Prevention

A few days ago we visited a small and desolated township (if you could call it that) in Kolkata called Brooklyn. While it was awesome to see the spirit and happiness of the people, I could not help, but wonder how they were able to live in conditions of such poverty and furthermore that they had been living in conditions much worse before the Jungle Crows had help dig out the effluent waste. The worst part for me was that the poverty in the region was completely avoidable.

The following is what I was told by one of the Jungle Crows. Every year there is a Hindu festival that involves almost every Hindu family building an idol of a Hindu god made out of mud. At the end of the festival, the idol is thrown off a bridge and into the river. Over many years, the mud from the idols built up and decreased both the width and depth of the river. Consequently, large container ships could not pass through the river and into the ports. This is the reason, Brooklyn has turned from a once prosperous port side settlement to a place that has been cut off from running water and electricity. Could things have been different if the Indian government had arranged for some way to clear the river after each annual festival?

Today we were taken to the River Ganges. Once great temples were visibly decaying before our eyes. We could still see that these destitute buildings were once beautiful, but years of exposure to flooding and smoke damage had resulted in severe corrosion. There was even one temple that appeared to be sinking into the river now that the pillars had eroded. In most western countries, huge measures would have been taken to ensure the upkeep of these historical landmarks, but not here.

Patrick