Never been a big fast food person. Ok, with a bad hangover, a McDonald's egg mcmuffin is the only thing I want. And now... when I occassionaly duck into that iconic American food joint... it's a moment of pure heaven.

But it's never like home. Never seen a proper egg mcmuffin. SE Asia serves them on a hamburg bun. But at least in Thailand you're greeted by a praying & bowing Ronald. Egypt's got better visiuals with paintings of Ronald playing on the pyrimads to check out while over your kebab burger. And in India, where they don't eat beef (the sacred cow stuff)... it's only chicken & veggie burgers but the chicken maharaj burger's pretty good. Yeah, McDonalds for me is a little portal home... but guess if you're a McDonalds purist, it could still be a cultural experience.

Since most Indian roads are narrow, go thru little towns with children playing on the road, are filled with slow moving ox-carts, not to mention the wandering cows, goats & sheep, the fastest a vehicle can safely travel in India is about 25 miles/hr. While random beasts still wander the train tracks, they're much fewer in numbers making train transport the best way to go by far.

random cow & person on train tracks

And most trains are relatively nice. Your average 2nd class car is air conditioned with two bunks on each side, a miniature table & some even have a nice curtain for a little privacy. Unless you're a Westerner in which case everyone pulls open the curtain to stare at you & or even join your 4-person car until it swells to 8 people & you or your fellow person have to start yelling at the others to go away. And despite reports of stolen luggage, there's normally someone selling heavy-duty chains for your bags & daily reports in the paper of someone being drugged then mugged, I've felt relatively safe. Still lock & chain my bags & even lock up my shoes when I sleep. And buy all the food I need before hand so no one can slip a drug in it.

But not all the trains have the 2nd class cars. Some routes only have the bottom of the barrel seating. Yesterday rode on one horrific one that was mostly standing room only, I was lucky, had a hard wooden seat. But with everyone crowded around me standing up, had more than a few elbows to the head. And while most trains are usually on time. This cheapie train took 8hrs instead of 4!

Already written about how fast conservative Islam is spreading, especially in Egypt. And back home, conservative Christianity keeps getting stronger & stronger everyday. Not surprisingly, just found out that conservative Hinduism is taking over India.

Since democracy, India's had the conservative BJP political party that worked to make India a religious (Hindu) country. But now, socially conservative individuals & groups been pressuring the BJP & other right-wing parties to shut down any establishment that has dancing or alcohol & to even ban Valentine's Day. And now, a group dubbed the Hindu Taliban has started attacking women that enter any such place or even who are just wear Western style clothes.

India, like Egypt & a number of other countries, is on the verge of economic development. Many people, primarily in the big cities, have expensive cars, nice homes, care about sending their kids to the right schools & even are dedicated followers of fashion. (India actually has more millionaires than any country in the world.)

But far more people couldn't even dream of such things, their primary concern is where their next meal will come from. Yet, while rummaging through garbage, they still see the fashionable people wiz by in their expensive cars. And the women they attack, wouldn’t look twice at them.

The world around them is changing. They want that luxurious life, but can't. This makes them resent everything new & even worse, it makes them mad. Mad enough to attack those less powerful them them - women. Attack women unescorted in Cario, in a club in Bangalore, going to school in Kabul, without a headscarf on in Karachi or at an abortion clinic in Baton Rouge.