India - Sacred land or giant landfil?

India - snow mountain caps, colorful saris, beautiful scents, mantra chanting, yoga, ahimsa - the list of beautiful associations with India goes on and on.
How about pollution? The cities, towns and villages are also landfills themselves. Waste is just thrown on the street and later burned.

The level of dust and CO2 in the cities is beyond any safe limits. Lots of people wear a scarf or mask around their face and rightly so.

We came to the foothills of the Himalayas in search of peace and clean air.....The dust and pollution, makes it possible to live for a while, but if you compare the air to Sofia, Sofia's air is definitely cleaner!!


Sewage goes straight in the sacred river of the Ganges...

Here she is beautifully meandring, appearing she is not bothered by the sewage or haze raising above her....

Monkeys have long forgotten what their natural food was and are now scavaging for crisps and sweets.

Cows either find better food than what is on the next picture or it is just pure happiness that makes their milk so good.

Recycling does exist in Rishikesh by an organization called Clean Himalayas, which has a very challenging task. To get your waste to be recycled, you need to pay a fee and obviously not many hotels pay the fee, as the fires in the evenings of burned waste can be seen everywhere around...


Sacred land or giant landfill? The sacred land seems to need a break from humanity at this point.