A tale of two cities?

Being two cities away, it is a bit easier to talk about New Delhi and the contrast between what I've seen between there and Varanasi. One can prepare themselves for certain levels of poverty and unrest, but my first day out in Delhi was filled with encounters with people with missing limbs and open wounds and sores, not to mention others with fabricated stories designed to pilfer money right out from under you. It gets to the point where you're unsure who really needs help and who is just orchestrating a scam. Even with that said, Delhi would have been managable for me before the incident that Kristen already mentione in her blog happened - having a beggar come up to me with pen sores on an arm covered in a sheet, plead with me to help him (and offer no other response in English when I asked him what he wanted), and then to grab my ankle and touch my foot and his forehead (which Dr. Maher later explained was an act of submission and supplication)... well that was just too much for me. It's one thing to have a woman randomly ask you for rupees, but one cannot help but flinch when someone prostrates themselves in front of you as if they're a lesser being. That one event shook up my entire day, and pehaps I shouldn't have let it, but it is difficult to know how to react to that level of suffering.

Agra was a different story altogether. Agra didn't have the vibrant markets, sceeching horns or massive levels of poverty that Delhi did, but instead it had a bunch of piranha-like children trying to con you out of your money every second. they learn your name, where you're from, and they practicall stalk you. I think everyone in the group ended up buying something especially overpriced (except perhaps Karen due to her excessive bargaining skills) and most seem to be happy to be away. On the other side of things, the food in Agra was nothing short of fantastic, the restaurant owners were incredibly amiable, and the main attraction - the Taj Mahal - was nothing short of fantastic. Pictures cannot due that monument justice. Arabic is scrawled along almost every archway in tribute to the Quran, and there is such perfect symmetry shown in all the different areas and pieces. I couldn't help but be in awe of the entire thing.

We arrived in Varanasi after a 12 hour train ride, and we'll begin exploring tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how this town compares to the previous two.