OnPoint by Keith Ng

I visited Madurai a couple of years ago (a sad day, Bush was reelected that morning) - it's a pretty amazing place, you've obviously seen the temple - we spent most of our time there being harassed by someone who was very upset about us being there even though we had done everything 'right', bought a camera permit, avoided the places we weren't allowed to go etc etc never quite figured out whether we were being hit up for money or not - certainly a wandering pakeha is a continuing target for the various forms of street life ...... hard to get some space at times

If you're still there make sure you visit the flower market - the Ghandi museum was also interesting

Good stuff, Keith. It sounds as though you're getting into the place. Apart from your initial technical issues, there are lots of great photos there. But you should make it clear that the woman making dung patties (presumably for fuel for her cooking fire) would be using cow shit not human shit.

Oh yeah - and make sure you try some of the local flaky paratha .... mmmm yum

The village made its living by growing crops with the raw sewage. The sewage came through a number of open sewers, then flowed through irrigation channels and into the fields.

Hmmm, whoever would have thought to use decomposing organic matter on crops. They should have used compost instead. Can rice get AIDS? Snobby Dittmer Drive in Palmy is built on an old rubbish tip. Best thing to put on the land. Saves the topsoil for the farmers.

But, aye, the scale of it. You lucky man.

Well, the problem isn't sewage per se, but raw sewage. It's got the microbiological contamination, the chemical contamination and the heavy metals (the latter two from industry upstream).

Sure, using shit to fertilise fields is fine, but you might want to kill off the parasites, etc. and get rid of the heavy metals before you do, because otherwise it all goes into the crops and onto the farmers...

Yeah, the heavy metals would be a problem. I don't think Moa Point has a problem with heavy metals.

Hey, while you're over there, try getting to see them dismantling the ships. There's something worth seeing.

It's been done - and amazingly done. Check out Workingman's Death, it was on at the festival last year.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478331/

Absolutely jaw-dropping.