Congrats to the Brahmas for their first undefeated season that I can remember since I was a little pain in the ass kid playing snot football behind the field house instead of sitting in the stands like I was supposed to!

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If you are a random traveler reading this page and you are already in India, then be sure to go to Amritsar. The Sikh Golden Temple as well as the Sikhs themselves are absolutely amazing. The border ceremony with Pakistan is also worth the effort. Otherwise, you might want to skip this entry because it is not exactly inspirational.

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I caught the travel bug on New Year’s Eve 1999. Since then I have been fortunate enough to visit close to forty countries. In each country I have always “embraced the differences” in a manner that has allowed me to thoroughly enjoy each and every country that I have visited. All I can say is that if I were to leave India today my streak of enjoying every country that I have visited would end. I have never disliked a travel experience worse than India, and second place is not even close!!

Dirt and grime, striking differences between rich and poor, crazy driving habits, and different social patterns in dealing with a situation (interaction with locals) are all apart of traveler’s experience. If you have read a few of my journal entries, then you know that these are things that make traveling special to me. The historical sites, museums, temples, etc. are all great, but it is the interaction with the daily life of the local people that I enjoy the most.

Unfortunately the extremes in India as well as the interaction with the people have been too much for me to handle thus far. Yesterday, I hopped a flight from Northern India to Mumbai (Bombay) in hope that a change of scenery from the north to the south would do the trick; a fresh start if you will. While I have definitely noticed a difference, it is still not drastic enough for my tastes just yet, so I am off to the beaches of Goa tomorrow afternoon. I have never been to a beach environment that was not laid back and enjoyable. Let’s hope that another streak does not come to an endJ. Regardless, this still beats the hell out of working for a living!!

As you know, I am die hard Conservative with all of economic beliefs that go with the label, but if a country ever needed to improve its wealth redistribution and needed some type of social uprising by the people, then India would be a great place for it to happen. India has one of the hottest, most vibrant economies in the world. I can almost guarantee that the masses not only are not benefiting from this fortune, but also do not have a clue that India is doing so well. The amount of street people, homelessness, and outright poverty is drastic and everywhere. In my estimation, an everyday Cambodian is far better off than the everyday Indian. Here are a few examples:

· Due to the religious significance behind it, I have no issues with cows walking down the street, on the train platform, or through tourists as we stand in line for a temple/museum/etc. Free roaming cattle are not exactly potty trained, so I can only say watch your step. However, people in the middle of a city, in a country like India should not be free to take a whiz or a crap (almost) wherever they please. I long for the days of the disgusting “toilets” of China instead of seeing a dude squatting on the sidewalk.

· Unfortunately, it does not stop there. To get an idea of what is like to walk down way too many streets in India, you should borrow someone’s pickup truck, go down to the local dump, and fill the entire bed up with trash. After that take the trash and dump it onto your front lawn. Have it sit there all day long until the next morning when you sweep the trash into the middle of the road. Your neighbors of course are doing the same thing. All of the trash is now in the center of the road for some poverty stricken person to clean up. To their credit, most of the trash is cleaned up save for a few scraps, liquids, etc. This person then goes through the trash by hand to sift through it for plastic bottles. The trash is then taken around the corner and dumped next to the side of the road. Children and adults alike then sift through the trash for food clothing, etc. Some of the trash is then burned on the side of the road, and I assume that the rest is eventually taken away somewhere. This process is repeated each and every day. If I were to become a multi-billionaire, I would first supply the world with trash cans and directions on how to use them. I would then encourage each country to hire the government of Singapore as a consultant to teach them how Singapore was able to instill the social norms of no littering, no whizzing, no spitting, and no crapping in public. Having a cleaner city is good for the local person’s self esteem as well as health. A clean city is also good for businesses in the forms of increased tourism and local investment into a community/country. Long term it would be good for the government due to higher tax revenues, lower health costs, and increased productivity of its people due to improved esteem and health.

· Without characterizing an entire country, I will only say that the people that I have interacted with are in dire need of an ethics class as well as a “how to” book on the benefits of smiling and laughter.