Blog, blog, blog...

The goat of India...

haha! so yeah village life is great, you wander not only with your fellow human beings, but with anything that has legs and can move - even the beloved goats! haha! it is interesting, in certain areas of Ujjain you will find only goats - this is mainly in the area where people eat goats - there is not much more reason to raise goats that to eat them...right - well at least maybe to drink their milk as well - mmm...goats milk - that sounds like a tasty treat! haha! if india had the market for it, they could export goats cheese, which is quite a tastee treat! haha!

so today i forgot my camera - i was bummed, i went out to a village and was left out there with no direct way back - but more of the "go to the street, a tempo will come, get on the tempo and say Nakow, from there get into another tempo and say Tower, then from there, get into another tempo and say Mahashweta Nagar - have a good one and good luck!" haha! then, as i walked onto the road, two little boys were sent to make sure that i got onto the correct tempo - they hung out with me, said they would flag down a bus or a tempo for me - then they did, and the tempo guy said i was too big and kicked me out! then i saw all the busses, packed with people - i wasn't about to try to stuff myself amongst all of them - so i walked - it was a nice 30 min walk, where i was kicking myself for not bringing my camera. so no pics today - i was upset - but it all worked out well, i walked to Nakow, got into a tempo and said "Tower" - and they said sure...30 min. later i was at the clock tower in the middle of the town - having had my fill of take this tempo here and there, i decided to call my fam to pick me up. while i waited, i found the local ice cream parlor and had two scoops of ice cream - black currant and choco fudge - surprisingly good and quite refreshing! haha! it was nice - then Arjunbhai (the house help) came on the scooter to pick me up - it was nice! then he scooted me all the way home! haha! it was fun - a surprisingly unproductive day, in the sense of looking at self-help groups, but quite productive in the wandering of Ujjain...

it was nice to wander again. it made me feel like back in nepal when i would just take village walks. along the way, i saw households upon househols making insents, i saw people of all sorts doing different projects. little kids running around, free of any worries that most people have. homes were simple, often made of cows dung. they had simple roofs, not much more than tin on top help down my bricks and rocks. cows, goats, and kids all played in harmony. dogs ran about - scratching themselves due to all the fleas. little kids were carrying their baby brothers and sisters - already taking car eof them, they were maybe no older than 4 years old themselves. i saw the old art of welding - where the wife of the welder was sitting using an old school hand pwoered blower to make the fire hot enough so they could shape the iron. i saw people living their lives with no electricity, but through the light of the day. people all looked at me and stared, then moved about their business. yest i stuck out - but only a little. well maybe a lot, but still...

today was a good day - tomorrow is going to be a long day - i leave at 3:30 AM - the good thing is that i am in an AC coach - which means it will be a comfortable 16 hours train ride - not in the back with everyone else. i have traveled that way, it is fun, but for such a ride, i would rather have the ability to sleep for a little undisturbed...plus, i have the ability to have that luxury, yeah, i am a pseudo snob - but within india, i will take it!

till later -

posted by ravi @ 5:11 AM