Up or Down?

So we are going to rewind a little bit here.

For the first few weeks of my stay in India I was in the city of Hyderabad. This city is home to approximate 10 MILLION people. So it's kind of big. And for the first time in my life I felt claustrophobic!

No one here really uses North, South, East or West, and for the longest time no one was able to tell me WHERE I WAS! I had no relation to the rest of the city or what lies beyond and all I can see is BUILDINGS!!!!

So I'm writing this on September 25th and I am still in the middle of this claustrophobic state. But I do no know where I am in the city and I am looking forward to the train ride to New Delhi when I will be able to look around me.

But Yesterday something happened to me that shifted some foundations in the core of my person. I met a girl who has never seen a foreigner before. The way she looked at me was the strangest thing! She didn't furrow her brow in confusion or make any sounds of exclamation. Her face was simply open. Wide to the idea of another world existing outside of her own where people with differently shaped faces, and light coloured hair walked around freely. Being the object of such innocent and unbridled fascination was intimidating. I didn't quite know what to do. The beauty of it is that she didn't want me to DO anything, she just wanted to look at me.

This girl has only ever lived in this community, and I realise now that she probably doesn't know her relation to the rest of the city either.