trying to sell me some cheap plastic toy for 100 rupees . I ’ d laughed as it became a game , the equivalent of two Australian dollars was just too expensive I ’ d told her . Her change of tact was to offer herself . I was stunned into silence as my eye met that of a slightly older girl walking by , she smiled the sweetest of smiles , knowing that this trap hadn ’ t been sprung , maybe not the next time , but certainly a future male from a foreign land .
“ It ’ s a very real problem ,” a local man explained a few days later . “ These kids are bred into a world of poverty and crime , forced to work for local cartels who profit from the misery .
“ They are often very good people , good children , who are forced to do whatever is required just to survive .”
I considered this as we walked the streets and back lanes of Karol Bagh . The mass of humanity was somehow comforting , Karol Bagh was a residential area that quickly morphed into a commercial region that caters to everything , and as we turned from one street-based market to another it occurred . Bam !
Motorcycles , everywhere . Every shop front , every laneway , everywhere . Motorcycles .
India has a rich motorcycle culture , they are everywhere . The family transport , the commercial delivery vehicle , even taxis , but this was something else . Karol Bagh has been described as the motorcycle Meccah and it was apparent why .
The brands associated with India , Royal Enfield , Hero , were of course overrepresented yet not exclusive in their displays . The Japanese were here , Honda , Yamaha , Suzuki , to be expected but it was the Europeans that surprised , KTM , BMW , and even a GASGAS . Oh , and amongst a collection of battered old Royal Enfield ’ s was a pristine Harley Davidson Sportster … and was that an Indian in India ?
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