In 2007 I had the great privilege of being able to travel to India. The entire journey came almost by accident, because we were lucky enough to catch air fares for half the price of the standard fare. During October we spent a lot of time planning where to go, what to do and how to take most out of the experience ahead. Beside a lot of planning, we had a bunch of vaccinations and boxes full of different medicine, "just in case", and a whole course of malaria medication to go through. However, no amount of planning could prepare me for what was ahead.

India is an incredible country in such many ways, it's nearly impossible to describe: you'd have to experience all the emotions yourself to really understand, and appreciate the experience. Before I went to India, I really had no clue on what the term "culture shock" stands for. All that poverty, fight for survival on daily basis for most of the people. The clean shops, the not clean streets, all the sounds and noises, smells and scents. It was a bombarding experience not just for the mind but for the soul as well.

I invite you to view the India that I experienced, through the lens of my camera, in the India 2007 photogallery.

Before we arrived to India, we contacted a NGO that organizes guided tours to the Dharavi slum, largest slum in all of asia.* They provided us with a local guide who took us from our hotel to the slum. With him we were shown a lot of places that an ordinary tourist never sees. In just one day we went from one end to the other seeing the whole spectrum of life in the Dharavi slum. From small shops recycling cardboard, to small plastic recycling shops where they melted recycled bottles and buckets, making pellets for industrial use out of ordinary plastic waste. We visited a local school within the Dharavi slum that was funded partially by this group providing those tours, thus making it a charitable tour that actually gives back to the people who it benefits from. I invite you to pay a visit at their site in www.realitytoursandtravel.com. If you are planning a trip to India, I highly recommend a visit to Dharavi slum with Reality tours and travel. If you're not going all the way, make a donation, that helps. And I personally guarantee that it goes to doing good in the best of ways.

The non-profit charity part of Reality tours and travels, called Reality Gives is a non-profit organization focused on educating children and young adults in India. You can assist them by donating used computers or laptops, books (in English language) and dictionaries and other useful things like that. Or if you really wish to give a helping hand, make a donation on their website.