Singapore and the Far East

February 28th Singapore
The first thing that you notice in Singapore is the cleanliness and seeming absence of pollution - noise, dust and auto fumes. The trees and grass are green (not brown with dust). We travel 18 Kms to the house of our friends (Anil and Ritu Mehrotra) without a single traffic jam (an incredible experience after traffic jams on every journey in India)
March 6th.
I continue to be amazed at the efficiency, orderliness and discipline of the Singaporeans. And they appear to be very honest and civic minded. My friend tells me they are conditioned by rigid rule enforcement - Singapore is a 'fine' city and one is fined for every infraction, even petty ones like crossing the road at a non crossing spot. I sat in a bus tour and observed about 100 persons pay their fare using an electronic card - so easy to cheat - but did not see a single defaulter. I think Singapore must rank as the most efficient, the cleanest and the most orderly city in the world. I go around trying to find defects in their system and cannot!
Finally I discover that they do not have any provision for seniors; seniors have to live with their children or have to be financially capable of looking after themselves. Discussions with several persons confirmed their thinking that an individual must prepare for his senior years and those that do not have to pay a penalty!
We attend a night safari and a laser show. I to on two city tours. Really the first touristy things we have done on this trip. I eat an incredible variety of food including Katong Laksar - a spicy, seafood soup; Fish head curry - a spicy, south Indian style curry; Carrot cake - neither carrot nor cake, but a radish and egg concoction; Black pepper crab; Fish ball noodles; and many other delightful dishes. Eating food is a Singapore occupation and I fit right in!
The name Singapore comes from Singa - lion and pura or city. The symbol of the city is the Merlion - a mythica,l hybrid lion and sea monster - and here is one of the best versions of this icon

Kolkata aka Calcutta

Feb 1st. We arrive in Kolkata and take a prepaid cab to the Birkmyer hostel on Middleton row. We lived in Cal for five years before emigrating to the USA in 1976. So many memories (of my well spent and misspent youth) come rushing back - filtered and muted by the passage of time. Am back in the Anglo-Indian world and for dinner we have Tomato soup, Beef Jalfreize, boiled potatoes and bread and butter ! Walk a few hundred yards to Park street and look at Mocambo, Mags, Trincas and have a cup of coffee at Flury's. Make contacts with all the movers and shakers - Barry O'Brien, Michael Robertson, Philo Eaton to name a few. Will be having many lunches and dinners over this next week and living in a different world (with quite some time spent in the charity CTR projects)
Thursday 5th. Have now spent 5 days in Cal and they have been very busy, but for the most part gratifying. Cal is as dusty and dirty and congested as Delhi. The whole city seems to be surviving on a quarter or less of its basic requirements- space; road capacity; electricity; water; housing; etc. It has to explode and collapse into chaos- a view confirmed by some caring residents of the city. Almost every road is jammed at all times and journeys of a few miles can take hours and one ingests huge amounts of dust and exhaust fumes. But off this topic that so dominates my daily living experience

We spent a day with CAISS - the Calcutta charity that administers our senior pension program and our day scholar education program. I meet and spend quality time with the leaders of the group. We dine with them and one of their committee members cooks an excellent panthey cowsway. They are so dedicated and sincere that I feel humble but exhilarated in their presence - these are some of the few on whose shoulders the world rests.

We spend a day with Loreto Entally an orphanage where we have 40 sponsored girls. We order a Chinese lunch for all of them and they love it. Chat a lot with the sisters -more folks on whom the world rests
The central issue with both these charities is that over 90% of their funding comes from abroad. We inform CAISS that unless they do something drastic, as our generation passes on, their funding from CTR will cease (as our children are really not involved) and poor AI seniors and children will be stranded. In the case of Loreto there is almost no alumni support! Closely related to this issue of funding is the lack of local support, particularly in the form of donations. Almost every organizer and leader I speak to informs me that the Indian and Anglo-Indian culture does not include giving to others. This is not an abstract concept, but a hard reality. I request these organizers to lay aside their politeness and their sensibility and discuss this issue openly. Awareness is first step to any possible change in behavior !
I welcome your views on these observations. We must start an international dialogue and include Indian Anglo-Indian community as well. I talk to many Anglo-Indian leaders and they also shake their head and confess that the Anglo-Indians are not inclined to be charitable to their less fortunate brethren!

I have detailed discussions with Barry O'Brien, the West Bengal MLA, on this topic and other issues related to the future of Anglo-Indians. I find him refreshingly open minded and full of energy and ideas. We promise to partner on mutually beneficial community projects
I will post photos when I get to Ketti in a weeks time, as I write this from a hot and crowded internet cafe
February 18th We have left Cal and travelled through Bangalore, Yercaud and are now in Ketti a town in the Nilgiri hills, close to Ootacamund

Bangalore - We have a pleasant stay in Bangalore, meet many Anglo-Indians and witness a pension distribution in the slums of Lingarajapuram. Like Delhi and Kolkata, Bangalore is bursting at the seams, and, apart from the omnipresent filth and debris, there is huge dust, noise and gasoline pollution. Travel is an exercise in endurance.

