5 PLACES TO VISIT IN INDIA

5 INTERESTING PLACES TO VISIT IN INDIA

Today I am going to recomend you some places to visit in India... There are many more tan the ones that I am going to show you today but I have chosen the ones I prefered while I was investigating in the topic.

1-. Chadar - The frozen River Treck

I find really interesting to walk along a frozen river, don't you? It is an adventure and experience that you can not leave if you have the oportunity to visit India. The sights are amazing although it requires physical strength to tolerate the extream conditions.

2.- Pangong Lake, Ladakh

"Pangong Tso lake in Changthang region of Ladakh has emerged as one of the most wanted places to visit among domestic tourists in recent times especially after the Bollywood blockbuster "3 idiots". As I think you could be interested in this magical place I leave the link here for you to search more information about it.

http://devilonwheels.com/travel-guide-for-pangong-tso-lake-in-ladakh/

3.- Rann of Kutch, Gujarat

It is the largest salt desert in India and it is located 458 meters above the sea level.

              

4.- Caves of Meghalaya

They could be defined as the most remote place in India. They are natural formations between valleys with exotic flora and fauna to explore.

5.- Indian Ghost Town of Bhangarh, Rajasthan

As the name of the place says it is one of the scariest places all around India because it is one of the most abandoned ones. Although visitors are not afraid os ghosts because there are many trips around this sinister village.



I have tried to writte about very different places for you to chose the ones you liked more, but now I am going to leave here the link of an article I found very interesting with much more places like beaches or mountains that I am sure you will love.

100 BEAUTIFUL PLACES IN INDIA

MARIA MARTIN DE POZUELO

Poverty in India

India is the largest and most populated country of South Asia. It is in the list of countries with the highest proportion of people in extreme poverty of the world. It has the 30 percent of people in extreme poverty in the world, according to a report published by the Indian government.



According to statistics, the most part of the people living on less than 1.25 US dollars/day belongs to South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Of these 1,200 million of persons, the third part of them live in India.

India had the highest number of deaths for children under five years old in the world.



In addition, studies indicate that almost the 60 percent of the people who practice defecation outdoors live in India.



His religion also affects their poor living conditions because they treat cows as gods, when they are dying of starvation.



Several ONGs are centered in help this country and there are people like Teresa of Calcutta, a Catholic religious sister and missionary who founded the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta and she looked after the poor, sick, orphaned people in India during more than 45 years.



A good example where people can see these terrible facts is in the film “Slumdog Millionaire”, where is showed the poor and bad living conditions that two brothers have, Jamal and Salim Malik and their friend Latika. They lost their family who lived in a slum of India. They suffer difficult situations; they are used by criminals for begging and earn money.

Interesting Facts about india

India is a very interesting country because of it´s religion culture,food ,language etc.. But obviously I can´t talk about all of them, that is why in this post I will expose interesting facts about India.

1. India is about 1/3 the size of the United States, yet it is the second most populous country in the world, with a population of 1,166,079,217. India is the seventh largest country in the world, at 1.27 million square miles.


2. Many Indians find toilet paper repellent and consider it cleaner to splash water with the left hand in the appropriate direction. Consequently, the left hand is considered unclean and is never used for eating. In addition, most Indians rinse their hands, legs, and face before eating a meal. It is considered polite to eat with the right hand, and women eat after everyone is finished. Wasting food is considered a sin. You may remember this facts if you are having a meal in India.
   


3. With 150,000 post offices, India has the largest postal network in the world. However, it is not unusual for a letter to take two weeks to travel just 30 miles. Nevertheless the largest employer in India is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.

These are among the many factors that make India to be one of the most amazing countries in the world!

Statue of Gomateswara

The statue of Gomateswara is located 158 km away from Bangalore, at Sravanbelgola. This big statue of lord Gomateswara, the Jain saint, is carved out of granite block and stands on top of a hill. For centuries, Sravanabelagola has remained a great Jain center and thousands of pilgrims go to see the great statue of the Jain saint, Lord Gomateswara. The statue of Gomateswara shows the lord completely nude. This statue of lord Gomateswara is 17m high and is visible from far away, eexactly from a distance of 30km.

