A tribute - Anita Roddick

pic: Anita Roddick

Strange coincidences of life!

We just got back from a meeting where we managed to convince and support a leading book seller in India to replace more than 50,000 plastic bags with recycled / newspaper bags from next month onwards.

In an hour or so I am reading this Obituary to Anita, who challenged and convinced many entrepreneurs and enterprises to follow her ideas and principles.It's been tough but fruitful four years for our small organisation in promoting and supporting RT in India, where we constantly engage in debates on sustainability of our initiatives.

I can't help but share with you that it is certainly people like Anita who inspires individuals like us to stand up for what we believe in and continue to work and convince others to follow the similar path.When the going gets tough, stories about people like Anita drives people like us to stay on the path we chose.

Thanks Justin, for this touching tribute. Anita will live through the movement she kick-started. Our prayers are with you!

Bangalore © GP 2007

48 hours later

On my way back from Mahabalipuram, I took the same train back from Chennai to Bangalore. Train number 2008 Satabdi Express had similar services and even public announcement keeping you updated on upcoming stations, whether we are running on time etc. The experience was all but better except until I decided to find out more about the efficiency in which they were running.

When Laloo Prasad Yadav took charge of the Indian Railways couple of years ago, every one probably expected him to do another Bihar ( an impoverished state that he ruled for several years and then later with his wife as a proxy chief minister!). He was known to be abusive, corrupt and played caste politics. Within two years, the Railways minister is popular amongst management Gurus and the industry in India. Washington Times and several other newspapers are writing about him and students from MIT and Havard along with IIMs are queuing up to attend his lectures!

Worlds largest employer with 1.5 million people on its roll, the Indian railway was a hugely loss making enterprise until Laloo Prasad Yadav took over. 2006 saw a profit surge up to 2.5 billion US dollars! While there is a lot of discussion on who should get the credit for this success, it is clear how basic re structuring and changes in priorities made most of the differences. Preferences given to freight trains seems to have made the most important difference which helped the railways to provide better service to the passengers without even hiking the prices. It was also unheard of any public sector undertaking sharing their profit to the customers, by reducing ticket prices in many sectors.

Now, with all this in my mind, I walked out of my air conditioned coupe to see how they are working so seamlessly. During my old train journeys, all I remember is the tough looking, corrupt Ticket examiners who would do all possible tricks to make an extra Rupee out of anyone they come across. And here I am seeing smiling, helpful officers who looked proud to do what they were doing.

The food trays kept coming back to the corridor after the dinner. One boy was segregating the waste ( I know, you might not believe it), aluminium foils going to one bag, bio-degradable waste going into another bag, stainless steel spoons kept apart for washing...it was impressive only until I saw the one of the boys opening the door.

He opened the door and pushed the entire waste ( all that segregated one's!) outside and continued his work. Another One Tight Slap moment! I asked the boy calmly about what he was doing, and he pointed to the superior to whom I asked for a complaint register. They played around, refused to handover the complaint register and all of sudden another young man came asking what the commotion was all about!

He was in charge of the catering service in the train. An employee of the catering company , he seemed to understand the gravity of the situation and that I would not budge back unless I get a proper answer to my questions and that action be taken. He begged, cajoled, pleaded and finally cried! I calmly ignored all those and requested him to give me the complaint registrar and a proper acknowledgement to my complaint. It seems it was his third month in the job and they have been dumbing all the waste on the rail way track all this time. It also occurred that this particular company that had the license have been doing the same for the last one year!

Knowing that there is no point in talking to him, I went to the front coupe to find one of the railway officers. He didn't seem to be any surprised, instead suggested that I leave it. 'Chod dho bhaiyya' as they say in Hindi! Still calm, I asked if he knows the repercussion he will have if he was also part to the scam and if was preventing me from filing my complaint. He finally asked me for my seat number and said that he will send across the complaint register.

Instead came the same old young man, who was once again shamelessly pleading. Couple of times, I thought that he might actually stoop down to touch my feet. Shit! He kept on saying things like,
"I will ensure that none of the waste goes out like this any more. You can check the trains every day, even if you come after 2 months, I promise you will see that waste is properly disposed" etc etc
"Please don't file a complaint, I will lose my job"
"Please don't write to the press, my company will lose the license"
"Please don't do this, please don't do that"...and I felt miserable about the entire thing.

