Travelling in India is always a fascinating, eye-opening experience.

The noisy activities of an affluent, modern society which lives in harmony with traditional India in a symbiosis that baffles logic, is overwhelming.

The magnificent bungalows, cars and roads with five-star hotels are in stark contrast to the humble huts next door.

One gets confused by attitudes of corruption, complacency and greed on the one hand and a contagious enthusiasm, expertise and drive for progress on the other.

While genuine friendliness, hospitality, humility and spirituality make up the framework of social life, one also needs to take care while shopping in the congested market places and old shopping malls, at railway stations and outside airports.

In an economy where there is a shortage of resources or lack of will for the development and maintenance of facilities for people to enjoy a stress-free living, how can we address the cancers that plague society?

Returning to Brighton, you switch on the television and are bombarded with pictures of jubilant heroes of war and the suffering of poor people.

The rest of us will try to help those poor people over Christmas while our leaders sort out their political and economic differences.

Within the framework of our affluent society, one only needs to have the will to see the hidden poverty behind the facade of clean streets and houses, numerous cars and well-dressed people.

Take a glimpse into the lives of hundreds of people struggling to survive in a society which demands ever-higher standards of living, with children demanding designer clothes while parents find it hard to make ends meet.

What shall we do about those in our community who live in fear and have to provide a mobile phone for their 13-yearolds who, in turn, use them to chat to pals because that is what the marketing and advertising people tell them.

Magazines on healthy living don't attract the same level of attention as those featuring flashy cars, cosmetics, designer clothes, fast foods, liquor and sex.

Shelves in shops and programmes on the internet are soaked with pornography.

Yet we in the affluent West take pride in a society which has achieved enormous material progress, is civilised, courteous, trustworthy and can boast a sharp, scientific intellect.

But what about the young woman who sacrifices her marriage and holidays to please her demanding employers for fear of losing her job?

Or the man who hardly sees his young family and has to take Viagra because of stress?

There is no cure for physical cancer but can we prevent it by addressing social cancers of a different kind for a healthy future?