Walking on the hillside, watching an eagle soar, seeing an ICDS school, seeing a cardomom roasting plant, having again a brilliant time.
Breakfast of mung bean curry with puttu (steamed rice powder and grated coconut 'sausages'. Lunch at the ICDS school: wheat and peanut 'risotto'. Papaya and the luxury of hot water.
During the walk, I was amazed by the noises the insects make. If you get too close to one, it calls faster and louder and eventually explodes. I suppose this is a sacrifice for the good of its fellows to warn them about (and possibly scare away) an impending predator.
I vaguely recall hearing that one person owned the cardamom roasting plant and so had the potential to over-charge the farmers for its use. However Ajeesh said that this owner wasn't like that, even though he then took a lead in marketing the roast cardamom at/via the grading- and auction-house in Nedumkandam (and so would have to sell the seeds at whatever price it offered - a potential source of massive unrest). The advantage of this roasting-factory, I suppose, is that it's in the middle of this farming area. Farmers don't have to take their raw produce too far and so can spend their time farming, while the roaster concentrates on roasting and taking the crop to market.
Watching sunset from the hillside, walking, life is good.
Again, being shown friendship gives me the peace to return it in other directions.
This is followed by a food-gasm at Nikunjam:
Wow! My stomach is in love.
© (except the blatantly ripped-off bits) Random Bozo 2006