Then came another officer who said it was a mistake and that it should never have had happened. He said giving a complaint would only cost the job of this lower rung employee of the catering service.

An ethical dilemma. What would you have done?

Complain and ensure that the railways and catering company and the officials who knew that this was happening will be brought to justice?
Or leave it there seeing the pleading of the lower rung employee?
I don't know who exactly is the culprit here. Railways who don't check how their private caterers function.? Or the caterer who doesn't' give a damn to the norms? Or the railway officials who don't do a thing even while seeing the damage done? Or the the employee who is just interested in cleaning his compartment by throwing the waste outside the train?

Consider these numbers while you think:
Satabdi train : 6 coupe with 70 pax capacity each
2 trains running between Bangalore and Chennai
365 days in a year

Waste belonging to more than 3,00,000 passengers are chucked out on the railway tracks that go through villages and farm lands in a year. This number is just about two trains running between a distance of 300 kms! Imagine the number of states in India, imagine the number of trains in India and the number of passengers plying daily!

And most of these guys are probably doing the same stuff. That's mind boggling to me!

Bangalore GP 2007

Satabdi

A waiter in a well tailored black suit welcomes you inside. From there onwards, the service for the next five hours is just immaculate!

Once you are seated,within few minutes, the always smiling waiter serves you mineral water, juice and some snacks. After another round of hot tomato soup and croissant, you are served with a mouth watering meal that would match any best restaurant in the city. Other attendants are all well dressed, well mannered and are there for any assistance you would need.

This is no description about any new restaurant in town, but the Indian Railways's Satabdi Express plying between Bangalore and Chennai. Even an -otherwise regularly- soiled toilets looked so clean and hygienic. There were paper towels, soap dispensers...

Once I got down in Chennai after a little nap, I was thinking about the last train journey I had from London to Paris in a TGV. That experience had lingered on to me for quite some days. The coupe, the seating arrangements, the service and the French cuisine! Who would have thought that Indian railways which is a public sector undertaking, could give you services that you would want to share it with others? If not for the monstrous looking boggies and cramped compartments and the dark glass windows separating you from the outside world, I think this could beat any services in the world. And all this for a mere INR 560! ( Euro 10!)

Bangalore GP 2007

Karnataka Adverts

Similiar to the adv. series we launched for our holidays in Kerala, we are launching a new series of adverts for Karnataka. TBY is just about to announce its entry to Karnataka. Even after being in Bangalore for close to four years, we were only 'just' head quartered in Bangalore. From Kerala to Sikkim, now we are in the process of finalising our itineraries and projects for Karnataka. It's been an exciting month looking at what Ekta is bringing out during our weekly meetings. Just can't wait to go and explore what Karnataka has to offer to a traveller! The way itineraries are evolving, I can definitely say that TBY holidays in Karnataka is going to be the talk of the travel industry.

Maintaining our focus of culture, people and wilderness, this is probably the first time Responsible tourism is taking its root in Karnataka. Shall keep you posted on this development asap.

Bangalore © GP 2007

Langza

pic: rare, but the rain clouds were following us whereever we went to:
After stopping at the monastery for few minutes, we trekked down to the valley and then started the slow climb towards Langza. During the walk through the entire stretch, we saw several hundreds of fossils, which looked almost like a work of art. Considered to be one of the most fossiliferous regions of the world, Spiti Valley tells us the story behind the trilobites and ammonites that were formed after the collision of Indo-Eurasian sub-continent.

While observing the beauty of the fossils lying in the streams and nearby valleys, one can't just stop for a second and think, 'Oh my, how could I believe that this entire mountain stretch that we stand now at around 4,300 MSL was part of Tethys sea some 200 million years before!' Geologists say that the larger continent of Pangea started to split into various land masses as a result of which, the two main land masses of Indian and Eurasian subcontinent started depositing large amounts of sediments into Tethys. Further collision over the period of time helped form the present Himalayas and those marine animals that we see now as fossils including the ammonites used to be present in the Tethys at that time.

While we stood there breathless thinking about the entire process, we heard stories of local boys who collect the fossils to sell it to tourists from different parts of the world. What should be priceless is sold for as cheap as less than a US dollar! It seems there are tourists who proudly announces that this is their 3rd or 4th visit to collect fossils in the last couple of years!

