India

I really don’t have much to say about India. It wasn’t my favorite port, yet it changed me more than any port thus far. I’m still reflecting on India and how it changed me. Maybe it’s the experience of riding in a rickshaw and glancing out at the poverty flying past you. The people suffering of polio and the people just down right dying on the side of the road. Could it be the seven year old child holding a malnourished new born baby asking for money?

From a cultural aspect I feel changed after visiting Varanasi, Sitting on a boat and slowly sailing down the Ganges River felt life changing to me. The stench of a burning body on the banks of the river, watching the ritual of Hindus washing themselves of the birth and rebirth cycle. This is a ritual that has gone unchanged for thousands of years. What is something that you can remember that has gone unchanged for that long?

I guess I really can’t put into words what I saw, felt and comprehended. I can’t tell you I saw many parts of India: Chennai, New Delhi, Varanasi and Agra. Yes I did the tourist thing by going to the Taj Mahal, but I fell that was just something to look at. I felt everything in Varanasi. I saw everything in New Delhi. I guess this is a place I will share my reflections once I’m home and I have absorbed all of this.