70 litres of loot

Back home in Brooklyn, and what do I have to show for my sixteen days in India? Seventy liters worth of stuff! Well not quite, since there was the sleeping bag and clothing too. But my new 70l backpack was packed to the gills. I didn't have a chance to go to Cottage Industries for crafts, but otherwise I think I did alright. Better than these variously serious variously religiony books, the Chinese-made solar-powered dashboard prayer wheel and the acres of tea (ready for distribution!), is the Buddhist-looking statue of goddess of knowledge Saraswati, a gift from the bookstore in Gangtok, and what it stands for: new friends.