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Conclusion

Conclusion

At the hospital, trying to find answers, Bryan happens to mention that he was in the military and was a medic. This seems to get people moving, looking for answers. Soon an embarrassed doctor admits, "these things don't usually happen here." Things move so much that at three in the morning Bryan gets a phone call letting him know they found the guy's scooter.

The following day he gets another call, this one announcing that they found the deceased man's belongings and have even contacted his family. So at least one family won't wonder what happened to their loved one.

Realizing Bryan understands medical language the doctor explained that along with the broken limbs, the accident victim's instestines were shredded and his spleen ruptured. By the time he arrived at the hospital too much blood was lost. They did surgery on him anyhow and put him in the ICU where he died overnight.

"I'm glad he's gone," Bryan admits calmly. "I'm glad he doesn't have to suffer any more." He has a point, with those broken bones the poor man might never have been able to work again; becoming yet another beggar with his hand out. India can be cruel and doesn't have a social net beyond your own family and your own community.

Today we leave this city behind, hopefully leaving its beggars and extreme poverty as well. It will be nice to get into the country side, to a place governed (for the most part) by the exiled Tibetan community. I am heading straight there on the night bus, but Bryan, always curious about religions and holy places, is taking the long way, stopping off at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. This is the holy of all holy spots for Sikhs. It is also a place full of intense history and much blood shed. I wonder if this makes the place more or less peaceful? More or less holy?

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