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31 August 2007 -
News updates Mobile court delivers justice - Seattle Times Doing education themselves - Newsweek magazine Newest spa embrace ayurveda- San Francisco Chronicle Mobile court delivers justice on wheels to remote villages in India For 11 long years, Abdul Kareem was locked in a slow, bitter court battle with his cousin over a wall that divided their two homes and blocked sunlight. Several fights broke out between the two wheat farmers, and family members in both homes were injured. But for Kareem and his cousin, there was something far worse than all the abusive words and physical blows that were exchanged. It was the ordeal of actually getting to the court — an arduous and expensive 30-mile journey involving a long walk, a jeep ride, a bus journey and days of endless waiting. "It would take six hours of total travel time, and sitting still outside the court all day," said Kareem, 42. "After all this, I would be given yet another date to appear. This case has eaten my life away."
The legal system has now changed dramatically for Kareem and hundreds of thousands of villagers in the rural Mewat district of the northern Indian state of Haryana. Earlier this month, India launched its first mobile court — an air-conditioned bus that travels to far-flung villages. A judge follows the bus in an air-conditioned sport-utility vehicle.
According to the government, Indian courts are bedeviled with a staggering backlog of 15.6 million cases. It is not uncommon for minor cases to drag on for decades. The new "court-on-wheels" program aims to fill this critical gap in the delivery of justice and could one day be expanded across the country.
Sandeep Singh, the first judge to preside over the court, has handled about 60 cases each day since the mobile court opened for business. Most have involved theft, village fights and disputes over dowries or the slaughter of cows. Many vexing cases end in compromise because neighbors and village elders can be called easily to the mobile court in order to exert moral pressure on the feuding parties.
Equipped to handle both civil and criminal cases, the mobile court carries a staff of 12, including a stenographer, judgment writer, usher, attendant and floor sweeper for the bus. The bus has a judge's chamber and an office for the staff. Two generators keep the bus engine, the air conditioning and the computers running all day.
The operation appears to be a work in progress. Within the first hour of a recent court session, it became clear that proceedings would not take place inside the bus. "We are not used to the cold and feel nauseated. We may catch a chill inside the bus court," said Haneef Kareembaksh, a plaintiff lounging under the shade of a tree on a humid afternoon. The court proceedings were conducted under a tree with the bare essentials — a table and two chairs.
In Kareem's case, the judge called for a compromise, but the defendant waved his hand in dismissal and walked away. "I have waited so long, why should I compromise now?" shouted Kareem's cousin Ahmad Chota, 35. The village chief urged them not to tarnish the honor of the village in the new court. By the end of the day, the cousins had informed the judge that they were willing to make peace. Pleased, the judge closed the file and instructed them to record their statements.
Doing education themselves In India, education is supposed to be free and universal through age 14. In fact, it often doesn't work out that way. Consider Dhiraj Sharma, the 10-year-old son of a bicycle rickshaw driver in Delhi, who was forced to stay home last year after the local state denied him admission because he didn't have the right papers—a common problem. So Dhiraj is now applying to a private school. For just $6 a month, the R.S. School offers a much better education than the state, says Dhiraj's father, Ramesh, complaining that his son "finished class three in government school, and he can't read anything!" Such problems have sparked a boom in private schooling throughout the developing world. In 2000, James Tooley, an administrator for Orient Global, a Singapore company that invests in education for the poor, went walking in Hyderabad, India, and was startled to find private schools on virtually every corner. He launched a full-scale study in India, China and Africa, and everywhere, officials and aid agencies told him such schools for the poor didn't exist. But when his researchers explored the villages and slums, they found that not only did they exist, they were flourishing. "It's a tremendous success story," says Tooley. "Entrepreneurs are catering to poor, low-income families, and they're achieving better than the government at a fraction of the cost." Elsewhere the private schools were easier to spot and even more numerous. In Delhi, hand-painted signs advertise low-cost private schools at every twist of the narrow lanes. In Hyderabad, 60 percent of the schools serving poor neighborhoods are private. None of them get state aid. Today in India, 30 percent of students attend private schools, up from a handful two decades ago. The numbers suggest that despite the low prices (as little as $1.50 a month), parents believe such schools do a better job than the government. And they're generally right. Harvard's Michael Kremer found that though private-school salaries were lower in India than in public schools, teachers at the former skipped fewer classes (absenteeism is a notorious problem in India's state-run schools). Similarly, a 1999 survey conducted by Delhi University's Centre for Development Economics found that while teachers in state schools spent their time sitting idle, the makeshift private schools enjoyed "feverish classroom activity." Indeed, it's remarkable how