“Varanasi is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.” –Mark Twain When my plane landed back in Fuzhou two days ago, I was stricken with a few things. First, Fuzhou really pulls no punches during the winter, because damn, it was cold compared to the balmy Indian subcontinent. Second, wow, China is a very sober, very organized society, chugging along nicely towards modernity. India, by contrast, is still much encumbered by its poverty and its backwardness, though sometimes you have to wonder if it really cares. For the feeling India gives you is not of a country who is in a desperate race to catch up with the world and is dying to liberate itself of the shameful fetters of poverty
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