It’s what you know when you know it all that counts. John Wooden.

India is layers and layers… to even begin to learn about the country and its people you have to get out of the bubble. Get out of the air-conditioned car and walk or take an auto-rickshaw or ride on Delhi’s sparking new metro. Yes, Delhi has a metro that is the equal of many wealthy cities in the West and puts still others to shame.

One morning, as I was searching for a coffee shop in a local neighbourhood around the corner from my hotel, I was stopped by a little girl begging for money. You’ve all seen the pictures, the big eyes, the thin arms. She couldn’t have been any older that my granddaughter. I gave her some coins not knowing exactly how much they were. She took them. As we kept walking, she stayed with me, her hand still out stretched.

“Mister, Mister,” she implored. “Rice costs 20 rupees.”

That’s just a few cents. You can imagine how low I felt. I gave her some more.

As I was walking I spotted a coffee shop, Coffee Costa, a U.K. franchise, as I was to subsequently learn. It looked good so I went in. It was like walking into a Starbucks back home – with one big difference. When you place your order, you have to write it out on a piece of paper.

That’s because all the staff, with the exception of one or two supervisors, are all deaf and dumb. Hiring these people is a company policy – it is the way that this particular company gives back to the communities in which they have shops. Incidentally, the company requires that their managers be able to use the sign language as well.

Layers and layers…

Technology has made of us all global villagers, or so we like to think, but we can’t really know and understand each other until we get out of own little corner of the globe, see the greater world and meet one-on-one.

Maybe then there is a chance…