July 1, 2007 - New Delhi, India

"Life is what happens when you're making other plans."
~ John Lennon

Here are some interesting facts about India:
- The difference in time between India and the West Coast is 11.5 hours. I have no idea why there is 1/2 an hour in there!
- There are four primary caste levels in India, however, within these four castes, there are over 1,000 other castes. The "untouchables" even have defining levels of importance.
- The population density of England is higher than India.
England (388.7 sq/km)
India (329 sq/km)

Today we visited Bangla Sehab Gurudwara, a Sikh Temple in the middle of New Delhi. When getting off the bus we were immediately surrounded by "untouchable" beggars. One woman was burned on the entire left side of her body and had only one eye. "Bride burnings" have been illegal in India for many years, but we wondered if her scaring was the result of this type of activity. There were also many women holding their very young children in their arms asking for help. One woman, who probably only knew the following words in English, kept saying, "You are so lucky, please help us. You are so lucky."

This woman's face and words have become etched in my mind.

There are three of us who study Buddhism, so we ended the day with prayer, meditation, and a small ceremony at a local Buddhist temple. An evening chant at a Hindi temple was our final activity for the evening.

The emotional drain and spiritual stimulation of the day was overwhelming. I went immediately home and slept for over twelve hours.