Dusk

So this thought came to me as I was emailing Jenrose. I was busy talking about how great it is to have brunch at the "American" place owned by the ex Peace Corps volunteer because a family of kitties lives in the enclosed garden. They're so cute! And in the next sentence I mentioned that I got a little irritated the other evening when we were leaving the tourist part of town at dusk (plus there weren't any lights anywhere due to the power cuts) and I almost tripped over a leper. I mean it; he was really blocking the sidewalk and was hard to see. And so, obviously, one has to seek a better balance between fawning over kittens and getting irritated at guys missing hands who are reduced to begging in high-traffic locations. I do always try to have some money for the lepers and then struggle with feeling guilty over how hard I try not to even risk touching them. As if the guy is having an internal dialogue: "oh my god! did that woman just drop that 20 rupee note in my cup just so that she didn't have to touch my bandages? that bitch! next time i'm going to be sure to lay across the sidewalk in this shadowy area at dusk." And what's up with lepers, anyway? Hmmm, so other than that....one sees the craziest things on the street here. A guy drove by me on his motorcycle with no less, and I really mean no less, than 30 dead chickens hanging from the handlebars and rack on the back. You couldn't make this stuff up. This morning I walked to work early and all of the farmers were coming into town from the countryside with their bicycles so loaded with produce that they had to just push the bikes. They just set up shop alongside the road each and every day and hope to make a living selling the exact same cauliflowers as thousands of other farmers. Amazing. I'm becoming more and more awestruck at the thought of what anyone does during the monsoon. It's a jumble alright. xoc