India is many things. Depending on where you are, stunningly beautiful, dangerously dirty, or both. My first trip to Mumbai, when all I knew was the US and bits of Europe, was the first truly culturally significant and mind opening experience of my life.

Modernity had brought with it trash and pollution of an unprecedented degree, and poverty, culture, corruption, and overpopulation do nothing to improve the situation. Open sewers line city streets that wind directly through ancient relics because the city had been continuously occupied and built up and upon since that time.

I mention this mostly because of the cultural significance of India, and the danger it faces in losing those cultural artifacts if they are not given the respect and care they deserve. Much of the culture, while incredibly peaceful and inviting (witnessing festivals in the slums of Mumbai, paid for by people scraping together their pennies, caring more about their community than their personal situation was... I still don't have the right words for the emotional experience), knows nothing of preservation and conservation.

I don't know the answer to any of this is... It's just something I think about whenever I read about ancient India.