Sue Perkins Bbc In Varanasi, India Last Night

[trt]

I have been to India twice, and have seen many Doc's, but last night when she was in Varanasi, it was disgusting.

I know the people are not that well educated, but surely common sense must come into their thinking, when they see, raw human sewage, body remains, animal dung & carcasses are thrown into the Ganges.

Kids swim in it, people wash, and there was a old boy, who rubbed human ashes all over his body, to keep cool.

Even Sue P, tripped in a passageway, cut her wrist & leg, and fell in human poo.

[ladybirder]

So is it safe to surmise you won't be going there for your holidays trt?

[Guilbert53]

We in the UK were dong the same in Tudor times.

While we have moved on it only happened when sewers were put underground and we had running water and flushing toilets, and that only happened here in Victorian times.

Read about Joseph Bazalgette and the "great stink" of 1858 when the Thames which was virtually an "open sewer" was so rotten it stank. This is only just over 100 years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Stink

Unless the government in India put these things in there is not much the individual can do about it.

[Guilbert53]

>>>This is only just over 100 years ago.

Actually to be fair it was more like 150 years ago, so it was still fairly recent, and still depended on action and money from the UK government.

Sadly of course many of the people who live like that come over here and carry on living in the same way, which is why some of our inner city slums are more like Calcutta nowadays (and I know this because I live on the edge of Birmingham)

[goodgoalie]

Isn't the Ganges meant to be,er, holy?

[Togo]

It will be OK if we can get them all over here. They will soon come round.

[Baldric]

///Sue P, tripped in a passageway, cut her wrist & leg, and fell in human poo.///

OH Deary Deary me, such a shame!

[naomi24]

//I know the people are not that well educated, but surely common sense must come into their thinking, when they see, raw human sewage, body remains, animal dung & carcasses are thrown into the Ganges. //

Nope.

Excellent programme.

[mikey4444]

People actually drink this water !

[naomi24]

Mikey, so you decided to watch it after all.

[mikey4444]

No Naomi, but I have seen many other programs about Varanasi, and recently re-read the Eric Newby book "Slowly down the Ganges" amongst others.

To drink this water must be the height of stupidity, whether people do it for religious reasons or just because they see no other choice. The coli levels around Varanasi must be horrendous.

And my opinion of Sue Perkins's attempts at journalism haven't changed since I watched the first program. Perhaps she should stick to baking cakes.

[naomi24]

Mikey, as I understood it you watched a very little of the first programme. She's actually doing this very well and I think investigating that which is rarely, if ever, investigated - but your choice of course.