This statue is considerated one of the largest religious statues in the world. This statue of lord Gomateshwara was created around 983 AD by Chamundraya, a minister of the Ganga King, Rajamalla. The neighboring areas have Jaina bastis and images of the Jaina Thirthankaras. If you visit the statue, you will have a beautiful view of the surrounding areas at the top of the hill. At Sravanbelgola the Mahamastakabhishekam festival is celebrated once every 12 years, when the image of Gomateswara is bathed in milk, curds, ghee, saffron and gold coins. In February 2006 the Mahamastakabhisheka festival was held and the next festival was expected in 2018.

Most of the people who have visited the statue say that the climb up of hill is hard,  but made it's worth it especially for the views. India has some really magnificent architecture and a really diverse history.

[embed]http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBgm15N1-oA[/embed]

India's overpopulation

The Government of India has been aware of the problems caused by the rapid growth of India´s population during the last decade. India´s population has grown in the last 50 years more than 800 million, which means that India represents now a days a 17,99% of the worlds population,(being 2,2% of the world surface) that implies that 1 person out of 6 in the world comes from India.

Right now India is the second country most populous of the world (1.252 million people, in 2013) just after China (1.357 million people, in 2013). Experts say that India will overtake China around 2025, and with this growth rate India will have to take actions on how to prevent this growth and try to find out how to solve the problems caused.

The main reason leading to over population in India are:

1- The high birth rate. India has a very high birth rate compared to almost every country in the world. In fact every Indian women gets around 3 children compared to a 1 child western Europe and USA. Another interesting fact about India´s population is that nearly a third of it is under the age of 14. That is good for the country because India is a young country in that terms, but as always, it also has
disadvantages.

This causes are interrelated to various social issues as:

• Early marriage


• Illegal migration


• Poverty and illiteracy

The effects are:

• Unemployment


• Manpower utilisation


• Resource utilisation


• And more...

Hinduism: Pablo De La Guardia

Hinduism is the dominant religion, or way of life, in South Asia, most notably in India and Nepal. Although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is a family of linked religious cultures bound by shared concepts, recognizable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, pilgrimage to sacred sitesand the questioning of authority. It includesShaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism among others, each with an interwoven diversity of beliefs and practices. With approximately one billion followers, Hinduism is the world's third largest religionby population, after Christianity and Islam.

Hindu texts are classified into Shruti ("heard") and Smriti ("remembered"). These texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology,Vedic yajna, Yoga and agamic rituals andtemple building, among other topics. Major scriptures include the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Agamas.

Dharma is considered the foremost goal of a human being in Hinduism. The concept Dharma includes behaviors that are considered to be in accord with rta, the order that makes life and universe possible, and includes duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and "right way of living". Hindu dharma includes the religious duties, moral rights and duties of each individual, as well as behaviors that enable social order, right conduct, and those that are virtuous. Dharma, according to Van Buitenen, is that which all existing beings must accept and respect to sustain harmony and order in the world. It is, states Van Buitenen, the pursuit and execution of one's nature and true calling, thus playing one's role in cosmic concert

The Peruvudaiyar Kovil

HISTORY

The Peruvudaiyar Kovil ( In Tamil: தஞ்சைப் பெருவுடையார் கோயில்) commonly know as "the big temple" turned 1000 years old in 2010.

It is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva located in the city of Thanjavur in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is an important example of Tamil architecture achieved during the Chola dynasty. It is one of the most important temples of India.

It was built in 1010 A.D. to grace the throne of the Chola empire by the Tamil emperor Arulmozhivarman,  in compliance to a command given to him in a dream. The steemed architect of this temple was Kunjara Mallan Raja Raja Perunthachan as stated in inscriptions found at the temple. It was built to express the wealth power and artistic epertise of the Chola Empire. The temple "testifies to the brilliant achievements of the Chola in architecture, sculpture, painting and bronze casting."

