We met a young boy roaming aimlessly through the Temple. His father had died and he was seeking refuge in his place of worship. With discerning compassion, Feroza convinced the boy to be our guide. He took us around sharing his colorful explanations, and upon rewarding him Feroza lovingly encouraged him to get an education. That moment was priceless.

I originally met Suresh and Feroza, our close friends and travel companions, at the Alliance4Empowerment Summit in San Diego. During lunch at their warm residence in the fall I spoke with someone who works at the World Bank.

The World Bank has set the goal of reducing the number of people living in extreme poverty to less than 3% of the world population by 2030.

Even with all the touring of houses of worship and iconic tourist sites, the images burned into my psyche are the faces of hunger. There is an epidemic of outstretched arms with wrinkled palms silently screaming out for a morsel of food. There is the perpetual sight of pregnant women with vulnerable infants held tightly in one hand and the other hand pleading through a beckoning wave for sustenance.

Janice, Feroza and I were walking in the more “prosperous area” of Pondicherry and saw a grandmother on the sidewalk having fallen asleep with her ~2-year-old granddaughter sprawled out next to her. The girl’s skirt exposed her extremities as she slept defenseless against the elements and mosquitoes.

As tourists with the accessibility and rapidity of pocket cameras clicking incessantly from place to place it’s hard to recall every picture taken at the end of a trip. However, the un-taken picture of this moment has been recurring in my thoughts accompanied with a fervent prayer that human beings everywhere focus more on saving humanity than frivolous entertainment.

Almost a quarter of the population of India lives below the poverty level. According to my calculations that would be 87.7% of the United States!