Today's route: Kind of ‘slept in’ without setting the alarm. Had planned on visiting the village, conducting as many interviews and then staying another night. Our room was needed, however. So we had breakfast at the clerk’s home, stayed for a couple of hours and did a photo and video shoot with his (very) extended family in their house, outside the house and later - at lunch at their farm - in the fields. Between breakfast and lunch we interviewed Povat Rao Power, who took his inspiration to develop Hivare Bazar into a modell village from Anna Hazare just 36 km away.
At 4.30 pm we finally rode out of Hivare Bazar, with the number of Dr. Girish in our bags, the founder of Ahmednagar based NGO Snehalaya. Just after a beautiful sunset at the top of a bridge around 7 pm, we arrived at Ahmednagar, a city with some 400,000 inhabitants. Girish, a man ‘hard to catch” according to his team, came to pick us up himself. And not only that, he came on a cycle to honor our modus of traveling.
Weather: Sunny 34 degrees, little wind.
Cycled: 22 km on smaller roads out of the village, then a small detour due to some wrong turn and the last few km on a nice state highway. Stopped for an ice cold Pepsi cola quite early, then again to take pictures of the sunset. Just too tempting...
Didn't cycle: cycled all the way... the entire 22 km. including the bit when we took a wrong turn and a lorry driver voluntarily offered us a ride.
Ate & drank:
9 am: breakfast at Gaikwad’s consisting of roti, loads of chai and water. Fun and laughter included as women, men and children browsed in and out to “see” us and to ask if their pictures could be taken .
2pm: 2 kinds of roti from different flours, yummy curry and water right on the fields owned by the Sarpanch (village head). Gaikwad’s family works on these fields and the yield coming from it is shared 50/50.
on the bike: 2l of water (no enersol left), Pepsi coke, chocolate wafer, bananas
11.30pm at Snehalaya’s premises: roti, rice, vegies, water
Highlight of the day: Girish picking us up on the bike and making us feel super special.
Health Check: Happy, chappy. Slept like logs after Kalyan finally made it to bed around midnight and Wiebke after a nightly internet session until 2.30 am.
Stayed at: The premises of Snehalaya's center for women and children rescued out of prostitution and often HIV-positive. Cost: none.
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