From HPI

[Guest guest]

Friends always ask me 'why I am always going to India'. The serious

reasons are for the incredibly rich spiritual heritage that

encompasses you. The Devi which manifests everywhere in everything.

Sometimes for them this is a little beyond their understanding. So i

joke with them. So many Americans these days are worrying themselves

to death over long term health care and diminishing pension funds.

>From my personal perspective some are desparate for this War as a way

'to kickstart our economy'. My philosophy is really if you spend a

lot of time traveling in India ( especially in the Himilayas on public

transport) you really don't have to worry about this because

eventually it will kill you. This almost became a 'reality' for me in

September 2001 when on yatra i 'fell off a high cliff' at Tapovan

above Gangotri at 14,000 feet. It truly was one of those 'death

experiences' that many people describe but by grace of Guru and MAA I

survived with no upper body damage but a shattered hip, a broken foot

and ripped groin muscles. I owe my life to the Nepalese porters who

happened by and carried me down piggyback to Gammuch. From there i

rode a pony to Gangotri and several days later ended up in the

Government Hospital in Rohtak where I had my hip surgery.

 

So this morning i saw this article in HPI. I have always had my

suspicions about the 'bottled water' in India.

 

<begin quoted material>

 

4. India's Bottled Water Contains High Levels of Pesticides

Source:

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,170189-

1044568740,00.html?

 

NEW DELHI, INDIA, February 6, 2003: Popular brands of bottled water

sold in India contain pesticide residues that can cause cancer or

disorders of the nervous system, a study has found. Seventeen brands in

and around New Delhi were taken for testing by the city's

non-government Center for Science and Environment (CSE). Using methods

approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency for

pesticide detection in drinking water, CSE found that all except one

contained residues of chemicals such as lindane, DDT, chlorpyrifos and

malathion. Many of these chemicals are banned in several countries,

including India. Only Evian, imported from France, was clean. These

popular brands exceed safety limits set by the EU by more than 100

times. According to the CSE report, the source of the pesticide

residues is the polluted groundwater used to manufacture the bottled

water. It said the water treatment processes used by the manufacturers

are either ineffective or only a part of the raw water is processed.

India's bottled water industry, worth US$209,511,800 and growing at 40

per cent a year, insists that it meets the quality norms set by India's

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for drinking water. The federal

government has ordered a high-level probe into the report and wants the

investigating body to report its findings in three weeks.

 

<end quoted material>

 

On a serious note I truly love India. I was 21 when i first went and

lived there and have been going back for the past 32 years. I

encourage anyone who has the opportunity to go. It will change your

life, nothing will ever be the same. From a Western perspective you

will learn that it is a place which you can't control. Once you are

'over that'just surrender to it. It is magic. The DEVI in all her

forms is all pervasive. Of course 'she is everywhere' it just took

India to make me understand that. f