As I am eating my cold ice cream in a nice air conditioned restaurant while digesting my huge lunch, I can't help but wonder if the woman we left by the roadside was dead yet. I would bet money she was. Meghan and I hadn't talked about what we saw earlier but it is obvious from our lack of conversation that we are both trying to process it all.

Only an hour before lunch Meghan, our new friend Babu, and I were crammed on a motorcycle riding back from a leprosy village we had just visited. (That story to come later....) It was a very hot day and I was exhausted from the heat. Even the wind felt hot as we drove down the dusty road. My mild suffering was laughable compared to what we were about to see... a skeleton of a woman lying in the red dirt by the side of the scorching hot road with her head covered by her sari clothing. We all turned to look at her as we sped by. I noticed Babu turning his head often to look back and see if she is moving but she didn't move so we all decide that we should go back and see if she is ok.

The woman was lying by the hot road during the hottest part of the day with no protection while a shaded concrete bus stand was only 10 feet away. As we approached her I couldn't tell if she is dead or alive. Babu tried talking to her and after a few tries we saw her head raise up only an inch or two off the dirt and then lie back down. He tried again to "wake" her to see if she could move to the shaded bus stop but she only peered at us through her sari which still covered her head. We could clearly see her ribs, sagging skin, and sunken stomach.

Babu asked Meghan if she had water (which she always does) and uncovered the woman's face to help her drink it. She was old, and bony. Her hair was almost in dreads and she was missing most of her teeth. Her eyes were bloodshot and when Babu tipped the bottle to her lips she tried to hold it and drink but it appeared as though most of it was just spilling into the red dirt.

After a few minutes of silent thinking Babu said "Let's move her to the bus stand. At least it is shaded." First Babu tried to pick her up himself but quickly Meghan helped support the woman's head while I just watched without knowing what to do. They quickly moved her to the bus stand and laid her on the hard concrete slab. At least it was out of the direct sun.

"Is here anyone we can call to help her?" Meghan asked. "No. No one will help her." Babu states with regret. All the while cars, motorcycles and buses raced by and watched us but didn't stop to help.

After a long silent pause (which Babu took the opportunity to put his hand on her and pray) we decide to leave Meghan's water bottle next to her and just leave. It wasn't an easy decision to leave her to die alone and we were all trying think of possibly ways to help but here in India, this is the sad reality of many poor people's lives.

As we drove away, a flood of questions raced through my head. Why didn't anyone stop to help her? How did she get there? Where was she going? How did she get to this point of extreme poverty? What is going to happen to the body? How much longer does she have to live? Is she dying peacefully or in extreme pain? What else could we have done to help her?.....