Namaste!

The homecoming is imminent :-)

Over the last couple of days we have been preparing ourselves for our return to the UK. Many of our actions have been accompanied with the lingering thought that it would be the last time that we would do them on this trip. Today we circumnambulated Connaught place, not as a devotional kora to consumerism but because we were looking for a few items to bring back with us. As we walked around we spoke about our familiarity with the area. We were accosted by the usual cries for baksheesh, touts asking us where we were going, rickshaw wallahs wanting to take us for a ride and invalids waving their deformities at us for some money. I wanted to tell them that it was my last 24 hours in Delhi - in India for that matter. I wanted to tell them that I loved their country, that I love the vibrancy, the flow of life, the ingenuity of the people, the way that many people fight for survival everyday. I wanted to say that I was impressed with many characteristics of Indian people and that I have a deep affection for them. And I want to say now... thank you India and thank you to all of the people that we have met who have helped us along our way. Perhaps I should have stood in the middle of the park in Connaught Place and bellowed it out :-)

It is amazing what people have to live with here...for example from the newspapers over the last 24 hours:

* Last year sixteen children died in Delhi due to open sewers or lack of manhole covers over drains.
* This year the death toll on Delhi roads due to the Blueline buses (they call them rogue buses!) is over 65 people - many more deaths are caused by bus companies operating illegally. The country has many rules and regulations but no infrastructure to enforce them.
* Approximately 50 villages have been evacuated involving the movement of 50,000 people in the Jodphur region due to the breach of a dam, supplies have been air dropped to them. The Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada river has had water flowing over the top - there has been a huge controversy surrounding this dam project since the very beginning - and 72 villages are being evacuated and many more people are struggling with the flooding in Gujarat.
* Monsoon rains have caused the deaths of over 250 people in recent weeks.
* Indian nationals are also at the centre of the recent terrorist plots in the UK. Media-focus on their nationality, rather than on the accused being extremists, is likely to increase racial tension in the UK and in India, Bangalore is trying to deflect the negative image it is gettting in the press.

For all of the economic boom in India there are people who are still starving and are leading a hand to mouth existence. As new luxury city complexes with futuristic design (there are many of them) are built upwards there are many people who are homeless or who live in squalor. When we rode back to Delhi a few days ago we saw many people sleeping in the central meridian of the highway as trucks, buses etc sped by. We have poor people at home in the UK but poor where we come from is not the same as poor here. Poor here means something entirely different. Poor here means no education, no health care, no housing, no toilets, no drinking water and no food. India has taught me how tough life can be. We are sheltered in the West - unless you have seen these things with your own eyes your imagination is likely to fall short of what real human suffering can be.

I will miss India. There is much beauty to talk about, too but really the sadder things have taught me the most. I have seen the strength that people are capable of besides the beauty in a rich culture and history. I hope that by sharing our experiences of this trip we have also introduced to you what we have learned from our travels.

So, I leave with a mixture of emotions. Some relief that we will be heading back to the comfort and safety of the West but also a little apprehensive of it's sterility. Still, my home is my home and the further I travel the more I appreciate it.

We will still write a few more posts when we return in order to share what it feels like to come back after such a long trip. We also have a few more trips planned very shortly and these will also get some coverage (including cycling the end to end in the UK). We are hoping to continue with twowheelswhirled in the future.

Until next time...

Thanks for reading... :-) :-) :-)