Saturday 2 January 2010

Chapter III: Amarpurkashi, UP. The Land of Lemmings...

quite possibly been the most surreal experience of our lives. cOur roles as 'Environmental Advisors' were to lead a campaign against a rich and rogue paper mill that is polluting the hell out of the local area. In hindsight, I think we've failed. BUT... the work was painfully slow and we made the rookie mistake of expecting to be able to change the world in 2 months. Rule Number 1: It's the little victories that count in the world of NGOs and charity! For example: Writing to the District Magistrate (a big dog here apparently) and actually getting a response, even if it is not entirely promising. Or finding a test lab to test our polluted river water samples (most labs are too afraid of getting embroiled in long ass court cases, so wouldnt go anywhere near us!), even if the results aren't exactly accurate. Or if you get your picture into a national newspaper showing your science-fair demonstration of the paper mill and pollution, but with absolutely no reference to the pollution itself. All of these things have happened by the way. And it proved VERY frustrating. But hey, TII (this is India)!

It's been 10days since I left APK (when I wrote this anyway), and our report, despite being 35 pages long is still not ready. But we learnt a hell of a lot. In particular, the obstacles presented by dorruption in India (and probably the rest of the developing world); the science behind pollution; how much bull India politics is; but also had my first experience of rural India. It was a bit like living the Swades experience (some of you freshies might have seen it!). And we very nearly ended up bringing village girls back with us! But village life really is quite cut off from the rest of the world. Its practically subsistence living within the village. I also learnt Hindi. Well, the crappy village dialect Hindi they use out there. But hey, if I can speak that now, I'm pretty damn sure I'd get by in the land of Bollywood where more normal people live and speak!

The peeps in the village were brilliant. A real laugh, in their own villagey lame way! I often thought what would happen if you picked up all these people and plonked them in Trafalgar Square. They'd be like lemmings walking into each other, and pretty soon they'd litter the place with slums and cornershops! Ok so thats probably an inside joke. But if you saw these people you'd know exactly what we mean! Anyway, for the most part, what happened in APK stays in APK... H and Keno will agree with me on this one. 2 months without alcohol, meat, bog role (yes I have become accustomed to wiping my arse with my left hand, and eating with my right!!), footy, electricity, the internet and the usual friday night out in watford was hard. Especially towards the end, when all the other volunteers had fled! Theres only so much of UP one can take. Stories of contract killers, bandits, rapist rickshaw drivers and teachers would scare most people away, but we soldiered on. Ok, so it wasn't too hard, but the odd trip to Agra (to see the Taj Mahal), Rishikesh (for the Ganga and Himalayas) and Delhi were welcome breaks from village routine. More on these to follow!

PS I expect most will be keeping an eye out for the result tomorrow night in Old Trafford... just dont take us for granted. You WILL be sorry! WE ARE LEEDS (and finally i can say that with pride!)

Peace
Sammy G
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