India is so much of so much. Beauty, history, poverty, suffering, pride, oppression, filth, richness, lovely flavors, smelly garbage...and it is all coming at you, through all senses, all the time. Any country has these things but the undesirable is often more hidden. In India, it is all in your face. No escape - ever.
We took the 5 am train to Delhi today and it gave me a chance to space out and look at the countryside. I saw wheat fields, towns, a variety of animals (my favorite was the camel), and I got more than my fill of seeing people having their morning poop in the grasses near the train tracks.
You'd think I might be getting used to things but I still was shocked when driving to the train station in the early morning hours - seeing how many people sleep along the street. LOTS. On the several occasions that we went to Bharawan Da Dhaba, I noticed a family always at a particular spot on the sidewalk - they were always there, sitting on a blanket. When we drove to the train station, I saw them sleeping there. With their little baby. On the street.
I had a plan for the intensity of the train station. Of course, having a plan here means that India will laugh at you one way or another. Anyways, my plan was regarding the "beggars". I had talked to people in Amritsar about what to do in those situations - and found out that often beggars work for some sort of "beggar pimp" who kind of takes care of them but mostly just gets all the money they acquire. Others use the money for drugs. Or some just don't want to have a job. I'm sure there are some who genuinely cannot work and actually get to use the money given to them - but it sounds like those situations are in the minority. At least that is what I hear. So my plan was to give biscuits. I had them all ready. Something they can eat and the beggar pimp won't get it and it can't be spent on drugs.
And then - surprise - instead of beggars surrounding us this time, there were cheating taxi drivers and luggage carriers. And they all wanted to argue about how much money to charge us (their quotes were 4 times the real rate) and insisted on taking us to a fake travel booking agent that we knew was going to try to scam us. Their scam is to say they are calling your hotel to arrange the taxi and they put you on the phone with the "hotel" who tells you they don't have your reservations. So they kindly offer to take you to another hotel where they get commission and charge you high rates again. So they get you on the taxi and the hotel and extra high charges on the bag carrying. But we knew about this and ended up having to argue a lot with them - these people were persistent and rude. Thanks to having a cell phone we could call our hotel for real and have them send someone honest.
Tomorrow, our last day in India, we plan to go out and do some sight seeing. Then we catch a plane to New Jersey. And then...home to our girl.
I feel like I have learned (and am learning) a lot from this trip. One thing that stands out to me powerfully is that I see that a lot of people live with A LOT less than we do. And in some cases, that is poverty and I wish for more for them. In other cases, they just lead a life that doesn't have all the ridiculous extras that we think we need. I am seeing many people who live comfortably and well - in a much more simple manner. The value in life comes in other ways - besides the material.
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