What can I say about India? Really?

India is deceptively honest, or honestly deceptive- I'm not sure which one is a more accurate description.

Everything here is bold. People don't hide things.

Desperation is the best word I can think of, and I see it all over.

It's present in the sight of grown men squatting on train tracks to relieve themselves, it glares in your face as a young girl holds up her baby brother to your taxi cab window and begs for milk, it glances at you while a crowd of street children surrounds you, crushes you, chanting 'money, money, money.'

And the desperation becomes even uglier as the wealth disparity emerges too- you see it as you walk from an air conditioned train car filled with wealthy businessmen sipping chai on their leather seats , to the doorway between compartments, jam packed with large families crouched on the urine stained floor, or as you ride a taxi pass luxury malls and Audi dealerships on one side, muddy slums and leper colonies on the other.

But nowhere is desperation more present to me on a daily basis than in the voice of the shopkeepers. These people are anything but subtle. They flock, they pounce, they attack. And you've never heard voices so heavily laden with anguish . It's all there- in the rude "Come here you," the pleading "Please, please to come in," the slightly sinister "Yeees, you have look," even the funny "You enjoy spend money?,"- their words literally drip with sadness, hope, and despair.

Yesterday, as I attempted to navigate the swarms of people in the market, I walked past a simple store selling trinkets. The same bangles and mirrors and carvings as every store on that street, and the one before it. One shopkeeper stood outside.

"You come here," he demanded

I shook my head no and continued to walk on.

He looked back after me.

"No?" he questioned.

I half smiled and shook my head again.

He looked at me 'No." And he sighed . But I'll be waiting for you..."

I think I sighed too. Because it was as if all his hopes and dreams, everything he ever wanted or will want in life was just pinned on me, was throw on my shoulders.

But what can you do when you encounter that every day, hundreds of times?

AKA, what can you do when you're in India?