Blue Sikh

By now you must be "Sikh" of reading about my trip to Amritsar. Har har...

But seriously, I felt a lot of sincere generosity there. Usually when strangers approach me in India they want to sell me something or ask for food/money/photo, but in Amritsar folks said 'hello' solely for the sake of friendly conversation (mind, this is not to say there aren't plenty of sincere & generous folks elsewhere in India). And all that tasty food at the Golden Temple, just given away for free! I didn't even have to wash my own dish!

Speaking of generosity, I would have left India some time ago if not for the hospitality of the folks from the Charan slum (I hate calling it a "slum." What an awful word - "slum" sounds like something that gets gummed up in a drainpipe. The term accurately describes the difficult living conditions, but does no justice to the quality of the inhabitants). Times have been a bit rough as of late (more on that later), but it's those cheeky kids and their surprisingly cheerful families that keep me around.