For some reason today was the first day that I got really depressed and angry while walking around the city. I wish I could post pictures because I don't think my descriptions are doing the poverty, dirtiness and insanity of this place justice. In particular, one image from today that is just haunting my mind is a family of people with deformed legs who were walking in and out of traffic desperately begging. Basically they had no leg below the knee, and their feet were twisted to the side, almost perpendicular to the knee, so they could not wear shoes and hobbled around on the hot pavement on the bottom of their legs. There were 4 of them, a father (I think) and his 3 children all with the same condition. I have never seen anything like it before. It was probably the most disturbing and heartbreaking thing I have ever witnessed.
I think I will either come out of my experience here with a strengthened belief in God, or a complete utter despair for the world. I don't know which one yet.
I think ROhit mentioned once how some parents will hobble their children somehow, especially their legs, to give them a chance to survive in the world of begging.
ReplyDelete