India



The best Chai I have ever had!

India is so alive - the colors, the smiles, the laughter. The genuineness and depth of the people is so inspiring. The food is incredible, and if I eat another bowl of Chicken Makhani I will burst with pure happiness.  Elizabeth Gilbert could have skipped Italy and Indonesia, and done the whole lot of "Eat, Pray, Love" right here in India. 



Although there is so much joy and love here, there is also a great deal of poverty. The children of ART are so wanted, so you know they will be cherished, loved, adored, and probably a little spoiled…but I wish all children had that starting out. The unfortunate truth is they don’t, and that has never been more exemplified to me personally than in the eyes of these children of the street. Rahul our driver / generous teacher of Indian culture has explained that I should stop giving them money. Apparently, there is a mafia type system amongst the street kids; they have bosses who take their money, and any that is left over goes mostly to drugs. I know I have been told if you really want to help them, you should donate to a charity that attempts to get these kids in school. But when a 6 year old grabs on to your taxi as you are driving off full speed or taps on your window with eyes that say I haven’t eaten in a really long time, how do you not?  Delhi traffic is insane - I know another blog referred to it as Cairo on steroids. Since my husband has never been to Delhi, I hope he can appreciate that considering how fearful we were to even cross the street while in Cairo.  And these poor little kids seem so vulnerable out in the middle of the cars, motorcycles, and tuk-tuks.

 

The sights are amazing, but I don’t want to spoil that for you. For me to describe the architecture of the Taj Mahal or the peace that comes with visiting the temples would be to truly do it an injustice.

 

 

 

 

 

India will always hold a special and very prominent place in my heart.  It is with much love that I say farewell.