religion - not a safe dinner topic.

after Fatipur Sikri I wento Bharatpur, where there is a beautiful bird sanctuary. a native took me around and we spend the days half visiting temples and mosques, and some of the time visiting his friends and family (really enjoyed the family visit. finally met the ladies of india. they are all in the homes!)

anyhow, over dinner, we met a Brit (Theo), Frenchwoman, and Napalese. The conversation turned to religion (bad idea). Theo made the audacious statement that Islam should be obliterated since the Mulsims cause all the trouble. My friend happened to be Muslim so this struck a strident chord. After dinner, Mugeesh was somewhat upset that ignorance can lead to such misunderstanding.

The next day, we met up at his friends store where a local woman came in and chatted. Turns out she's Muslim. When she found out that I was American, she said, "i'll go to America as Bin Landen's sister and blow all the Americans up".

needless to say, it was my turn to be upset and shocked. Mugeesh tried his best to explain why i was upset and talk to the woman. not sure how much got relayed successfully, but we tried.

anyhow, i think that was the shock of my indian experience. hope that's all there will be.

BTW, felling all better. yeah!