THE TEMPLE

The temple complex sits on the banks of a river that was channelled to make a moat around the complex's outer walls (like a fortress). The complex is made up of many structures that are aligned axially. The complex can be entered either on one axis through a five-story tower or with a second access directly to the huge
main square. The massive size of the main Vimanam (rising tower that in Indian mythology appeared in the sky) is of 61 meters high, with 16 elaborately articulated stories.



MY OPINION

I have chosen this  emblematic monument because the Chola dynasty was a very important period in Indian history. It is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Great Living Chola Temples" and participated in the votings to become one of the 7 wonders in the world.

Blog post about Indian Culture: Hinduism

Hinduism is the dominant religion, or way of life, in South Asia, most notably in India and Nepal. Although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is a family of linked religious cultures bound by shared concepts, recognizable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, pilgrimage to sacred sitesand the questioning of authority. It includes Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism among others, each with an interwoven diversity of beliefs and practices. With approximately one billion followers, hinduism is the world's third largest religionby population, after Christianity and Islam. Hinduism has been called the "oldest religion" in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, "the eternal law" or the "eternal way" beyond human origins. Scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This "Hindu synthesis" started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE, after the Vedic times. Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings (ahimsa), patience, forbearance, self-restraint, compassion, among others.

Hindu texts are classified into Shruti ("heard") and Smriti ("remembered"). These Hindu texts are classified into Shruti ("heard") and Smriti ("remembered"). These texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology,Vedic yajna, Yoga and agamic rituals andtemple building, among other topics. Major scriptures include the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Agamas. texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology,Vedic yajna, Yoga and agamic rituals and temple building, among other topics. Major scriptures include the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Agamas

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Gandhi:the strength of peace

  "There is no way for peace,because peace is the only way" 

Often,when we think about India the image of Gandhi appears immediately  in our minds. That happens due to the global legacy he left after his death,even after several generations. He showed to the whole world that another way of achieving your objectives was possible,the way of peace. At his times,this method was something new and most of his enemies thought that he would never reach his goal,the freedom and independence of India. Finally,he thought everybody a lesson.

  
Funnily enough,he studied in England and,during his early youth,he acted like a Britsh gentleman,as you can se I'm the following image:

  
However, we he came back to India,he realised the conditions in wich his working-class countrymen were forced to work and he decided to fight for their rights. For that, he travelled to South Africa where,after months of non-violent demonstrations,he managed to abolish the right to explode Indian workers. 

In 1915 he came back to India and,eventhough at the beginning his objective was not to achieve the independence for India,he changed his mind and started with his acts of civil disobedience. Although some Indians politicians thought that his method was highly inefficient,he managed to mobilize 10 millions Indians in a peaceful fight for independence.

After years of fight and peaceful revolution,some of them spent in jail and in hunger strike, India became independent,showing the world that another way of doing things was possible. 

Music for our ears!

When people are told about Indian music they show a face of disgust or they just say you are weird, because that music can not be good. They are wrong. Indian music does not consist in a long bearded guy playing the flute in front of a snake that is going out of a jar and looking at the musician with a strangeness face. Indian music goes from pop to classic music, passing through folk. It is very closely related to religion, and it has been in constant development for a lot of centuries.

There are two main types of classic Indian music: Carnatic, found predominantly in the peninsular regions, and Hindustani, found in the northern, eastern and central regions. Their tonal system divides the octave into 22 segments called shrutis, not all equal but each roughly similar to one quarter of a whole tone of Western music. Both types of music are melodic, with improvised variations, but Carnatic music tends to have more fixed compositions than Hindustani music.

Another of the music types writen above, is folk. Folk is one of the most important kind of music in India, having a vast amount of subgenders: Rabindra Sangeet, Dandiya and Lavani are three of them.

To finish, popular music is generally composed by Film music and Rock & Metal. Both very different from each other, they have benn very influenced by western music and have way too much things in common with the ones present in the rest of the world.

Crown of palaces. The Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal is a group of buildings conformed by the entry, called Darwaza, the mosque and at least, the best known, the mausoleum. The entry and the mosque are made of red sandstone nevertheless the mausoleum is made of white marble.

