Oh Calcutta !

We arrive in Kolkata, via Mumbai, and find the airports much improved and clean (phenol odor) The formalities are minimal and sensible (nowhere as paranoid as in the US or UK). An example is carrying water through security - they asked me to take a sip the allowed the bottle through.

I leave the Kolata airport and am shocked - the contrast with the countries we have just visited cannot be greater. A cacophony of auto horns being blasted; unbelievable dirt; stark poverty; garbage everywhere; every sense - ears, eyes, nose, throat, and touch is assaulted - and it is continuous.

We stay with a very old friend Phyllis Jones and visit with many friends and renew old acquaintances. This is the compensation to the external squalor; genuine caring personal relationships (something we miss in North America). I am embarrassed to have to make the sort of observations above, but if I shied away from writing unpleasant observations, then I should not blog! I also visit our charity's administrators and Loreto Entally convent, where we support the education of about 60 girls

India is one of the fastest growing countries and has created huge wealth for many of its citizens. It has however failed to alleviate the poverty of common man (estimated to r. ange from 60% to 70% of the population). The middle class seem to be indifferent to the plight of the less fortunate, living either in self contained communities (with internal supply of water, electricity etc) or in comfortable apartments (far from the starving masses). I have said this before and I repeat - one of the ways in which poverty can be reduced is if the middle class Indian gets more involved in helping the poor - even if each of them help a few. Indians are great intellects, excel in conceptual thinking and are articulate and argumentative to a fault, but they seem to fall short of doing for others. It is possible that the religion of Hinduism encourages individualism over community - there being no plus for helping others? I check this last thought with a learned friend Nagarajan and he assures me this is not so. How then do we explain the relative indifference of the middle class (and upper class) to their very poor brethren (estimated at 60% of the 1.2 billion!). Can someone give me an answer!