Is this fair?

We went around shopping in this street market in India

while this man dragged his disabled body and begged for some change
with what's left of his body.

Is this fair?



I came back from India with mixed emotions. My India trip was more academic and business oriented. India has received tremendous attention from all around the globe as one of the star emerging markets. But the India I had imagined in the classrooms of Georgetown and the India I had sketched out based on the newspaper articles and other reading materials was nothing more than a proof of my ignorance.

I've seen beggers before, those with no legs or arms, dragging their bodies through the crowd of people who seemed so busy to get to their destinations and paid no attention to these people for whom even $1 would mean the world. But living in the US and Korea, and traveling around the European countries, I've never encountered beggers with exposed amputated legs or arms. They were always hidden, as if they were the reasons for "normal" people's disdain... for this man, and for others who came up to us in similar shapes, their amputated legs were the reasons why they had to be out on the street and the sources of their income simultaneously. To some people these amputated legs are what makes them "inferior," what an ignorance.

What makes us better than this man whose soul has escaped from his eyes?

the girls picking the lice out of their mom's hair in front of a luxurious shopping center?

boys knocking on our car window with what seemed to be fake blood running down his face?

To me, nothing. If anything, we owe them.

India - Arrival

Sitting in my hotel room, listening to some Indian music blasting outside, I'm reflecting on my first day in India... (oh, all the light in my room and the AC suddenly turned off. I thought it was the hotel card that was malfunctioning but I realized my computer wasn't charging either and the wifi suddenly stopped working... apparently the whole power went out for a minute? Yes, talk about the process of urbanization).

Being in India is a surreal experience for me...
If I were traveling in India and following the footsteps of countless visitors who came to India to see, hear, and taste the India today, my experience wouldn't have been anything more than that of a typical tourist.
But I am here to sketch out my future in this rapidly developing country. This is my first time in India, so I guess I'm in the brainstorming stage.

After a layover in HK, finally arrived in Delhi, India!!

Our OT/program coordinator, Kapil,
who came with the other TAs to pick me up

Delhi Airport

There are so many different kinds of taxis in India
But here is a row of taxis outside the airport.

But we got this one.
Looks quite different huh

Yeap, that's right.
Our private taxi vans for the week say "Tourist" on the front lol
Look at all those suitcases on the top to prove it haha

There plane had some technical issue in Korea so they had to wait around for more than an hour

Abhi, Kapil, and Mr. Ryan 

Abhi and Anjeela

Pretty Anjeela

No Nokia in the US
Yes Nokia in India
A huge billboard advertisement

Indian night sky

Ah, still not used to the driver on the right side

I passed out as soon as I arrived at the hotel.
India.... I am here!