Hospitality in India, traffic, this and that

To my friends in the U.S.,

there is an amazing level of hospitality and care here in India, especially in the small towns. In the larger city, you are likely to be scammed or targeted by those who want tourist dollars. In Usgaon, in Ajmer, in Bhagsu, we have encountered an unusual and unrecognizable to our U.S. experience, a kind of caring from various service workers as well as other professionals. The people cleaning the hotel rooms, fixing your food, often carry a devotion to their task. People go out of their way to be of assistance asking for nothing in return.
In the small village of Usgaon, I tried to tip the service person in the guest house who was responsible for taking care of the room. He wouldn't take the tip. Later I found out he had turned down all tips from past Westerners who had stayed at the school in Usgaon where we did our volunteer stint teaching music.
In the city of Ajmer, which is fairly large, not a small town, the family run inn took great care in fixing meals for us, in helping us to mail a parcel back to the U.S. and in advising us after our train was cancelled (because protestors were lying on the tracks) as to what to do.
The "guest" is up there with mother and father in terms of honoring your fellow human beings in the culture of India.
McLoed Ganj, where the Dalai Lama lives, we found this quality I am speaking of, this hospitality, to be lacking, and instead encountered a ennui, a sort of boredom in the people around us. Slightly above Mcloed, in Bhagsu, the hospitality seems to have returned and is evident again. Right now we are in Bhagsu, and may or may not travel further from here before our departure from India on April 4th. It is strange and beautiful to encounter the people here bring of service in fairly "low" position with joy and devotion in their hearts. This is so different from the U.S.
--David