The complex of temples at Bodhgaya are very beautiful and uplifting. There is a deep spiritual atmosphere. So countless numbers of pilgrims have come over the centuries. This creates a special atmosphere. However, this is juxtapositioned with deep poverty, ugliness and crime.
There are lots of beggars around this Holy Site. But less than there used to be. I've been coming for 17 years now. The Police are cracking down. It is hard to know what to do as a Westerner. Sometimes I give, but mostly I don't, as I know they usually work for a Beggarmaster.
Rats are a frequent sight anywhere in India, and rather large ones are often around the temple. Pickpockets, scammers and thieves are everywhere, so you have to be on your guard. Cows wander everywhere here, as they do all over India.
Some people use their children as a source of income. Yesterday, I watched two parents parading their daughter who must have been around six (same age as my oldest granddaughter). She was tightrope walking on the side of a busy street about six feet off the ground. She had to do this all day.
Yesterday was a good first day. However I did fall asleep in the hotel for two and a half hours in the afternoon. I intended just a short nap. Now I am in a stable place and routine, I am assimilating the intensity of the last three weeks of our tour: the constant travel, all the people, the strange places, the drama and joy of it all.
I am eating Western-type food now. It is a relief after everything being Vindaloo level for the past few weeks.
I'm pleased to see the switch to electric rickshaws happening in India. Though AB and I are not using them. We are walking everywhere for exercise.
This morning, we got up at 5.30am as usual for meditation and yoga. We heard incredible chanting and mass shouting outside. We were concerned it was a riot. But it was Hindu Nationalists protesting against India's Democratic constitution. They would like a Hindu-led dictatorship.
This was prompted by today being Republic Day all over India.
Exactly 75 years ago today, the great Buddhist Dr Ambedkar's newly-written Indian Constitution came into effect. He was the Chief Architect of this new constitution, which was to form India's governing code, three years after Independance.
Today is a national holiday.
Typical Bodhgaya electric rickshaw
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