Poverty and the Rat Race

The two most striking things we noticed about poverty in Delhi were:

1. The extremes of poverty
2. The extreme contrast between rich and poor

Delhi seemed to me every bit as materialistic, if not more so, than the UK - with huge advertising billboards everywhere, massive wealthy looking banks and rich and expensive shops, but it was obvious that only a certain percentage of the population - almost certainly a minority - could afford most of these luxuries. The impression was of a 2 tier economy - where those in the lower tier relied on street sellers and the cheaper bazaars, while tourists and the Indian elite could afford to shop in the nicer, more expensive places. The price differences were quite astonishing. 10 rupees (about 12 pence) could buy you an hour in a rickshaw (if you weren't a tourist!), 7 rupees could buy you a course of antibiotics to treat Delhi belly and 2 or 3 hundred rupees - maybe about £3.50 - could buy you a good quality set of clothes in a bazaar. In the expensive shops and emporiums though, prices shot up quite quickly so they started to look much more like the prices we'd expect to pay here in the UK. Nariman Point in Delhi is the fifth most expensive office location in the world (top of the list is the West End in London), beating New York, Washington and San Francisco!

For large numbers of people however, life seemed to be a struggle just to survive - in fact out of Delhi's 14 million population, about 4 million live in slums! The people came across as very industrious and very determined, which was reflected in the constant and chaotic hustle and bustle of Delhi city life. Everyone has a job to do and a living to make (at least everyone who's managed to find a job...) and they're all hard at it, doing whatever it takes. The impression is of a great writhing seething mass of humanity, with everyone trying to get to the top and/or stay away from the bottom. On the way back from Mussoorie we stopped for lunch at a service station during a busy period. There wasn't much in the way of a queue - just lots of people pushing and shoving to try and get to the bar and get served. I made it to the front but I still had someone behind me shoving his arm round in front of me waving his money and shouting, "uncle, uncle", to try and get the attention of the person serving! Meanwhile a bit further along I saw a woman and a child standing patiently at the front waiting to be served - consistently being ignored in favour of the louder voices behind them! As in much of life, but more noticeably so in India, the strong (and circumstantially advantaged) survive, the weak and unlucky end up dropping off the bottom...

All of this brought home to me more sharply the contrast between the kingdoms of this world and the Kingdom of Heaven which Jesus talked about. In the Kingdom of Heaven, "the first will be last and the last will be first". It's according to the principles of this kingdom, that those of us who profess to follow him are called to live. In the Kingdom of Heaven there is room for everyone, and no-one needs to worry about dropping off the bottom. It's a kingdom where people put each other's needs first, instead of competing for wealth and power - where everyone has a place and they all make room for one another. It's according to the principles of this kingdom that Asha is operating. Asha is there to say, "we need to make room for these people - to give them a chance, to see what they can become - instead of excluding them or forgetting about them". It's so good to see these kingdom principles being worked out in the lives of the people of Anna Nagar - to see what a difference it's made to their lives and community, not just to their physical circumstances. Hopefully in time, more of these people will get to know the King of this kingdom, of whose reign they have begun to be beneficiaries!