The Taj Mahal was constructed between the years 1631 and 1654 in the banks of the Yamuna river. It combines several artistic styles Indian, Persian and Islamist. Was build by the islamist emperor Shah Jahan in honor to his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

It is said that the emperor ordered to cut the hands of the workers when they finished the palace.                   

The exterior is decorated with inlay of semiprecious stones and fragments of the Koran, also with plant drawings. Columns, minarets and pedestals are adorned with abstract geometric figures.

    

The indoor is decorated with goldsmiths and jewelry. The walls are decorated with very detailed engravings. Entries are made with arches and Persian poems as decorative element.

 

The construction process started with the mausoleum foundation, they excavated and area of twelve thousand square meters. They raised the ground fifteen meters abode the river. Then they began to build the main building and his dome, the four minarets, the mosque and the entry. A system of pipes and water pumps were built to supply water to the gardens and fountains. The Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful and iconic building in the world. I hope to visit it in the future and learn more about indian costumes.

Sports in India

When someone thinks about Indian culture they might think about their language, religion, food... However, sports are also really important in their culture. Indian society is really influenced by sports . I would say that they are part of their lifes.

One of the most popular Indian sports is field hockey. It is considered the official national sport. It has been played for lots of years by Indian people. It is one of the most succesful sports played there. In 1975, India national field hockey won the Men´s Hockey World Cup. This fact made an extreamly increase on the interest of Indian people on hockey.

Another popular sport is Cricket. Cricket was introduced to India by the British. Now is the most popular sport. Almost everyone from there knows how to play cricket .That is one reason of its tremendous popularity.



Other important sports in Indian are snake boat races and Formula  One which has become really popular since they hosted their first race in 2011.

Although it does not seem important, martial arts are really practiced by lots of people in India. These ´sports´are considered  the oldest ones of India. They have been practiced since the tweelve century. Indian martial arts goal is to relax and reflect. These martial arts are also important in religious aspects.

As you have seen sports are really important in Indian culture. . Indians love practicing but also watching not only their sports but  others from different parts of the world. However, they are big supporters of their national sports.

A little part of Indian Hystory

75.000 years B.C. we have the first knowledge about this people from the south part of Asia: Indians.

The first modern civilization, if we can call it like that, is called the "Indian Valley Civilization". It was the first major civilization in South Asia. This people used to live in the northern-west part of India from 3000 B.C  to 1300 B.C.

This people used to live in cities like this. They do a technology advance that affects to all the urban India wich everybody will use developed in the "Mature Harappan Period" (2600 B.C - 1900 B.C) . Along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, this was one of the three older civilizations of the "Old World",  and the most widespread among them, covering an area of 1.25 million km.

Aswell they used to make arts and crafts like various sculptures, seals, pottery, gold jewellery, and anatomically detailed figurines in terracota, bronze, and steatite have been found at excavation sites.

              

As we can see in this two pictures, they used to do sculptures as actions that they used to realized. For be more precise, in this sculptures we can see that they used to work with objects like bronze or other materials. Also we can see that they knewed what is dancing. Some investigators say that they are not dancing they are just staying there,  but some other refuse to them.

In conclusion, this cultural country have left some pieces of the evolution of the humanity in this big part of the world.

Let's see how many gods there are in India... or at least some of them.

When you think about India, some ideas come to your head. The most common ones, are, probably, tons of people on the streets, snake charmers, people eating couscous and weird gods. However, Indian religion is one of the most ancient ones and, also, one of the richest. Let's see some of their gods to understand the beliefs and thoughts of indian people.

The most important religion in India is Hinduism, which itself is only the sum of beliefs, traditions and myths that have passed from generation to generation.

For indian people, there are many gods that have like a special ''gift'' or ''ability''.

The most important god of Indian mythology is the god of gods: Indra, which has the
power to take care of the rest of the gods and humans from bad habits and the ''evil'' part from life.

Indra is also considered as the god of war, of the atmosphere and of the sky. (He has such an important influence in India that even and indian airline has his name, Indra)

This is not the only god in Indian mythology, obviously. After this god, one of the most worshipped one is Agni, god of fire, the sun, the moon, the sacrifices and the kitchen.

