Mother India, Please Take A Bath

I'd like a moment to just be frank with you, India. You're dirty and you stink.

I remember people telling me all this before I left the US. One friend told me how he had to throw out his girlfriend's clothes after her return from India, because they couldn't get the smell out.

I heard the stories, but found it hard to imagine the smell. So, let me give a brief description for your nostrils.

The first thing to hit your nose as you step off the airplane might be a warm dusty staleness with a hint of various fossil fuels. As the taxi pulls away, the exhaust fumes of traffic will ripen on the palate with more heat, sweat, and perhaps something burning nearby. Driving past a creek or river (which is really more of a garbage swamp) you'll get your first taste of rotting funk. The pungent swampy pile will reek of urine and feces (both human and animal), and possibly a dead carcass, along with rotting food and trash.

And then the real pièce de résistance, the completion of the fine bouquet: Burning Plastic! Especially in the mornings and evenings when small rubbish fires light up on nearly every street corner to burn whatever will burn. And what burns easier than plastic?! However, you can rest assured that whatever plastic doesn't get burned might be swallowed by the cow who provided your fresh yogurt lassi.

By the time the small beggar child with runny nose walks up and sneezes on you or coughs on you, you may be ready to sew your mouth and nose closed and never take another breath.

This really only leaves the occasional scent of fresh spices steaming out of an Indian kitchen. This will either be a small blessing from the Divine, or a torture when the next waft of burning plastic hits your lungs.

I haven't stopped coughing since I arrived, so I'm now going for refuge in the holy dust mask.

Maybe this paints a more vivid picture to bring a little bit of India to you.

There are some people doing something about it. I met one dedicated woman from Sacred Earth Trust (sacredearthtrust.org) She is working hard to clean up Bodh Gaya. And, I've also been inspired by the story of Veer Bhadra Mishra who has made it his life's work to clean up the Ganges river.