Updates from India 58

Comment.

With the bombing in Manchester by terrorists and the attacks on various faith groups around the world I cannot but wonder at our inhumanity to man.

Here in India, we have a society that is generally very tolerant of different faiths, but like everywhere else has its problems with prejudice. The UK has been a tolerant society growing in its compassion for others for many years.

But now look at our world, are the terrorists winning? I know that won’t be a popular question but it has to be asked.

How many in the world now have hate and mistrust for the stranger of a different faith.

We hear our politicians telling us they will never give in to terrorism while we are funding wars around the world. Discrimination is rife but concealed behind laws that are often ignored. The rights of minorities and the poor are so often pushed out of our view by mainstream news agencies for the eye-catching headline of the latest celebrity scandal.

Where is our love of our fellow man?

The Christian Bible Says of Jesus in the book of Mark: when asked "which is the great commandment in the law Jesus answered, "Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God, The Lord is One; Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind”, before also referring to a second commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Most Christian denominations consider these two commandments the core of the Christian religion.

In the Qur’an that same message of peace can be found:

And if you judge, judge with justice between them. Verily, Allah loves those who act justly
.  (Surah 5:42)

And he said, "Truly do I love the love of good, with a view to the glory of my Lord,"- until (the sun) was hidden in the veil (of night):
(Surah 38:32)

Lawless renegades and killers use our faith as a weapon against us; we are bombed so we cry out that it’s the members of a particular faith that are to blame. Discord and mistrust rule. And so the cycle of hate continues through our children’s children. We can change this but it will take a huge change of attitude.

If we don’t react with hate then the terrorists have lost…….it’s really that simple. Love will conquer them, not arms or legislation but only through God can we all live in peace and tolerance together.

After each atrocity people come together to condemn the terrorist, but how quickly our prejudices rise to the surface. How soon do we forget our unity and give a victory to the terrorist?

Another Book.

This is number three!  The first was the story of my coming to Christ. The second book was a Science fiction. And now this! All three could not be more different.

This one is for all the bikers of India who own and run a Royal Enfield Unit Construction 500 or 350 machine.

I am constantly amazed that the vast majority of bikers here depend on the dealer to service and maintain their bike. Chatting to them I have made a surprising discovery, most don’t service because they don’t know how to. This is completely strange to me as I come from a society and time when all bikers serviced their own bikes. 

As bikes became more sophisticated they became harder for the owner to service, but I am talking here about a bike that was designed in the 1950’s. Ok, it’s been updated with better electrics and some models now have fuel injection but they are still a basic easy to work on the bike.

I have helped a few friends service and even modify their bikes and have come to realise it is not lack of interest that stops them, it is the lack of confidence.

This is the reason for ‘A simple guide to servicing your Royal Enfield’ A pictorial step by step guide to all the routine tasks to maintain the bike in good condition.

I am at page 80 so far.
All profits will go to charity.

Thank you, Kris, for your patience and understanding. I have got a wonderful wife.

Our main room

Draft copy to set layout etc.

Water.

Summer is here and the water shortages are cutting deeply into the supply even from bore wells.

Of course, it’s the very poor who suffer most as their supplies disappear and they can’t afford the water tanker to supply them. Rivers in India are highly polluted by human waste and heavy metals from industry. Even the ground water is not guaranteed to be safe anymore. The Indian government is trying to change attitudes but it is hard in a country that believes free water is a right and will never run out. Rainfall in many areas is nothing like it used to be, deforestation is turning the land into a runoff to the rivers and not being held to soak into the underground supply. Rivers that are nothing but a sewage system burst their banks in the rainy season spreading disease among the people. This is a massive problem that isn’t just going to go away. Even here in our own colony where some wells have gone dry some people knowing about the water shortage still water their lawns so they look nice. These are educated people if they can’t see the crisis in front of them or care enough to stop wastage what hope is there to educate the ordinary Indian citizen who for generations has used water without regard for replenishment. Before the British came this country had systems in place to capture and save the monsoon rains. Since then, however, more and more people have moved from the country into the cities for “a better life”, this has put a massive strain on the water and sewage systems of the cities, most can’t cope and discharge their raw human sewage into the rivers. In the country, the old ways are forgotten or neglected. NGO’s such as PEDO (Peoples education and development organisation) are doing a fantastic job re-educating and rebuilding this infrastructure. Although this is highly commendable they can only influence a tiny percentage of the Indian population.

Major droughts in India are now inevitable as we continue to draw far in excess of the water replenished during the monsoon from the underground aquifers and pollute our rivers. Kris and I both fear that as so often in man’s history nothing will be done until disaster is actually upon us. 

Because of the water shortages, we haven't watered our lawn for

some weeks now. People ask us why we explain but it falls 

on deaf ears. 

The irony is the grass is adapted to drought conditions and will 

go green again as soon as the monsoon arrives. 

So all the wasted water is not even to keep it alive, just to keep 

it green.

While people in India cannot even get enough to drink and

some will die because of thirst or disease we just

cannot use water to save our grass going temporarily brown. 

A neighbours lawn. Please note the hose for the daily watering.

Comments from Kris

Well this month was my 58^th birthday and we decided to go out to a local restaurant for a lovely meal, it was just the two of us as I didn’t want a fuss, I actually told Chris I hated surprise parties. So the initial plan was to go out at about 8 pm, then Chris said no we will go earlier and encouraged me to get ready, but he then started delaying leaving,

I’ll have a coffee, just reading this etc. No, I wasn’t suspicious until Bleu’ ran past me at the sound of a Bullet arriving. 

