Well... India challenges me emotionally this time... It questions my vision of people, value of life, destiny or karma, whatever one may believe in...
Is it 'cause I'm more sensitive to it? Is it the North India?
To
be fair to India, Varanasi is a unique and challenging place. Because
of its importance for Hindu and so many pilgrims, there are also a lot
of beggars: crippled people without hands or feet, old widows who have
no place anywhere, mentally ill who pretend to be sadhus, sadhus (wise
men who renounced everything) themselves, children with their entangled
hair and too big clothes... I have their hands sticking toward me all
day long. Will a rupee or two make a difference? I can't feed them
all... There is sooo many of them.This feels like an intrusion. The impression extends to people on the street shouting at me constantly "hello, hello", asking hundreds of times where you are from, do you want a boat/ postcards/ offering flowers, come to my shop, etc. They don't take "no" for an answer...
The violence. Starting from
invasive penetrating your ear honking, through people pushing without
consideration for others, through parents slapping their children on the
head when they wiggle, to finally a man beating a deaf and mute woman
in my guest house (his wife? It doesn't matter the relationship) and a
policemen hitting with a fist my rickshaw driver 'cause we couldn't
agree on a price....A Hindi man, when I told him about the 2 last events, responded: "M'am, doesn't it happen in your country as well?" Yes, I know it does. But it is not considered normal or acceptable...
I feel like prince Siddhartha (pre-Buddha) when he finally left the palace and was confronted with the misery of this world. He saw natural coarse of life: illness, ageing, death. I'm seeing what people do to people... It's shocking...
street dentist... what a horror!
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