There are another concepts, like love, and wisdom, which have their own gods too, Kama and Ganesha, respectively.  Let's not forget about music, one of the most important things in Indian culture. Music is represented by Hanuman.

These are soft concepts (love, wisdom, music...), but there are also other gods that are have destructive powers: Kali, the Hindu goddess of death; and Shiva, god of the three eyes that rides a bull and also has destructive powers.

These are just a few of them... Indian is a big country... just as his history.

Music of India

Music in India began as an integral part of socio-religious life, and there are so many types.

The two main traditions of classical music are Carnatic music, discovered in peninsular regions, and the most popular one Hindustani music, from central and northern regions. For making music they divide the octave into 22 segments or shruttis.

Folk music is also very known in India, because with it they create typical rhythms.

Rabindra Sangeet is also known as Music of Bengal or Tagore songs because Tagore was an author that wrote about 2,230 songs while he lived in Bengali. Many singers of that region base their entire careers in his music style.

His music was influenced by classical Indian music like Hindustani music, this is because he lived in a central part of the country.

Lavani comes from the word lavanya, which means love. Is one of the most popular forms of dance all over the country.Traditionally this songs have been sung by female artists. These songs are sang in

quick tempos. And it is common to use this typical instrument that is shown in the image populary called Dholaki and they use it like a drum so it is the instrument that creates the rythm.

Bollywood has a lot of importance in India, and their economy is based in it so music is also very important in that aspect.

There are lots of songs that are world famous because Bollywood films, and nowadays they can influence new styles of music.

The history of this art, the music, would not be complete without the music developed in India, it has influenced lots of styles and has let a whole population to express their thoughts and opinions.

The World's Most Massive Act Of Faith

Wether you believe it or not the world's most massive act of faith takes place in India. This religious festival, Kumbh Mela, is held every three years over the course of twelve years, and the location rotates.

Where does it rotate?  Well, the four locations are: Haridwar (near the Ganges), Allahabad (close to the Ganges, the Yamuna and the Sarawasti), Nashik (the Godwari) and Ujjain (the Shipra). As you may have noticed those four cities are close to rivers, but the important fact of the location are not the cities but the rivers. The devout believe that bathing in any of those rivers during Kumbh Mela free you from your past sins, in other words, it purifies your karma. But a pure lifestyle is also required after the bath.



Why do they bath? Actually is not nonsense at all, it has a mythological origin. Long ago most of the Gods lost their power and strength and in order to recover it they ask Vishnu, an Hinduist God ("The Preserver or The Protector") , to help them out, he told them that they had to churn the Ocean of milk to obtain the nectar of inmortality, Vasuki the king of snakes became the churning rope. When they got the nectar a war started between the gods and the demons, and it lasted twelve days and nights (twelve human years). There are to theories, the first one is that Vishnu saw what was happenning and in the middle of the battle he took the urn with the elixir and some drops fell in the rivers of the cities: Allabahad, Haridwar, Nashik and Ujjain. The other theory suggests that the gods were the ones who hid it in those locations.

Kumbh Mela lasts one and a half months and in 2013 around 80-100 million people went there.



On one hand this peaceful festival must be amazing to witness and even particape, on the other hand the Gangues for example is very polluted and nonwed girls that die are thrown to the river, so it must be non-hygienic and quite nasty.

Religions in India

When we think about Indian religion, the most common thing to do is to imagine an elephant goddess with many arms, but there is way more than that in today's indian culture. Even though almost 80% of the population believes in Hinduism, which by the way is the world's third largest religion by population and probably the oldest one, there are other religions that are very important in indian culture such as Islam (14%) or Christianity (3%). Those percentages might not seem very high, but if we take into account that 1.275.000 people live in India, a 14% means a lot.

There are also other minor religions like Sikhism (1.5%), Buddhism (0.7%) or Jainism (0.4%) that, even though they do not have a big representation, make indian culture a bit more interesting.



The most impressive thing about Hinduism are probably the temples. There are more than 600.000 temples and almost each of them is a fantastic work of art. In this image we can see the Meenakshi Amman Hindu Temple. It was built in the 7th century for the god Meenakshi and it is located on the southern bank of the Vaigai River.

