Before the Mahaparinirvan Express arrived back to New Delhi, it stopped at Agra so that we could freshen up and have breakfast (in Clarks Shiraz Hotel) and visit the Taj Mahal. As I had been to there just a year ago, I decided my only purpose here was to be the photographer for my friend.

As the train headed back to where we started off in New Delhi, I started to reflect on what I had seen for the past 8 days as a first time Buddhist Pilgrim. Although it was a pity that we did not get to spend more time in Sarnath and Lumbini, the overall product was good. Full credit had to be given to the whole team which includes the train attendants who gave superb service. There were also various incidents/events that had left me with a deep impression of India. These were all based on my personal opinion and not intended to sow discord or whatsoever.

Although the various pilgrimage sites were generally well-maintained, somehow I felt that it was rather managed like places-of-interest (with the tourism factor thrown in) rather than a real pilgrimage site (e.g. Mecca?). And this mentality seems to be evident everywhere. I remember we were "chased" out when the Mahaparinirvana Temple (in Kushinagar) closed at sunset. The guard probably had a duty to get everyone out by a certain time, though I think if he treated the temple as a real location for worship, he would probably sound kinder that evening.

There was this other point about begging which bothers me greatly. I recalled a young guy whom I saw in Bodhgaya's Great Buddha Statue. He was crawling on the floor (probably got polio when he was young) pleading for money/food whenever visitors walked past. Seeing him in such a sorry state, I gave him a banana (which I got from the lunch buffet). When we moved on (via bus) to the Bhutanese Monastery, he was already there and I wondered on how he could get here faster than us when he could only crawl. I realised the answer was not rocket science; he had a modified tricycle (operated by hands) which he could probably put into better use if he does some small business rather than begging. The final nail on the head was that it was donated by some Japanese well-wishers who had left an email address behind the seat!

At Ramabhar Stupa (in Kushinagar), I saw this little girl who was trying to beg while we were all waiting on the bus. Seeing that no one was responding to her pleas, she was uncertain and looked at her brother (who was just seated a short distance away). Her brother just did a quick demonstration on how to hold her hands higher with the palms together (i.e. teaching her how to beg). For goodness sake, she was only 4 years old!

I probably could go on and on about this. Discussed with a fellow tourist (an Indian doctor based in USA) about the above and he exclaims, "Perhaps what they need is a dose of Buddhist Philosophy!"