Episode 12

On Sunday, we decided to do some serious site seeing. We started by going to the government sector and seeing the Parliament buildings, president’s house, and the India gate. It was definitely interesting to see how much the government spends on itself, and how little it spends on everyone else. At the suggestion of our coordinator, we decided to check out the Mughal gardens, which is the president’s private garden and is closed to the general public minus a few days out of the year. Sunday happened to be one of those opportune days… Or so we thought. After being ripped off by an auto, we finally found the Mughal gardens, and the line was nearly a mile long. The hoards of school children and families swamped the entrance, and proceeded with the usual style of Indian queuing, (aka mob). Luckily, one of the coordinator’s from another program was with us for the day, and was well versed in this skill and quickly ushered us through the front of the line. The gardens were a bit disappointing and the massive crowds didn’t help. To make matters worse, it was one of those days where I felt quite out of place. People stare constantly, its something I’ve had to get use to. At home, I am not tall, but in India, I am a giant and taller than most men. My pasty white skin and freakish height makes me stick out like a sore thumb. I generally just look down and find my happy place, but on this day, entire busses filled with school kids decided to point me out yelling “hello! How are you?”, laughing hysterically. Nonetheless, I was ready to leave the Mughal Gardens…

We then went to the National Museum and then to Gandhi Smriti, the site where Gandhi was murdered and now serves as a memorial. It was a lovely memorial and I really enjoyed reading the hallways filled with his quotes and philosophy. There was one that sticks out in my mind and goes as follows:
Those who own money now, are asked to behave like trustees holding their riches on behalf of the poor. You may say that trusteeship is a legal fiction. But if people meditate over it constantly and try to act up to it, then life on earth would be governed by far more love than it is at present. Absolute trusteeship is an abstraction like Euclid’s definition of a point, and is equally unattainable. But if we strive for it, we shall be able to go further in realizing state of equality on earth than by any other method
-MK Gandhi

A quote I continue to ponder….