New Delhi

New Delhi:



When your neighbor's house is on fire, you have two 

choices: you can either run away from it or towards it. 

You are entitled to run away form it, but if you do that 

too often, you will eventually find yourself without any 

neighbors. And you will be lonely, until your house is 

consumed as well.



Flights, thankfully, uneventful. Made friends on the 

planes, and they all promised to write checks. Folks 

are very glad we are here.



Someone said that it is unfortunate we do not have time 

to get into Delhi, as it has changed. All public 

transport - buses, rickshaws, taxis - now must run on 

natural gas, and has cut air pollution (that used to be 

horrid!) in half. There are many "flyways" (overpasses) 

rather than four way stops, also contributing to 

pollution declines. And there is a new subway!



The air terminal looks the same though. Even the smells 

(which I like). After antiseptic Seoul, I know I am in 

India. Garish colors, decorations, wonderful Indian uses 

of English. The warning sign about what cannot be 

brought onto a plane reads, in part:



NO

Darts

Bows and arrows

Mace

Clubs

Pickles and chilly powders



A terrorist attack utilizing pickles and chilly powders 

(that's the way it was spelled) would be something right 

out of a Grade B Indian ("Bollywood") movie. The slogan 

for the new Indian Sahara Airlines is "Emotionally yours." 

Then there was another sigh about "Public Grievances 

Redressal Machinery" (report a problem and someone gets 

spanked?) Aliyah and I are both pleased by the Indian 

vegetarian food.



The news here, generally speaking, is not good. Yesterday, 

a misunderstanding of sorts of a report issued by a 

small consulting group out of Oregon - M/S Terra 

Research - that another tsunami was about to hit as a 

result of an earthquake off the coast of Australia - 

se the government in a tizzy, and after 8 hours, they 

issued a warning. Folks in the coastal areas, already 

reeling, not having time to find no less than bury 

their dead, ran to the hills. Hospitals emptied out, 

and patients are camping (with their saline tubes, etc.) 

in the open air, refusing to return to the hospital 

buildings. Packets of food, water, and clothing 

distributed by aid agencies were thrown to the ground. 

There are literally mountains of abandoned donated 

clothing. Relief workers had no idea what hit them 

(no one told them about the warnings, all of which 

turned out to be based on a false alarm. The press 

accounts, which are extremely unclear, is that Terra 

Research had some kind of new technology that they 

refused to make public.



In another press account, apparently one group of people 

was able to predict the earthquake and resulting tsunami, 

and act upon it. A small aboriginal tribe - the Jarawa - 

on South Andaman island (there are only known to be 271 

of them) apparently detected the onslaught several days 

in advance and moved deeply inland into the jungle. 

Virtually the entire island was hit, but the tribe 

survived. This was discovered when a 12-year old boy 

from the tribe turned up looking suitably aboriginal at 

a local health center, because he had an earache.



Not good news in my mother's district (Nagai) - 

apparently it and the neighboring coastal villages of 

Cuddalore were the hardest hit of all. The pictures are 

astounding. The government is apparently spreading 

bleach powder on the beaches (a disinfectant?) - though 

these efforts were delayed, as airlines refused to 

allow the bags of powder on the planes as they are 

considered 'hazardous material' and the bags were not 

properly labeled.



But - there are always signs and signals of how tragedy 

can sometimes bring out the best in the human condition. 

This is what should have been on CNN but wasn't. The 

five coastal villages of Cuddalore were entirely wiped 

out. In the center is Cuddalore town. The fish market 

was entirely destroyed, and no one really has any idea 

of the death toll. Most of the fisher folk are Hindu and 

Christian (many of them, of low-caste origin, having been 

converted in the 19th Century as an attempt to escape 

discrimination and stigma). The town merchants were much 

less affected by the wave. Most of them, however, are 

Muslim, many of whom send their sons to work and trade 

in the Gulf countries. Within minutes (10 a.m. on a 

Sunday morning), the local imam and the head of the 

local Muslim religious association called out the 

entire Muslim religious community. They started rushing 

folks to hospitals in vans, cars, mopeds, and bicycles. 

