Leaving India

Mixed feelings leaving India. I think this somewhat infuriating country has grown on me. I no longer wince when the auto-rickshaw we're travelling on swerves in front of a bus spewing out diesel fumes. I even push my way through crowds and get told off for jumping a queue.

The one thing that has affected me more than anything has been the everyday contradictions this country poses. A chauffeur driven Lexus glides past a woman loading bricks onto her head at a construction site. Her baby playing in the dirt at her feet. Armed guards man the gate of the house of 'someone important' whilst children play amongst piles of rancid rubbish next to the pigs.

The excesses of the wedding palaces seemed shameful to me. The mountains of food grotesque in the waste produced. Transient workers play drums and dance for guests hopeful that some of the wealth flows their way.

In the cities and towns, rickshaw owners sleep under tattered blankets next to their ride and livelihood, as mangy dogs bed down beside them for the night's rest. Meanwhile cashed up teenagers crowd into shopping malls to experience what the economy boom has to offer them. So many Indias....