Scenes from a new city

While two of my friends were talking to each other, I noticed a monkey sitting in our doorway, chilling. None of us had noticed, but he really didn't look like he was up to any mischief, or anything much at all.  That's the third time a monkey has come inside in the last two weeks. Some people think they're pests, but I'd rather live in a neighborhood with monkeys than one without.

Three days ago I passed a dead man on the side of the road. That was the second dead body I've walked by this week. I'm pretty sure that this one was a homeless man who'd died after going to sleep on the road. The other one was a train accident victim. After less than half a year in this country, I've seen several times more bodies than I'd seen in my entire life to this point.  

We were only in our potential new neighborhood for about two minutes before a woman invited us inside. Her 16-year-old daughter made chai while her 17-year-old son told us he was studying design. Their hospitality was so sweet. The bottom floor of the small two-room-home was decorated like other Muslim homes...but when the son showed us his room on top, it had a giant stitching of Jesus's crucifixion on one wall and of Sai Baba on the other wall. He told us he had made them himself, and if we gave him a picture he'd make one of us too. We were profoundly confused.

As we walked through the crowded market in front of our new neighborhood today, there were people who stood out from the crowd. A man whose arm ended in stumps sat cross-legged on a rug. Two boys, each with only one leg, held a blanket between them as they called out mirroring chants. A small widow with her face entirely covered lifted up her hands without a word. A blind man made his way through the crowd as his son led him. A child called out to passersby from the ground while his brother lay unresponsive in front of him, a small circle of blood leaking through the bandages that encircled his head. I don't want them to have to live this way. The more you learn about their lives, the worse you feel. But what do you do about it???

On Thursday I took a walk alongside the river to spend some time in nature. I saw five different species of frog. I saw more human excrement than most sewer workers see in a year. I photographed a dozen species of butterfly. I watched kids who should have been in early elementary school collecting trash to recycle. I was invited to sit for cups of chai by two different groups of guys, was fed two samosas, and had more friendly chats than I can remember.

It's a beautiful place. And if it doesn't make you want to cry on a daily basis, then you know you're starting to get numb again.