Yercaud - 3500 feet. Travel 216 Kms (135 miles) in 4 hours, up the Shevroy hills to Yercaud to my old school Montfort. I am going back for the first time in 56 years (unbelievable). I am so excited to see familiar sights - the hairpin bends, the big lake, the coffee plantations, the orchards - all having some significance to my school days. Montfort is an oasis of peace, cleanliness and tranquility. There are over 1000 boarders (versus about 400 in my time) and many new buildings have been added, but, what impressed me the most, was that many of the old trees - pines and gul mohars - have been preserved. The school has grown without destroying these monuments to the past and it shows there can be growth without destruction. One pine tree was about 20 feet when I was in school and it is now about 150 feet (well 56 years of growth!).

Given my experiences so far, my expectations were low, but I am so impressed with the state of the school - it is clean, neat and quiet. The principal has worked wonders - he is a martinet, but this means well justifies the end. It helps that the weather is a cool 60 F. We spend a pleasant couple of days and proceed by road to Ketti .

All through my travels my adverse comments on the physical conditions of India represent only one aspect of my experience. We have also been pampered and looked after throughout our stay; a form of life the we have almost forgotten (certainly not used to). We have had servants in attendance meeting every form of creature comfort. For example in Kolkata we had Giasuddin, a bearer, who could get us almost anything at a moments notice - tea, food, washed clothes, newspapers, beer. Ellen had a pedicure and massage in the room. Of course our beds are made, our rooms swept, the bathrooms washed and we hardly ever lifted a little finger. Such lovely, utter decadence in this the 21st century. And this lifestyle followed us in Bangalore, Yercaud and now in Ketti.
Another aspect of our experience has been the easy friendship and fellowship that has been extended to us by so many on a day to day, hour to hour basis. Of course we (me particularly) are lapping it up. Carpe Diem

Ketti - 6800 feet

Laidlaw College, where my bro-in-law Winston Gardner is principal, has a beautiful campus, lined with tall eucalyptus and pine trees. There are about 600 boarders, and, like Montfort, the school is immaculately clean and very quiet.

I play golf at the Wellington military course and at the Ootacamund club - climbing up and down incredibly steep slopes like a mountain goat, only this one pants and puffs - enjoying the majestic sights and the tranquility of the scenery. I do not disgrace myself and the Kingfisher 19th hole helps to soothe my aching limbs.We eat royally pampered by my sis in law Joan. Ah that one can live this sort of life indefinitely!

Chennai Feb 23rd

We leave the cool climes of Ketti and fly to Chennai - many degrees hotter (it was 97F yesterday), but much cleaner. Must comment that flying in India has been a very pleasant experience and the airlines and airports have been efficient and courteous. I have a whole series of meetings planned here - both to cover our charity projects and to meet budding writers. Meet and have dinner with Harry MacLure editor of 'Anglos in the Wind' and his wife Jillian - lots of stuff to discuss as Harry and I have similar interests.
Chennai 27th - We have had a hectic 5 days in Chennai, starting with a writer's meet, where 25 AI and interested writers gather to talk about our next book 'The Anglo-Indian Woman' and discuss the five book CTR has published. There are several youngish men an d women and this is encouraging
I visit Tea Cup Ministry, Vine Trust and Smile Cares - all organizations administering our CTR programs. It is quite emotionally draining to see the poverty and the degrading conditions under which many of our community live (my coordinators take me to several slums to see how the seniors live). There are occasions of joy too, where children sing and Sharon Emmett of Smile Cares arranges a wonderfully enjoyable evening with seniors and children.
This is the end of our India trip and I leave with such mixed feeling.
Clearly there is no more hospitable country - where one is treated with such affection. I cannot think of one instance - and this is not just the Anglo-Indian experiences - where anyone was rude or disrespectful to us. These are kind and considerate people on an person to person basis.
Having said this, one has to be aware of the huge poverty that hangs over everything - far more unsettling than the filth, the noise and the pollution. There has been progress, but in my view, this has not reached the common man, who is still in a primitive struggle for survival.
I don't know what can be done. No one seems to have a good handle on eradicating poverty. In my simplistic view I see the middle class being disinterested and uninvolved in the poverty around them. But I must accept this is a superficial view and almost unfair to the group that we spent so much time with and who have lavished so much time and care on us
In the final analysis the problem is too large for me to understand let alone suggest solutions. We have to do what we can at a micro level and let go of the rest. Inshah Allah.