The shock factor

I wasn't quite sure how I would be affected by India. I've been to some poor countries before, Vietnam, China....India is different though. Amritsar is so dirty. The trees and plans are covered in dirt and dust and litter lines the streets. On a drive to another town the scenery doesn't change much. Houses made of plastic sheeting and children playing in the same rubbish heaps the men urinate in. I keep thinking to myself - how can the beautiful world of bejewelled saris exist alongside a place where children on the side of a muddy road inspect rubbish looking for food, their faces covered in dirt?!?

We visit some friends of the family living in an opulent house in an enclave of mansions. As we return to the car a group of lepers approach us pointing to their sores and asking for money. My reaction wasn't as strong as I thought it might, or should have been. I feel like I have already become desensitised to the poverty because there is just so much around. Inside the car is a comfortable clean bubble from which I do not want to leave.....