beggers and sellers

India has made me: - bathe in my sweat - wake up at 5 every day - OCD about food and germs - realize delhi is smelly So culture shock was yesterday. And it wasn't the necessarily the fun experience I was hoping it to be. While Dr. Maher was making lunch reservations, Seth and I were waiting in the rig-shaw. A begger comes up to the cart and he has this box of ointment and hands it to Seth. He points to his arm covered in a blanket and is obviously asking for help and money. He shows us his arm underneath the blanket and the entire lower half of his arm is covered in a huge, bubbily, horrible infection. I just turned away when I saw this. With him being very persistant and sad, it was really hard for me to take this. After a while, he goes down to Seth's feet and puts his hands on them, showing that he was below him. The next time I looked over he was crying; my mind and heart were so torn. Along with this man, begger children were all around the group throughout the rest of the day. It was easy for me to brush them off and ignore them, which you have to do to an extent to most people here. Movies like Slumdog Millionaire have shown me examples of all the many scams that take place in India regarding beggars and the poor. But these are human beings, and they live a life I can't even imagine surviving in. It's hard to put into words the feelings that race through your mind once you walk the streets of Delhi. The opposite side of the spectrum is the markets. Sellers are coming up to you, and you HAVE to ignore some of them or you will be there all day. I've been to places like Mexico and Southern Europe were markets are popular like this, and all of those combined did not wear me out like the markets here. It's rough. And that was just Day 1. But now it's the end of Day 2, and life is good. I think I'm about to go buy an Indian skirt for 3 dollars. -Kristen VanDeusen