Godless New Delhi

http://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/Servitude_4379

Delhi does not make me want to get on my knees and pray. It makes me want to denounce every God I possibly can at the top of my lungs. The extremity of poverty and wealth, in combination of the overall attitude of the locals, this bitterness of seeing their neighbors die and starve while a Levis is built across the street, makes me think that all the Gods must have deserted this place long ago.


Khan Market, a common and popular destination for wealthy locals and tourists, is "more expensive than Luxumbourg, Oslo, Stockholm, Dubai, Manila, and Mexico City,"* according to the Times of India.  It is a small circular bit of pavement where one can purchase princess anne roses, french pastries, buy a book in English, and designer sunglasses. One might imagine that the constant visual of poverty would cause those in a better position to become more compassionate to those without, but that is not the case. The majority of people here have become blind to the constant cry rising from the streets and the slums, the survival instinct taking on a cruel and unusual sort of deafness. 

I watch from the ground of Lajpat Nagar, from the pavement of Lodhi Road, from the fortified walls of the British High Council, and from the rocking outlook of the rickshaw, and the people I see, the children, the elders, the women, and the teens, are all grimaces. The lines working into their faces, in both the poor and the privileged. 

There is a long line, everyone barefoot baring flowers to pay their respects to the deities. They will stand for hours waiting. In the mean time, they stare callously without smiles or laughs. It is proper if you are muslim to pray five times everyday, but despite all the praying, I do not see miracles. My normally magical, rather Pollyanna-like way of looking at the world, changes here. If anyone ever said that Delhi invoked in them a spiritual experience, they must have lied or had spent all their time in an ashram or $200 night hotel, away from the piss and crippled of the rest of the city. 

The western world is dealing with their low numbers, their flailing business plans, their national bankruptcies, and a scarce job market, but many of them don't know the true concept of struggle. Their babies are not shitting themselves to death due to poor sanitation. Sorry U.S.A. and Europe, but your cries of suffering go unheard here. Delhi is not the past, it is the future, with its rolling slums, high population, and limited resources. It is a future, where no matter the religion or God, we all suffer. 

http://www.polyp.org.uk/wealth-poverty_cartoons/cartoons_about_wealth_and_poverty2.html

* http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-09-24/delhi/28243111_1_hong-kong-s-causeway-global-markets-delhi-s-khan-market