January/February 2008 issue
International Association of Law Libraries: Mumbai, India
by Ann Fessenden
I represented the American Association of Law
Libraries at this year's meeting of the
International Association of Law Libraries in
Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India. This was an
extremely fascinating journey on many levels.
It provided opportunities to learn about the legal
system and culture of India and the lives of the
people, to see historic religious and governmental
sites, and to meet law librarian colleagues from
throughout the world. Since the group was
relatively small (about 85 delegates), there was
ample opportunity to become acquainted or
better acquainted with both international and
American colleagues. (Americans made up about
one-third of the attendees.)
My husband accompanied me on the trip, which
began on Wednesday, November 28. After a
quick hop from St. Louis to Chicago, we
embarked on an American Airlines flight of
approximately 15 hours (direct) from Chicago to
Delhi. India is 11.5 hours later that U.S. Central
Standard time, so we departed Wednesday
evening and arrived (with some delay) after
10:00 p.m Thursday! We spent the night in
Delhi, then took a domestic flight the next
morning from Delhi to Mumbai. That 2-hour
flight was very nice, and included a full meal
service with china and linen (even though we
were not in first class!)
The Conference didn't start until Saturday
evening, so we had some time to rest, to begin
adjusting to our environment, and to do a little
sight-seeing. We were overwhelmed by the
traffic, in which a myriad assortment of small
cars and motorcycles jostled for position, getting
within inches of each other and honking their
horns constantly! This proved to be typical of
Indian traffic, and one of our drivers later
explained that they drive by "instinct, not by
rules!"
Forms of dress were very different for women.
Most wore either colorful saris or equally
colorful long tunics over matching pants. Both
forms of dress included long, flowing scarves.
For the most part men wore western dress. One
thing that didn't require much adjustment was
language. Although the official language is
Hindi, English is very widely used in both
speech and writing, though we did have to listen
very carefully in order to understand English
spoken with an Indian accent.
Saturday afternoon we visited the Shivaji
Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly Prince
of Wales) Museum, a Victorian building which
featured historic Indian art, especially from
western India.
The opening conference event on Saturday
included a colorful presentation of traditional
Indian dances, plus a modern "Bollywood"
number. Over the next three days, there were
presentations by Indian judges, law professors,
and practitioners on a wide range of topics,
including constitutional and administrative law,
human rights, women's rights, legal education, legal literature, and many others. India has a
common law system, but with unique aspects
based on traditional Indian values.
One particularly fascinating aspect of Indian law
was the use of "Directive Principles of State
Policy." These are principles that are recognized
as being unenforceable, but yet are guaranteed by
the Indian Constitution as fundamental rights,
and are used as the basis for governance
decisions. The cornerstone is Article 21 which
states: "No person shall be deprived of his life or
personal liberty except according to procedure
established by law."
It was explained that the concept of "life" in
Article 21 has been expanded to include
everything which makes life desirable, including
economic, social, and cultural rights. Among
these are the rights to shelter, dignity, gender
justice, health and medical aid, education, and
the right to earn a livelihood.
Despite the Indian government's legal
commitment to human rights, extreme poverty,
homelessness, and unhealthy conditions continue
to be widespread. Beggars and peddlers, many of
them children, are commonplace, and often bang
on car windows when cars are stopped in traffic.
In the cities makeshift shelters occupy any
available space, and in the older sections of cities
and in villages animals run loose and trash is
everywhere.
Another extremely interesting aspect of Indian
law was the power and functioning of the
judiciary. Although their court structure sounds
very similar to ours, with a Supreme Court and
"High" Courts in each state (though there are not
separate federal and state systems), the courts are
not limited in the same way by separation of
powers or standing.
Courts are free to launch their own
investigations or fashion remedies whenever
injustices are brought to their attention or they
find that rights are being violated. Also, juries
are not used; cases are decided by the judges.
However, some matters such as domestic
disputes and wills are covered by "personal
laws" based on various religious codes.
There were also several library tours, including
one public and two special research libraries.
They felt like a trip back in time. Although the
libraries did have some computers, there were
card catalogs (one of them with handwritten
paper cards). The libraries were dark, dreary and
un-air-conditioned. (And December highs in
Mumbai were about 90, which is cooler than the
summer.) But the public library was packed
with people and the research libraries had such
treasures as a 14th century manuscript written
on palm leaf.
The last day featured an
excursion by boat to
Elephanta Island, where
we visited a cave temple
devoted to the Hindu God
Shiva the Destroyer. The
temple carvings date from
the 4th to 9th centuries
and the caves are now a
UNESCO World Heritage
Site. On the island we
also saw wild monkeys and freely wandering
cattle. (At another site we saw wild parrots as
well.)
The travel company that handled arrangements
for the conference also offered several optional
excursions, and my husband and I had booked
the "Golden Triangle" tour which features many
historic sites in Jaipur, Agra, and Delhi. We
flew from Mumbai to Jaipur to begin our tour, and then had our own driver for the trips from
Jaipur to Agra and Agra to Delhi, and our own
guide in each location. We saw incredibly
beautiful and ornate historic forts, palaces, and
tombs, including the Taj Mahal.
The road trip also provided a glimpse of rural
Indian life, which appeared to have changed little
in thousands of years. We saw women doing
manual labor in the fields, drawing water from
wells, and carrying huge burdens on their heads.
In the villages, we saw people living in tiny
structures that clearly had nothing even remotely
related to modern conveniences, and crowded
marketplaces with wandering animals and a
myriad of people, products, and vehicles that
overwhelmed the senses!
On the roads we saw every possible type of
conveyance -- camel-drawn carts, motor-driven
vehicles of every size, shape and age, bicycle
rickshaws, and loaded carts pushed and pulled by
people. We also saw animals wandering on their
own or herded by their owners -- cows, water
buffaloes, goats, pigs, sheep, elephants.
Our guides were not only very helpful in
explaining the sites, but they were also eager to
help us understand Indian culture and religion.
We learned much about the dominant religion,
Hinduism (80%), about the caste system (which
still exists culturally, though not legally), about
how most marriages are still arranged, and about
how the divorce rate is low and extended families
live together. We found India to be a land of
contrasts -- from incredible beauty and wealth, to
abject poverty and filth. It was an amazing
experience!
We had some significant delays on the return trip
(including an unscheduled refueling stop in
Boston), so the return flight lasted about 20 hours
rather than the scheduled 16. We arrived home
at last on the afternoon of Tuesday, December
11, very tired and very appreciative of life in the
United States, but also very grateful for having
had the opportunity to visit India!