One interesting fact about Hinduism is that there are not religious orders, authorities, governing bodies, prophets or sacred books. Hindus are free to choose to be polytheistic, pantheistic, monotheistic, monistic, agnostic, atheistic or humanist. Other religions like Christianity or Islam should learn from Hinduism and start being more tolerant. That way there would not be so many religious conflicts like the jihad.

India...what a curious country.

Indian culture is very different from the occidental, and sometimes, some things they do may feel strange to us, but not to them, and same happens the other way around. When they come to Spain, they get horrified with bullfights for example.

In India, moving the head from left to right means yes, so if you ever go to India, and they ask you something in hindi, remember to do the oposite as you will do here in Spain; because if not, you may end up being married with an Indian girl, and go back to Spain without even knowing.

Another thing that is strange to occidental people is the amount of animals there are in the city; imagine having a walk in the middle of Madrid, and a monkey steals your phone! Or imagine waiting in your car to go ahead, and a cow is in the middle of the road... and the worst thing is, you cannot touch it because is sacred, you will just have to wait until she wants to move.



Another curious thing about India is the traffic. We have all been in the M-40 in a traffic jam, and its horrible, but that is nothing compared with indian traffic jams (which also includes cows), there is practically no rules. If you ever go to India, don't get in a car and follow my advice; get a motorcycle.

As its said, an image worth a thousand words; take a look at this video of Indian traffic, it is madness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEIk3RpV6RA

All this does not mean it is bad, it just means that is different.

Discover India

Despite having 26 times more people than Spain, India actually has less bullfighters.

Yes, India and Spain are very different countries with different cultures. Where in Spain, people celebrate bullfighting and bull running, India actually worships cows and sees them as holy creatures. You will not find many places selling hamburgers to Indian people who make up 17% of the World´s 7 billion people.  

However India is the world´s largest democracy and many experts believe it could become the world´s next super power. Nowadays Russia is not longer one of them but Europe, China and India have all grounded their economies and level of influence. We only have to look two Bollywood that is a theatrical rival two Hollywood.

In spite of Bollywood´s influence, I am sure not everybody is always singing and dancing in the streets.

Indians do not speak Indian. Indian is not even a language. The majority of people actually speak Hindi and English. Officially 20 other languages are spoken, besides of many dialects. That is why this country is one of the most linguistically disperse nations in the word.

Further differences between India and Spain would be how women are treated in society. Being born is difficult for indian girls as most as parents want boys. This puts their lives at risk and I am sure the situation today is not exactly what Gandhi would

have hoped.

So if you love cows, eating curry and snake charming Cobras, India is the place for you.

[embed]http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ_xpyCpEsc[/embed]

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJFmLtMGSqs[/embed]

Bollywood

Bollywood is the commonly-used name for the Hindi film industry. Even if you have never actually seen an Indian film, you already have an approximate idea of what they look like: massive production including songs and dances in unexpected places, simplistic storylines, heavy melodrama, etc.

India's national cinema is one of the country's most important industries because of the money it moves.

The name "Bollywood" is a compound word derived from Bombay (the former name for Mumbai), and hollywood, the center of the American film industry. But, contrary to Hollywood, Bollywood does not exist as a physical place.

Indian dates from 1913 and the silent film Raja Harishchandra, the first-ever Indian film. Its producer, Dadasaheb Phalke, was Indian cinema’s first magnate, and supervised the production of twenty-three films between 1913-1918.

Around 1947 the industry went through significant changes, during this time the the modern Indian film was born. At that time  films started to be Inspired by social and political changes, as well as cinematic movements in both the US and Europe, the 1960s saw the birth of India’s New Wave, founded by directors such as Ray, Mrinal Sen, and Ritwik Ghatak.

Nowadays Bollywood is known as the Masala film, thanks to Manmohan Desai, one of the more successful Bollywood directors of the 1970s who is considered by many to be the father of this Masala film. He defended his posture like this: “I want people to forget their misery. I want to take them into a dream world where there is no poverty, where there are no beggars, where fate is kind and god is busy looking after his flock.”