The story wasn't much different even in the small town of Kaza where you can see the fossils kept amongst the antiques on sale for a dollar or two! It seems there are discussions of setting up a geological museum so that at least what is remaining can be preserved. With an un-patrolled area as vast as Spiti valley and irresponsible tourists searching for fossils, it makes more sense to have a museum where these fossils can be displayed.

It will be sad if this happens as I personally prefer to see these fossils in its natural ambiance where responsible travellers and the locals understand the importance of the existence of these fossils to the evolution of the entire mankind and the earth itself. Close networking between NGOs like Ecosphere and locals have created certain level of understanding and now there are restrictions on tourists wandering through the place on their own.

pic:aster flaccidus can be seen all over Langza
Bangalore © GP 2007
PS These are from notes that I maintained while travelling as I didn't have access to internet to blog.

Tabo Monastery

Rain is so scarce in cold deserts of Spiti Valley. Surprisingly it started raining in the evening for almost 30 minutes filling in my mind with nostalgia of rains that I am used to. We were inside the Tabo monastery when it started drizzling and it was such a great feeling to sense the trickling of drops on the tin sheets. Tabo monastery is one of the oldest monasteries in this region dating back to 1011 years. People might laugh at me if I say that the whole place had a ‘Celtic’ feeling to the atmosphere. May be it was the architecture.

A young monk took us around explaining various aspects of the stunningly beautiful wall paintings and murals originally done by Kashimiri painters who were brought in exclusively for this purpose thousand years before. The wall depicts various phases of the life of the Buddha and images of various offering deities. While walking through the dimly lit monastery listening to the monk, for some reason, my mind refused to go into the details of the paintings and all those information he was providing in his halting English. I just wanted to absorb the whole feeling and be there at that moment. I still don’t know if it was me absorbing the feeling of the place or whether it was the place that was absorbing me. Like how the mountains sometimes have taken me in to their depth and intricacies!

Monastery has suffered damages during the 70’s earthquakes and some of the murals and sculptures have been destroyed beyond repair. Still it has survived all the onslaughts of nature and not much damage has happened to the basic infra structure. May be modern architects should take a cue from this indigenous knowledge before recommending any more earthquake resistant building techniques!

Kaza GP 2007

Geu Mummy

pic: Geu mummy which is 675 years old

2 hours of drive from Kaza to Geu goes through narrow roads along the impressive gorges of Spiti Valley. Geu is a sleepy mountain village hardly three hours of trekking distance from western Tibet and is under the constant vigil of the intelligence agencies and ITBP (Indo Tibetan Border Police). Compared to the eastern borders of India with Pakistan, there is no tension on the borders and it seems people some times even cross borders for pasturing. Geu came into global attention when ITBP officials discovered a mummy after the 70’s earthquake that created extensive damage in various parts of Spiti Valley. It seems the ITBP officials hit upon the ‘body’ of the mummy while excavating and was surprised to see a mummy in a sitting position with all body parts intact.


pic: bridge under construction on the way to Giu village

Carbon dating of the mummy has scientifically proved that it was the body of a 45 year old Lama from the last quarter of 15th century. Historical research has proved that this mummy was part of several others that existed in Western Tibet. It seems this mummy was of a monk from Gelugapa order who were practitioners of "Zogchen", the highest form of meditation to find a solution to the destructive drought and famine that had hit the western part of Tibet. (Spiti was part of the larger Tibet at that time). The Lama along with several others used ‘Gomthak’ to tie his neck to his knee in order to free the body and transport his mid to a higher plane.

pic: Apricots offered by our host in Geu village

Continuous meditation and fasting before attaining ‘nirvana’, the body was probably devoid of all juices and any bacteria, which preserved the body with no chemical embalming. Natural mummification has preserved the body of the Lama for more than 675 years!

Upon a small hill in the village of Geu, you can see the mummy kept safely in a small hutment. Prayers are offered daily by locals and the key to the monument can be collected from the soldiers posted in the station. It’s a bit surreal to see gunmen ‘protecting’ the mummy and the surrounding areas. Separated by a glass pane, it was quite a breathless moment to see the mummy in a sitting posture. The small frame of the mummy even has its hair intact above the forehead.