Yes, the bike club had arrived complete with a cake to surprise me and yes Chris knew, apparently a surprise “visit” not a party. It was lovely to see everyone and the cake had no cream which meant I could eat some with my lactose intolerance. 

We then went just the two of us for our meal which was really good. Thanks again guys, next time I’ll include no surprise visits or no surprise parties. he he he.

My IBRMC birthday cake "yummy"

Surprise visit

Celebrating with friends

Leave me alone I'm eating

We have decided not to have an anniversary party this year as the forecast for the week we chose is predicted to be wet and stormy and a lot of our friends are away. We also still have a lot of dust and rubble coming into our garden from the building work next door. We will resume party mode next year.

We had a pigeon build her nest on our outside electricity box and she laid two eggs, alas a rodent or snake killed her and left the chicks without a mother. We tried hand rearing them but they were too young and frail and did not survive, but they knew a little love and kindness in their short lives.

As you can see Chris is writing a book and I’m so relieved he agreed to bring the bike indoors out of the heat and sun. I’m proofreading the book and finding it very interesting and easy to follow, in fact, I feel confident enough to do some of the jobs myself following Chris’s teaching.

My hens are well and getting very cheeky, they’ve started to take food from my hand as I throw those nibbles and treats, they particularly love tomatoes and cucumber. Fred the cockerel is still protecting his girls but they all get noisy on a morning until we have popped out to say hello to them. Bleu’ goes and looks at them on a regular basis and if she’s worried about them she comes to get me. They seem to get along very well but we don’t let Bleu’ into the coop.

We will be doing more in the garden following monsoon but our centre bed rock garden is starting to come along well, the cacti are seeming to like their position. We will add more cacti in the future. 

We will be planting our front kitchen garden after the monsoon, most of the work is done with good soil and compost we just need to get it fenced then dug over, hello Mr Rotavator to save our backs. We aim to plant leeks again and some other vegetables. 

We are starting a herb garden in my large pots and so far our mint is coming along well, more herbs to follow.

We have been thinking about Warm Aid 2016 and how fantastically successful it was. We partnered with URCreator who had collected clothing but didn’t know what to do with them until we came along with Warm Aid 2016. They have embraced the idea so much that they are still collecting and distributing to the needy. Not only clothes but shoes, toys and school equipment, in fact, anything that is donated to them a home is found for. They have vehicles for distribution and connections to many villages through their workers. Without their help and tremendous enthusiasm Warm Aid 2016 would not have been the success it was.

Memories of Warm Aid 2016

This year we will be launching Warm Aid 2017 in October, we will again be partnering with URCreator and any other organisation that we can convince to help us!

We already have one school and several organisations which wish to collect children’s clothing, last year they did a fantastic job.

This year we are doing it slightly differently. We are still collecting clothing for distribution to the needy in collaboration with URCreator.

Based on our experience of last year we will try to collect money for blankets for distribution on Christmas Eve to the homeless and street people of the city. 
Last year we distributed nearly 250 blankets thanks to the kind donations of many people. This year we hope to exceed this number.

Warm Aid has proved beyond doubt what can be achieved to help people through the very cold Rajasthan winters and without a doubt the effort saved lives, especially among children,  the old and infirm.

If you want to know more please go to our Facebook page Warm Aid 2016 or contact us directly via email at drwatsonsmate@yahoo.com

As always we will be paying no wages or expenses, ALL donations will go to purchasing blankets. We have included some of our memories of last year.

One of our 'Please help us to help them' poster pictures.

We put our logo on the jeep to advertise what we were doing
Christmas Eve

Students and staff Buddha Group of Institutions
 (where we work)

Jatin Gandhi Voyage Motors who were a collection point

Rajasthan Associates another collection point

Mr Gandhi of Gandhi Motors who collected

Manchirag Soni of Rajasthan Associates 

Students from BGI having a break from sorting out
clothes at our home

This was one collection of clothes

Children about to receive clothing,
all wearing their 'Wedding best
clothes'

Excited to receive clothes
and other goodies

Making sure every child receives clothing and goodies

Yes that seems to fit

Distributing blankets in Udaipur City

Presentation of Warm Aid 2016 to social work students

Donation from Lions Club, Udaipur

Blankets ready for distribution Christmas Eve

Santas are go,
Harshit, Chris and Kris getting ready to deliver blankets

Ronak, Chris and Kris getting ready to leave and yes its cold

Panawar Boys Hostel receiving blankets

Some of the boys taking their blankets to their dormitory

Distribution in villages outside Udaipur

There were too many children to get into photo

URCreator our partner with Warm Aid, we visited
 5 villages that day

Yes we continued to give out clothing in the dark, got
home 11pm long but fruitful day helping
children less fortunate than us

Parked up and full of clothes for distribution in the city

A very proud moment for the whole
Warm Aid team. This award was presented to
us in recognition of the work we had done
among the poor of Udaipur.
It was presented in person by the Collector of
Udaipur. Who we would regard as Lord Mayor.
We were all very honoured by this.

Waiting to begin distribution, the children are having
classes first

Christmas morning, having brief stop whilst Police tell us where people sleeping rough who may need blankets

Well thats all from us till next time, hope you've enjoyed our update.

God Bless from Chris and Kris in sunny Udaipur.