Tag Archives: India

Chennai

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Posted by on in impediments, Social, Striving

December 4, 2015, Prescott- The kids and I did a lot of work, yesterday, so I went to bed early.  Today was also full, mostly with errands that a “day of rest” finds waiting.  My life has gone well this week, culminating with the news that I had passed the third and final examination, prior to my application for elementary certification, and likely continuance in my current position.

Not so in the Indian manufacturing hub of Chennai, the Madras of colonial times.  It’s said that ten feet of water have submerged some parts of the fourth largest city in India.  Aerial photos show a series of islands, and the rain still comes.

Chennai is becoming a real time poster child for climate change, even as the ministers of 150 nations continue their deliberations in far-off Paris.  It is a fair question to ask, whether there will be a recovery this time.  This is not a matter of histrionics or handwringing.  In too many cases, politicians, conservatives mostly, play the game of the perfect being enemy to the good.   We are now considering the immediate futures of 11 million people in Chennai, to say nothing of the 60 million between the twin megalopolises of Kolkata and Dhaka, nearly 1,000 miles to the northeast, Bangkok, further east, and the myriads of islands in the Indian Ocean and in the far-flung Pacific.  The good must suffice, and the perfect be built on it, eventually.  Paris has to produce concrete results.

A popular American television program is presenting the scenario of 2 % of the world’s population disappearing, POOF!  Sounds like the alarm bells are far more real than the legislators gathered in Washington prefer to believe.

The Road to 65, Mile 243: Film Festival

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Posted by on in Social

June 29, 2015, Prescott-  Wednesdays are days for me to look back at the week to date, and recall what I have missed yacking about. The Prescott Film Festival took place for five days, last week.  Like other such gatherings, the PFF presents the works of budding cinematographers and veteran producers, alike.  Sometimes, there is a theme to a Festival.  This year, I noticed a fair number of entries dealing with social trauma, and positive ways to face the issue.

I attended Sunday afternoon’s presentation:  “The Starfish Throwers”.  It featured three very different souls, who dealt with the needs of the destitute, in their respective cities.  A young man in Madurai, India, despite resistance from his family, focused on feeding and grooming the residents of his city’s sidewalks and roadsides.  A retired teacher in Minneapolis, using some of his own resources, and donations from food banks, prepared several freezers full of sandwiches to give to that city’s homeless.  He spent his nights, year-round, checking on the men and women, and making sure they were in a shelter, on the worst of the winter nights.  A young girl, with her family’s steadfast help, grew vegetables and fruit, on some garden plots around Summerville, SC, and prepared the food to give to that area’s needy.

In each case, there were the naysayers, whose position was, essentially, “Hey, we’ve got ours.  Let the lazy ones work for theirs.”  In each case, the naysayers were roundly ignored.  In Madurai, a housing shelter, with skills training and modern hygienic facilities, was built by the young man’s foundation.  In Minneapolis, growing numbers of people, from residents of retirement homes to school children, became involved in the food preparation and distribution efforts.  When the retired teacher needed time off to take care of his health needs, the director of the YMCA stepped up and covered for him.  When the girl was confronted by a critic, she expanded her efforts to include feeding elderly cancer patients, who, in turn, gave her unequivocal support.

This film didn’t win the Festival’s “Best Picture” vote, but it reminded me, again, of the potpourri of ways we can help those less well-off than us.  Few of us have unlimited funds that we can just donate to whoever asks.  Each of us, though, can throw a starfish back in the sea, in our own way.

The Road to 65, Mile 178: But For The Grace

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Posted by on in Personal goals, Social

May 25, 2015, Reno- Yesterday, for us here, was a day of reflection, of gratitude towards the fallen, and of intense discussion about spiritual matters.  I will need to invest a fair amount in my vehicle, this week, and I will be okay; it will be okay.

I am terrified for our country’s fourth-largest city.  I haven’t spent much time in Houston, over the years.  I have a few friends there, and will be in touch with them by private message, tomorrow.  I appreciate, to this day, the assistance given us by some Space City residents in 1984, when my wife was deathly ill, after our return from Guyana.  They sacrificed greatly on our behalf, and set the mold for our own welcoming of people into our home, over the years- some for weeks, others for months.

Now is time for everyone’s thoughts, prayers and actions to be focused on Houston, on Texas, and on the south central part of the country. Water, everywhere, is our sustenance, and yet our threat. Across the globe, India has a different issue:  Extreme heat.  I’ve not been there, but those who have, have told me that the intense heat throughout most of the subcontinent nearly exceeds anything habitable- yet people make do.  It falls to those of us who are doing relatively well, by comparison, to also focus positive energy in their direction.

I’ve had a fair share of difficulty and challenge in my life.  Yet, the old saw about missing my shoes, until I met a man with no legs. always resonates- especially in times like these.  God bless the fallen.  God bless the displaced.