more ‘humanitarian’ field – however, it’s a job that I feel as though I can manage – and hopefully it’ll continue to provide me with the growth and experience that I achieved over the years I spent in the same job before heading off to India.

For the time being, I’m going to be hanging about mostly in Birmingham, with trips aplenty to Nottingham and Manchester. I’m sure that the arrangements may change over the coming weeks, but I should imaging it’ll be these three cities I spend most time in, with the occasional sojourn down to London.

I hope I won’t be letting anyone down as I re-adjust the balance of the scales between voluntary work and making a living – but there’s just not enough hours in the day for me to help as many people as I would – no matter how deserving I know they are.

So, in conclusion, thanks for having me back. Thanks to all those who’ve welcomed me back with open arms and shown me how much you care. It’s great to have that, though I massively miss the great friends I made out in India too.

The Charter for Compassion is an awesome charter. I wholeheartedly agree with everything that it says, and publish the document under here in the hope that others will read it and affirm their support on the Charter for Compassion Website.

The Charter

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

I really believe that we as a society share the responsibility for improving the lives of our people, and that it shouldn’t be left to others to do.  This is a charter designed so that people from all backgrounds should be able to affirm it.

Thank you Karen Armstrong, especially the launch today… exactly what I was looking for!

Over the last few days, I’ve been visiting a project up in the East Side of India, about 12 hours drive north of Hyderabad.  I flew into Hyderabad from Cochin on Saturday, arriving late in the evening.  We were met at the airport by the guy who’s heading the project up since the sudden death of his father two years ago, and then taken to the YMCA where we were to stay the night.

The next day brought with it an early start and a 4 hour train journey north.  Hyderabad railway station is pretty different from the ones that I’ve seen in Kerala, but almost practically the same.  It’s very similar in design, however, one could not but feel as though the poverty was a little more acute.  More beggars and a greater state of disrepair.  The train arrived quickly, and due to the train having been booked by our hosts and not ourselves, we made our way comfortably into the AC Cabin.

One of the things that Gandhi mentions throughout his autobiography, is the railway system in India.  Unfortunately not much of it appears to have changed since his time.  One of the things he tried to do where possible, was to travel third class as a way of trying to a) educate the classes as to how to behave, and b) make a stand on their behalf to embarass the railway authorities into improving the disgraceful conditions and experience of third class carriage.  Even last Saturday in Hyderabad there were people climbing into the train as it slowed down, but through windows as there wasn’t enough space to try and get in through the door.

The journey up North brought with it many sights and differences from my limited experience of India in Kerala.  The houses were more ‘traditional’ in that they were mud huts with thatched rooves, and the coconut trees were quite different, and far fewer.  The air was also less humid, with a brighter outlook due to a lack of haze caused by said humidity.  It was a very easy journey, and 4 hours after starting we disembarked and made our way to the home of one of our hosts.

This man was a Jain, and the whole religion fascinated me.  I was now getting well through Gandhi’s autobiography, and was able to immediately understand the priciniples of Ahimsa and the importance that they have in Jainism. The crux is that as we live, by nature we destroy life (himsa) – this could be anything from plants to ants.  The principle is that by ‘ahimsa,’ Jains try and limit the amount of collateral damage in their lives.  When people try to work out their ‘Carbon footprint’ – they’re in effect just trying to balance our himsa with ahimsa.

After the pleasant stay in the house of the Jains (which in itself was more of a ashram community-style ‘home), we moved on up to Bhadachalam.  This is a place with a beautiful bridge leading into the town over a massive river, and then a big Hindu Monkey-God statue on the right.  It’s also a famous pilgrimage site for Hindus, though I didn’t get to see much of the temple.

We stopped at the HQ of the charity we were staying with and due to it being All Souls Day, headed with the family to the Church of South India Cemetery for some kind of brief memorial service.  It was quite  a different experience from any religious service that I’ve been to back home, and we got to pay our respects to the founder of the charity.

The next day were were up early once again [pattern emerging here] and took a 5 hour journey up to a displaced persons camp in Chhattisgarh.  The displaced persons camp currently takes 8,000 people, and is protected by the Indian Army and Police force.  Checkpoints were set up along the pitted road service as protection against the naxalite terrorists.  They’re causing massive unrest in North-East India, and the government recently market them out as being the number one threat to internal security.

We got a boat over a river from this camp, which, despite the few inches of water lying at the bottom, was a very enjoyable and relaxing experience.  To have to get a boat and put bags on your back to get to a place is something that I’m more than happy doing.  There was a bit of romance involved with it for sure, and really helped add to the awareness of quite how remote we were travelling.  The other side of the river we got on motorbikes and headed to the centre.

The centre itself caters for 291 children and is funded partly by a UK based ‘friends of’ charity, and then also by Compassion International.  Having banded a few figures around without actually looking at the balance sheet, it seemed like Compassion International paid the day to day costs, whilst ‘friends of’ was more of a project-based supporter.. for example for new buildings, and higher capital expenditure.  The partnership seemed to work really well, hence why it’s evidently the model that Compassion use for other sites in East India.

There are obviously many other charities undertaking what is crucial work all over India, and it’s great to see a fairly mature project which is running so well in the hands of Indian people.  That’s exactly the kind of model that we’d like to replicate here in Kerala, and all over other parts of India.  The stumbling block thus far appears to be the gulf in payment between being a Doctor in India, and being a Doctor abroad.  When 11 from a class of 12 doctors head abroad, there is a shortage of skills in the country, rather than necessarily a shortage of money.  These doctors might be sending a percentage of their pay check back to support their families, but their skills are what is missed more than their financial contribution.

I just hope that in the coming years, we’ll see more people returning to work closer to their homes, and prevent the skills deficit that is so clearly evident so far in the projects that I’ve seen.  The intelligence and potential education system is there, and it’s mainly due