Life at the train crossing
I'm sitting in the back of a rickshaw at about 8
p.m. waiting for a train to cross so we can continue on our way to the Internet
place. This particular train crossing sees a lot of trains, so there's always
activity among the crowds waiting for the barriers to lift so traffic can
move.
Tonight there is a temple procession happening
behind us. I tried recording the sounds directly onto the computer, but it
didn't pick up much. In addition to the drums of the temple procession, there's
the hum of chatter among the rickshaw drivers, who all get out and chat while
waiting for the train. Others step into the shop at the side of the road for a
snack. What makes the moment moderately calm is that everyone has shut of their
engines to conserve fuel while waiting for the train.
Note: I did not have my camera with me last night, but got stopped at the
crossing again today, so snapped these photos to try to illustrate my description.
The calm is broken as the train passes and a hundred rickshaws, as many motorbikes, and half as many tricks and other vehicles start up their motors. Then it's all you can do to keep from gagging as the exhaust becomes unbearable.
It's almost an hour later now, and I'm back at the flat. Once the gates were raised, chaos ensued and I had to stop typing. What happens at these train crossings is that all the motorbikes squeeze through the cars and rickshaws to crowd right in front of the gates. There is no respect for the proper side of the road. Rickshaws also squeeze forward as much as they can. Depending on when the gates go down, you can sometimes get a bus or truck right at the gates, which messes everything up. When the gates go up, the motorbikes are pretty quick to filter back onto the proper side of the road. Plus, the initial traffic coming from the other direction is made up of motorbikes as well, so they all work it out amongst themselves. But then the rickshaws and cars start trying to squeeze through, and if there is a truck or bus up front, it pretty much gets stuck until things calm down enough that there is room to move.
Because of these dynamics, even after the gates went up this time, we waited a few more minutes in the headache-causing exhaust before we began to move. A few minutes later we arrived at Tass Communication, my Internet place of choice lately (even though he was closed from last Thursday through Sunday). Siju, who operates the place, ran out to tell me that the Internet was down. This was a letdown since I had already stopped by once earlier, then called twice before he reported to me that it was working. But two hours elapsed between when I last called, and he said it was working, and when I arrived. Things change.
It all worked out for the best since on the return ride, we encountered the temple procession just outside the temple. The driver managed to get us stuck between two lines of women and girls carrying candles set in coconuts that were sitting in beds of rice in stainless steel dishes. Just behind the women were the men on the drums. It was pretty intense being literally right in the middle of it all as they marched to the temple. So sure, I won't be able to check email or post this until tomorrow, but I also wouldn't have gotten to sit in the middle of a temple procession as it passed me by if it hadn't been for the Internet outage.
Earlier today I was getting some medicine for Marion, Luc and Claire, who have all had a cough for about two weeks now. The chemist asked me what I am doing in Kerala. When I told him I'm studying movements that form around environmental pollution, he rolled up his sleeve to show me the rash and skin irritation he was suffering from. He said 50% of his business is selling medicine to people with skin problems. His belief is that a nearby oil refinery, and a few other sources of industrial pollution, are emitting sulfur and other chemicals that cause skin problems when it rains.
He also told me he had once talked to someone from Greenpeace, probably Mr. Jose, who monitors the Periyar River along the Eloor industrial area just north of town, but that the person told him Greenpeace was primarily concerned with water pollution. This has not really been the focus of my research, but my interaction made me wonder how many places around India there might be where people are experiencing the effects of pollution but have not organized. Why haven't they organized? What do they need to get organized? And even if they organize, is there any hope for them? I ask this last question because even though I've looked at struggles where people are highly organized, engaged with the political and legal systems, and even tied into international networks of activists, the successes they achieve, where they achieve any at all, are minor.
After all, it's probably quite easy for the government to disregard people who live off of the equivalent of $2 a day.
Note: I did not have my camera with me last night, but got stopped at the
crossing again today, so snapped these photos to try to illustrate my description.
The calm is broken as the train passes and a hundred rickshaws, as many motorbikes, and half as many tricks and other vehicles start up their motors. Then it's all you can do to keep from gagging as the exhaust becomes unbearable.
It's almost an hour later now, and I'm back at the flat. Once the gates were raised, chaos ensued and I had to stop typing. What happens at these train crossings is that all the motorbikes squeeze through the cars and rickshaws to crowd right in front of the gates. There is no respect for the proper side of the road. Rickshaws also squeeze forward as much as they can. Depending on when the gates go down, you can sometimes get a bus or truck right at the gates, which messes everything up. When the gates go up, the motorbikes are pretty quick to filter back onto the proper side of the road. Plus, the initial traffic coming from the other direction is made up of motorbikes as well, so they all work it out amongst themselves. But then the rickshaws and cars start trying to squeeze through, and if there is a truck or bus up front, it pretty much gets stuck until things calm down enough that there is room to move.
Because of these dynamics, even after the gates went up this time, we waited a few more minutes in the headache-causing exhaust before we began to move. A few minutes later we arrived at Tass Communication, my Internet place of choice lately (even though he was closed from last Thursday through Sunday). Siju, who operates the place, ran out to tell me that the Internet was down. This was a letdown since I had already stopped by once earlier, then called twice before he reported to me that it was working. But two hours elapsed between when I last called, and he said it was working, and when I arrived. Things change.
It all worked out for the best since on the return ride, we encountered the temple procession just outside the temple. The driver managed to get us stuck between two lines of women and girls carrying candles set in coconuts that were sitting in beds of rice in stainless steel dishes. Just behind the women were the men on the drums. It was pretty intense being literally right in the middle of it all as they marched to the temple. So sure, I won't be able to check email or post this until tomorrow, but I also wouldn't have gotten to sit in the middle of a temple procession as it passed me by if it hadn't been for the Internet outage.
Earlier today I was getting some medicine for Marion, Luc and Claire, who have all had a cough for about two weeks now. The chemist asked me what I am doing in Kerala. When I told him I'm studying movements that form around environmental pollution, he rolled up his sleeve to show me the rash and skin irritation he was suffering from. He said 50% of his business is selling medicine to people with skin problems. His belief is that a nearby oil refinery, and a few other sources of industrial pollution, are emitting sulfur and other chemicals that cause skin problems when it rains.
He also told me he had once talked to someone from Greenpeace, probably Mr. Jose, who monitors the Periyar River along the Eloor industrial area just north of town, but that the person told him Greenpeace was primarily concerned with water pollution. This has not really been the focus of my research, but my interaction made me wonder how many places around India there might be where people are experiencing the effects of pollution but have not organized. Why haven't they organized? What do they need to get organized? And even if they organize, is there any hope for them? I ask this last question because even though I've looked at struggles where people are highly organized, engaged with the political and legal systems, and even tied into international networks of activists, the successes they achieve, where they achieve any at all, are minor.
After all, it's probably quite easy for the government to disregard people who live off of the equivalent of $2 a day.
Posted: Wed - April 19, 2006 at 08:28 AM
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The Zavelogue chronicles the travels and travails of Stephen, Marion, Claire and Luc during our six months in India on a Fulbright.
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Published On: Jul 15, 2006 12:54 AM
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Published On: Jul 15, 2006 12:54 AM