Art View

I really hated Bangalore when I first got here. There is so much traffic. The smog smells sickening. At night it just puts a haze over the whole city. Our first night we went to MG Road, which is the big place to hang out and shop. I think it is an awful place to be. It is crowded and dark. Everybody is trying to sell us stuff on the street. Tiny girls no older than 5 years were trying to sell me flowers. The beggars are much more aggressive there. We were in an autorickshaw stopped at a stoplight and a beggar girl started hanging on the auto. She was relentless until the traffic started moving again.

It is difficult for me to see the poverty in the streets, but I don't know what to do about it. Just in our drive to the train station in Chennai at five a.m. a few days ago I probably saw at least 2 dozen people sleeping on the side of the road, just feet away from the traffic.