By noon, the Mosque had organized milk for a few hundred 

babies, and food for over 3,000 survivors. By evening, 

the 3,000 Muslim men of the town were tending to over 

10,000 Hindus and 3,000 Christians in makeshift camps. 

For the last 3 days, the Mosque has employed 24 cooks 

to feed the survivors. The local government has come up 

with milk and rice, but the Muslim religious association 

buys vegetables and everything else on it sown, even 

preparing strictly vegetarian meals for the orthodox 

Hindus (most folks in this area, however, are fish 

eaters.)



The Muslim association has even taken upon themselves 

what would normally be considered unthinkable among 

many Muslims. They are carrying the bodies themselves 

to their last rest. To the largest extent possible, 

they are ensuring that the Hindus are cremated, and the 

Christians buried, with crosses on every grave. The 

head of the Muslim association has said he has not 

slept in days, but vows to continue caring for and 

feeding the Christian and Hindu members of their 

community for as along as it takes. And where 

necessary, and where they are no surviving relatives, 

they have vowed to take in infants and children of the 

community, raising them in the religion in which they 

were born. (And these are all owners of businesses that, 

themselves, will never recover.)



THIS is in the India I know and have come to love over 

the past 30 years, and always have. In the meantime, 

a small article in today's paper notes the government's 

sendoff of the first of 12,900 pilgrims on the haj to 

Mecca. Two government officials - on Sikh, the other 

Hindu, went to the airport to wish them godspeed. The 

Indian government has a fund set up to assist all of 

its Muslim residents to make the haj at least once in 

their lifetimes.



Meanwhile, rickshaw pullers in Coimbatore, a city in 

the very hilly areas of Tamil Nadu more than 200 miles 

from the coast, collected 3,500 rupees (roughly $85) 

for relief efforts. When they took the money to the 

bank, the bank refused to cut a check for the relief 

fund, because they couldn't be bothered to count 1, 2, 

and 5 rupee notes (a rupee is around 2 1/2 cents.) The 

rickshaw pullers, among the poorest people in town, 

blockaded the bank with their rickshaws and refused to 

leave, until bank officials cut checks using their own 

money. (They still refuse to count the contributions.)



Rickshaw pullers who are reading this are hereby 

notified that Aliyah and I are accepting 1, 2 and 5 

rupee notes (or their U.S. equivalents.) We know that 

we can deliver the funds directly, and have no Red Cross 

officials to feed or offices to rent (and we are paying 

for our trip, etc., out of our own pickets). So we can 

stretch a rupee or two a long way!



Finally for those of you who feel called to do even more, 

you are invited to visit tsunamihelp.blogspot.com  a 

quickly formed on-line community of relief workers. I 

haven't managed to long on yet (all our blogs have been 

catch-as-catch can), but we have heard very good reports 

about it.



We ask for your prayers, good thoughts, and continuing 

contributions.



David



P.S. We are a bit behind in posting, and visited a 

devastated fishing village yesterday. Aliyah will be 

posting later today. In the meantime, my wife tells us 

about the wonderful outpouring of support, and we thank 

you greatly. A couple of notes based on inquiries we 

have received: it is not a good time to volunteer (at 

least in India) - currently the government has cut 

access by relief organizations such as the Red Cross 

(since my mother's organization is local, that isn't a 

problem.) But more relief workers right now would add 

to coordination difficulties. About a month or two from 

now, we will need lots of folks to help dig wells, build 

hoses, and engage in disease prevention. Adopting 

tsunami orphans from India is not possible - Indian 

adoptions are normally very difficult for foreigners 

(long story how we did it), and the tsunami killed far 

more children than adults. My mother's organization does 

take in children who are orphaned or whose family 

situations are under stress. Funds are urgently needed, 

especially now - it costs about $130 a year to feed, 

clothe, house, and educate a child, and we can set up 

formal support arrangements. Most of our current 

sponsors are from Italy and we would like to expand.



Finally, funds. In a month there will be even greater 

need that there is today. I don't think it is yet sunk 

in how huge the rehabilitation effort will have to be. 

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, and on your 

contribution list.



David



Note from Ellen: If you call to make a donation, 

please note we are in Olympia, WA (pacific time).