Welcome to Strange Tros from KCW and Radiotopia. I'm Leah Tao. And if you listen to this show regularly,

perhaps you know that about five and a half years ago, I had a romantic setback, as you might call it,

although that's kind of an understatement.

Basically, everything had gone wrong in my life right then,

and I found myself with an infant child and a failed relationship,

and I was full of hurt and fear and defeat,

and I decided to run away with my baby to India.

We went to a small town in the foothills of the Himalayas, known to most westerners as Darn Sala, but the locals call it McLeod Gunge. The Dalai Lama lives there,

and I was to be there for two and a half months with my baby to work on a theater project

for the Tibetan exile community. But that's a different story.

Today's story is about two people I met there, who restored my faith in love and in other

people and gave me the idea for a show called strangers.

These two people were not saints or Samaritans.

They had no intention of saving the world or certainly of saving me.

They were just a young couple with a toddler son who ran a small guest house at the bend in the road where the town begins.

Before I left, everyone had warnings for me about the craziness of India, and my family was

quite alarmed that I was taking my nine-month-old baby there by myself.

But the Dalai Lama lives there, I said, as if that would end all objections.

And I pictured a serene mountain town with fresh air and gorgeous views and chanting monks to heal my heartache.

And when I got there, the views were truly beautiful.

And the monks were chanting in their crimson robes all over the place.

But there was also a gutter full of shit flowing through town next to the vegetable stands and sacred cows

...