Research findings from rest of the world has shown several other mummies in Tibet, which were destroyed by the Buddhists monks themselves fearing the onslaught of the Chinese after the Cultural Revolution. It seems ‘Geu Mummy’ is the only one that is remaining. As a local mentioned, it survived probably only because it was in India.While leaving the ‘shrine’, I bowed my head in a silent prayer to the Lama who made the supreme sacrifice for his land and his people.

Kaza © GP 2007

Spiti Valley

pic: vulture sighting soon after the Rohtang pass

Eventful? Don't know if this is the word that I should use to explain the last two days! On the climb through Rohtang pass (almost 13,000 ft above sea level) we got stuck almost three hours in the middle of the nowhere. It's seems there's been a traffic block for last one week on a regular basis. Bad weather and total mis management on the road leads from one block to another. Finally where the authorities failed to make any difference, we saw a bunch of travellers who got out of their vehicle to clear the traffic by literally pushing trucks and jeeps on their own. When the command control of the administration collapses, the public always takes care of things in India. Simply fabulous! Once we got out of the mess, it was just breath taking views for another 10 hours! In company were a team of Tibetans including a monk who were chatting non stop. All sounded like hymns to subdue the tough terrain we were driving through.I would have loved to write in detail, but we just came back from a 10 kms biking in the mountains of Spiti and all I want is a shower and sleep. Just posting short notes below pictures to give an idea. Connect with you all soon!

pic: Road constructions at an altitude of 13,000 ft above sea level!

pic: a road to nowhere? the entire stretch through the Rhotang Pass was similiar to this!

pic: An India post box in an Buddhist monsastery above 13,000 fr. In the background is Gulshan and Sunil. Fellow travellers. We also managed to find another companion in Bansuri. Gulshan leaves tomorrow for Mumbai and we continue our journey through Spiti Valley for another week at the least.

When we climbed up all the mountains, this is how Spiti Valley invited us! Prayers flags at the monastery.

Pic: typical Spitian architecture. It seems Spiti is not really Spiti but, Piti. The 'S' before Piti is a contribution from the Tibetans. Piti means the middle land or middle Kingdom. More on stories of the places later!

Pic: I never expected to do a biking tour considering my health. Looks like, health is fine and knee didnt crack :)

Kaza Spiti Valley © 2007

Manali

Considering the sweltering heat and 'power-cut' in the Capital (New Delhi), it was literally an escapade to the cooler heights of Manali even if the over night journey took around 15 hours by bus. It's been almost 8 years since the last visit and I wasn't sure what to expect from Manali. Was worried if it has also become another Shimla or Ooty two of the most famous hill stations in the country. Unplanned 'growth' and 'politician-land mafia' nexus has destroyed these once beautiful hill stations. (Imagine drought and traffic pollution up in the mountains!).

Contrary, Manali for some reasons remain clean and I did'nt see that much of infrastructure development to the scale of what has happened in Shimla and Ooty. Even when Delhi and surrounding regions are braving heat, there were not many domestic tourists. There were quite a lot of foreigners though.

In a nut shell, Manali still looks beautiful, it's clean and the market still has its uniqueness. It's still a pleasure to walk around even within the town, and not to talk about the immediate vicinity with it's breath-taking mountain and river views! With a wonderful company in Gulshan, we went around tasting some mouth watering local food! (BTW, after not being in touch for almost 5 years, we met each other through facebook and decided to travel together in an impulse!)

One of the difference from last visit to Manali was the absence of polythene bags in shops. All the shops we went were giving bags made out of old newspapers. That's quite an achievement considering the fact that the initiative has failed in many places including Kerala and Tamilnadu. Though the city looks cleaner, many picnic spots out in the woods were littered as you can see from the photographs. Frankly to my surprise, I was impressed to see some boys taking back their garbage after their picnic. After all, albeit slowly, we are becoming sensitive to the environment.

So far the trip has been fabulous and I hope I will be able to keep everyone posted once in a while. Like in many other trips, we ended up meeting couple of people and made instant connections. I can see that we will be working together with some of them in the immediate future.

All excited about the 12 hour driver by jeep to the mountains tommorow.

Manali © GP 2007

New office

Ekta and Arun in our new office in Sanjaynagar, Bangalore

Bangalore © GP