Today I've been meandering through, sheltering from the rain in and trying to photograph more of Kumily. (Most of the photos are on the map here.) I was taken by a bloke I met in another chai-shop to his office: a branch of a company that deals in organic fertiliser about a mile out of town in the appropriately named suburb/hamlet of 'First Mile'.
Again, India has been fantastically welcoming and again I can't put it into written words. I can put into words that I'm fairly pissed off with almost certainly losing Rs200 and some clothing to Mr laundry-bloke, who was also my guide on my wee forest walk (Sunday 21st), to Kumily dam (Tuesday 23rd) and to Tirali falls (Wednesday 24th). He said the Rs200 would be a loan to get a cut on his head treated but there was no sign of repayment.
His wound was real and so his request for money was reasonable in a country where free healthcare is far from automatic. I don't care about RS200: it's less than £3. I do care that I've been apparently lied to and I'm really annoyed that I've been a mug. (I later heard that he got his head-wound when his wife hit him for drinking away everything he'd earned from me.)
A smorgasbord of the last two days:
© (except the blatantly ripped-off bits) Random Bozo 2006