Animals

It was another heavy-on-the-animals day today here. On our way into town we saw our first elephant, being ridden by two men, presumably on their way to a job site. We saw several monkeys, including this baby one:

Upon closer inspection we could see that the animal was seriously injured. It had bandages on its legs and arms and a major gash on its neck. So sad. I believe these people were caring for him, however, but I'm not sure how he got that way.

As we continued our walk we saw, as always, several street dogs, and then one in particular that was in such bad shape. She had, among other things, a huge gash on her cheek and seemed to be losing her hair and had something growing on or attached to her skin. The worst part was her eyes, which were full of fear. She seemed to be looking to anyone to help her. I can't even write about this without crying because it was just so awful. This is how India gets to you. It's like you have to detach and somehow accept that this is "just the way it is," even though there's something seriously wrong with some of the things that are the norm here. I'm sorry, but there are just some cultural differences that are unacceptable. Maybe that sounds arrogant, but there it is. It's just unacceptable to accept the suffering of other beings, in any form. And it's so frustrating because you feel helpless to do anything about it.