many cheap private schools manage to do more with less. In Uttar Pradesh, one of the poorer Indian states, for instance, Oxford University's Geeta Kingdon has found that private, unaided schools are about twice as cost-effective as government schools, achieving better results in math and comparable results in reading at half the cost. The explanation lies in basic market forces. Competition forces these schools to work effectively. It also produces greater accountability. In India, teachers' unions are so powerful that educators are almost never fired or transferred for transgressions. And parents are powerless. "At government schools, parents won't even be allowed into the compound, let alone to meet a teacher, but in private schools, in most cases, they have parent-teacher associations," says Parth Shah, president of New Delhi's Center for Civil Society and coordinator of India's School Choice Campaign—a program that promotes vouchers to allow poor kids to attend private school. "Parents feel they have a right to ask a question of a private school." This higher standard is on view at Priya Adarsh School, another low-cost private operator in northeast Delhi. Here the principal—keen on keeping customers—watches his teachers on a closed-circuit television while he pecks away at a spreadsheet on his desktop PC. The standards aren't perfect, of course; when NEWSWEEK visited, the camera caught one teacher whacking a pupil with a ruler. But at least every teacher was in his or her classroom teaching, and every student was sitting at a desk and paying attention. Opponents, both in India and elsewhere, argue that ceding the educational field to private players will put an end to any hope of an equal education for all. A study based on a survey of parent satisfaction published earlier this year by researchers at Columbia University found that relying on private markets can undermine educational equity and universal access. Furthermore, it argues, private schools strive for superior quality only where they compete with government schools; otherwise they offer "lower-quality, second-chance" educations to children without any other option. "There is no reason to assume that private markets will necessarily improve the quality of education," the study concludes. School-choice advocates respond that it is a fantasy to suggest public education is providing a quality education to all. "You can't compare the reality of private education with some myth of what public education has been like," says Tooley. At least cheap private schools are responsive to parents, and the more parents who choose this route, the better private schools will get, thanks to increased capital, higher demand, more competition and economies of scale. "These are [now] small cottage industries," says Tooley. "They're mom-and-pop stores. There are thousands and thousands of them. Some of them are beginning to consolidate, and you're getting small, embryonic chains." In the meantime, as the slums of Delhi show, private schools will continue to thrive, ensuring that, even in places where government has failed them, poor kids can get an adequate education—on the books or off. As far as higher education is concerned, examples like Vedanta University in sleepy Orissa state, with 100,000 students and 40,000 faculty will raise standards throughout Asia. True, only a fraction of the $3.5 billion needed has been raised. But the fact that the project exists at all is emblematic of a new trend: the privatization of higher education in the developing world. "We know today that the government is not enough," says Rajpan Pai, head of Manipal University, India's pioneer nongovernmental school. "A lot of people wouldn't be studying at all if there was no private sector." As more and more students in the developing world strive for a college degree, that knowledge alone should help them up the learning curve. Newest spa treatments embrace ancient Indian practice of ayurvedaA few weeks ago, Tracy Cunningham found herself lying in a dark room as a stream of warm oil dribbled down her forehead. She was at the Nob Hill Spa, experiencing her first shirodhara, one of the core treatments in the practice of ayurveda, a 6,000-year-old form of health care developed in India. "At first, all I could think was that it kind of feels like water torture," Cunningham says, laughing. "But I realize it's because that's the way we're conditioned as Westerners. These are our preconceived ideas." Once she pushed aside thoughts of torment, she was able to surrender to the hypnotic drip and completely relax. Cunningham is a typical ayurveda enthusiast: a 42-year-old San Francisco woman open to new and different ways of achieving that elusive equilibrium of healthy body and mind. "Ayurveda to me is like therapy, but even more than that. It's like brushing my teeth or getting a haircut - it's almost a necessity," she says. Cunningham's favorite is the Bindi herbal body treatment, which combines a melange of therapies into one: a botanical body mask, exfoliation, herbal wrap and, most important to the premise of ayurvedic spa treatments, oil application. In a city where many inhabitants know the difference between ashtanga and hatha yoga, ayurveda - which translates into "knowledge of life" - is quickly becoming a familiar concept. Ayurveda in general has become more well-known," says Jenean LaRoche, director of the Nob Hill Spa, which first added ayurvedic treatments several years ago alongside the traditional Swedish and shiatsu massages. "These treatments go back thousands of years, and people have a lot of respect for that. It's not just the pomegranate-mango thing of the month. They're experiencing something that has history to it, and is based on thousands of years of time-tested results."
