other end of the spectrum

If any of you have the dire straits album 'brother's in arms' play the title track now!

there's a line that goes something like this; "we have just one world....,..... but we live in different ones"

These photos display something of that in our lives, compared with those lives of the people we serve. It's a different world, as you'll see from these photos compared to the photos in the posting below.

The first photo is of a really nice restaurant that we went to with some friends. It is elevated on stilts, with a swimming pool at one end, and a huge fish-pond with 3 foot long catfish (alistair loved those).

The second photo is taken in a kiddies play area in the top storey of a massive shopping centre that has just opened a short drive from us. Again, Freya and Alistair love it! "I want to go to giggles daddy"

a ten pin bowling alley has also just opened only a few hunded yards from our house. You can see Ranjit my friend displaying his skills here.

These Pictures show how well it is possible to live here. There is such a stark contrast between rich and poor.

Until recently in India, that was the end of it (rich and poor), but there is now a booming middle class, that is the cause for all the shopping centres, bowling alleys and the like springing up. There is also a booming housing market, and with the emerging middle class there also comes a lot of jobs for the lower classes in the service industry.

The huge devide between rich and poor seems sooooo wrong, but I believe that if the top end of Indian society improves, with time it will also drag the bottom end up with it. I would love to fast forward a few decades, and see how things have (hopefully) improved. Already there have been big changes since I first came here in 1998.

Home visits

I don't tend to go out on home visits much, as my largeness, and whiteness atttracts a fair amount of attention in the slums in which we mostly operate!

I came across this "bridge" recently, and couldn't resist taking a snap with my phone.

Basically the bridge on the left is so ramshackle and dangerous that people use the pipe as a bridge. I wouldn't fancy it in monsoon, when the surface polished by thousands of feet might get a bit slippy!

The water is filthy and theres a pretty foul reek eminating from the mirky green water!

The 2nd photo gives an idea of the kind of dwelling that many of our patient's families live in. Generally they are actually made of brick, but are usually this size, with a small area for washing in the corner, and no running water or toilet........

......speaking of which, you can see the public toilets behind and to the right of Rahul (who I work with)....
....talking about foul reeks... 

Youth Against Aids

Howdy Partners!

This thread is to give you a bit of information about the fact that we are running a day conference for the youth of Mumbai on the 2nd of December.

There will be 2 bands playing, seminars, a time for testimonies from people living with HIV/AIDS. To finish there will be a time of candle lighting, and the opportunity for the delegates to make a pledge.

JSK, the HIV/AIDS project that I work for, are running the whole thing, and yours truly will be doing one of the seminars on the basics of the illness.

This is the biggest and most exciting project that I've been involved in since I arrived here in India. If it prevents even one person getting HIV then it will be worthwhile.

I'll take my camera, and hopefully update the sight with a few photos as well later.

Chow for now

Anniversary Weekend 2

These photos are all of our anniversary weekend away. I must apologise for the time delay in posting these, and for the lack of chronological order on our blog recently. It's because we have not had internet access. That should change soon. We now have a home phone line! and internet should follow in a week or so!

In the photos you can see the hotel room, complete with red love-heart balloons courtesy of Jo (she's quite romantic really). The craft stall was also in the hotel, where you could watch the man making bangles and decorating notebooks with resin over a small furnace. Quite fascinating if you're into that sort of thing! The last photo is of a walk we did on the Sunday. It was pretty hot, but great to be out and about.