When you walk around in India, the poverty is staring at you in face. You see it all around. You can tell by the bony arms, the dirty clothes, the yellowing teeth. You can tell they've lived a hard life. You also see these beaten up self-made home/shelters, etc. But after a month in Nadiad, I hadn't seen a single person homeless and/or begging.
Yesterday I went to Ahmedabad, one of the bigger cities around here. The drive to it was wonderful - new national highway, green fields on both sides. You could tell me I was in Ireland and I'd believe it. The ten minute drive outside of Nadiad put me in a position to say that. The entire hour long ride was smooth, people were driving in lanes, there weren't cows or goats running across the road, etc. Until, of course, we entered Ahmedabad and then you barely have room to breathe (1 billion people living in this country, you are eventually going to see them and see them in masses).
Anyway, so Ahmedabad clearly looks like it's progressing to some kind of order (as opposed to the chaos everywhere in India) - it has established inner city bus system with special lanes for the buses, people wear seatbelts, etc. etc (still primitive but with a hopeful future). But this is also where I saw children sleeping on the street corners. Elderly women asking for some spare change for food.
I don't know if you read the post about my commitment to sparing change few months ago, but honestly I didn't know what to do last night. There are so many, that you'd be out of money in a few minutes if you gave some to everyone. It's not one here and there - you'll find a dozen in one spot. What would you do??
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