Ayurvedic treatments are based upon the premise that an individual's personality is dominated by one of three "doshas," or physical composition. Before the first drop of oil ever touches the skin, a person's dosha must be determined. Individuals are said to be dominated by one of three doshas: Vata (air and space), Pitta (fire and water) or Kapha (earth and water). Vata personalities tend to be thin, have cold hands and feet, and stress easily, while Pittas can be short-tempered, passionate and goal-oriented. Kaphas are the mildest of the bunch, nurturing, compassionate and even-keeled.
By filling out a questionnaire about your habits and tendencies (Does your energy fluctuate? Do spicy foods upset your stomach?), you can gauge your dominant and secondary doshas, which then determine what types of oils and herbs will be used.
Most ayurvedic treatments involve dry brushing skin to open up pores, then applying herb-infused sesame oil and pastes on "marma" points throughout the body - vital spots similar to acupuncture or reflexology - in order to release disease-causing toxins and balance the doshas. Foot baths, steam baths and scalp rubs are also incorporated within the treatments to augment the experience.
The most common treatment is the abhyanga massage, which is typically done with two therapists working in synchrony, like a choreographed ritual. Whereas a Swedish massage moves muscle tissue, the goal of the abhyanga massage is to get the oil concoction to penetrate skin cells. "It's very relaxing and puts you into a meditative state," says GeriLyn Pagyia, a therapist at the M Spa, which opened earlier this year at Fisherman's Wharf and was formerly the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Spa. "After treatments, our clients always say, 'I can't believe all the thoughts that were racing through my mind, but at the same time I was totally relaxed.' They were releasing all their thoughts."
The shirodhara treatment (dribbling a warm stream of oil on the "third eye") is meant to penetrate the pineal gland. "Because it's stimulating the third eye, it's helping to awaken consciousness, bringing you deeper into a state of relaxation and throwing off more deep-rooted stresses in your body," Pagyia says.
At the Kamalaspa at Union Square, clients can indulge in the navarakizhi rice milk massage, which uses organic brown rice tied into poultices and soaked in honey and warm milk that will be applied to skin. Amber Marie Bently opened Kamalaspa three years ago after taking a trip to India to study ayurvedic practices. "I was interested in this because I thought it was a healthy way to approach the idea of a spa, which my husband and I wanted to open," she says. "Ayurveda is a more holistic approach." Bently has banked on the popularity of ayurveda by re-creating an Indian sanctuary at Union Square. When the elevator doors open on the seventh floor to Kamalaspa, guests find themselves in a setting straight out of Mumbai. Dark-colored iridescent curtains hang from every corner, ceilings are draped with the rich fabric. In the tea room, where guests wait to be ushered into treatment areas, the surroundings set the mood for the impending metaphorical journey east: crystal chandeliers, dark wood floors covered by Persian rugs, colorful pillows softening dark benches, and pistachio nuts on a silver platter. Further inside, elaborately hand-carved wooden doors open to dark, quiet treatment rooms enveloped by more curtains.
Spa treatments provide a comfortable introduction to ayurveda, but there's much more to the ancient practice than massages and facials. "The spa treatments are designed for relaxation and for general health, but these are not ayurvedic medical treatments," says Kathy Nelsen, director of Kabuki Spa and Springs, which was one of the first spas to add ayurvedic treatments more than five years ago.
In its pure form, the ayurvedic practice encompasses a holistic approach to life that addresses the five senses: taste through food and herbs, touch through massage, smell through aromatherapy, sight through color therapy and sound through chanting and music, according to Megan Munoz, owner of Solace Health in Potrero Hill, which opened last year. Munoz says her clients seek relief from any number of ailments, from acid reflux to fatigue and insomnia, to urinary tract infections. After a lengthy consultation, Munoz prescribes herbal remedies and works up a meal plan and daily routine, based on the person's dosha, that will settle imbalances in the body.
"People come to me when they have something they know is wrong but Western medicine has told them there's nothing they can do about it, or there's nothing wrong," she says. "Here, they delve into spiritual and emotional problems that might be causing what's wrong." Whether people go to her for serious anxiety issues or just "bad gas," Munoz says her practice has struck a chord with her clients. "People are really wanting to learn more and more about ayurveda," she says. For those who believe in it, ayurveda seems to provide a real benefit, whether it's cloaked within a spa or offered as medicine. Several years ago, Pam Smith, a 51-year-old employment lawyer from Boston, tried the Bindi treatment at the Nob Hill Spa for the first time, after receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer, and quickly became a convert. On subsequent trips to the city, she returned again and again for the treatment. "I'm not really the crunchy granola type, but after every treatment, I felt so much better. I wasn't fatigued all the time and I felt much more like myself," she says. "The way I see it, what's your good health worth?" |
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