The coconut milk of human kindness

A bad pun on a truly Indian kind of day...

Went for my train ticket to chennai, queued for half an hour, got through to my reservation for tomorrow to be informed that I need to give a photocopy of my passport and visa...luckily there was a copy place opposite the reservation office...unluckily there was a power cut...returning I explained no power. I received a look of disdain, a wave in a general direction to my left and a resigned shrug of a statement, maybe one km. "Indian railways and their fughing beurocracy!" Came a voice from behind me. "I've just been there, it's closer to two km and you'll never find it. If you wait for me I'll give you a lift." Random act of incredible kindness part one. His name was Vikkarth and he leaves for Paris to do his MBA on the 20th. So a lift there and back to get my photocopy. There's joy even in railway ticket queues still then...

The second random act of generosity was given by the man in the photo. He saw me taking photo's of him and called me over, split another coconut and gave me the liquid to drink. And then a second. It was the middle of the day and the coconut water was utterly delightful. The paper he's holding in his mouth is a twenty rupee note.

And that to me is kind of what India is. It's a place of extremes, from the mind numbing, to the intricacies of moving around through constant honking traffic swirling around at your ankles; from the opulence to the poverty but also a place of great generosity and care underneath the frenzy...