Journal - After all

We were not even there for three weeks, but the sounds and smells and colors of India are firmly imprinted on my consciousness. I can't wait to go back.

People keep asking me if I felt comfortable there. I never felt one bit uneasy. We were constantly made to feel at home. People offered us food, information, help, hospitality, usually without expecting anything in return. At the same time, there were tons of people trying very aggressively to make money off of tourists - we were savvy enough to say no, firmly, to people trying to sell us things we didn't need. No one tried to sell us false tickets, no one tried to take our things. We left our shoes outside every temple we visited and they were there waiting for us when we got back. Maybe we were just lucky.

But we didn't visit any of the really big cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta. Had we gone there I know we would have encountered more roughness, more poverty and more hunger. We did meet plenty of drivers who slept in their cars most nights, lots of people without shoes in the south, hotel workers sleeping on blankets on the lobby floors.

And the enormous contrast between rich and poor was really shoved in our faces, every single day. That is still hard for me to accept.

I know it sounds cheesy, but I want to do something to make a difference.