Yesterday was spent in a leisurely way in Nashik. Breakfast consisted of balls made of semolina and yogurt with a little green chilli for flavour.
Most of the morning was spent at the Ozar (or Ojhar) branch of IDBI which is on the ground floor of Pankaj's family home opening an account for School of Walk. The same know your customer and anti-money laundering processes that are used in New Zealand apply to Indian banks. In India everything seems operate at a more leisurely pace and the process took well over an hour but at the end I was given the celebrity customer treatment.
Pankaj and Aayush (his nephew) took me on a tour of HAL Township where Pankaj was brought up including a visit the store where he worked sometimes with his uncle.
In the late afternoon I was feeling like I might fall alseep so Pankaj and I went for a walk lookimg at the local farms. There is a little sugar cane but mostly it is vegetables or grapes. An unexpected highlight was visiting a tiny mill where an electric mill was grinding wheat to flour. These are common in India. Pankaj's family buy a years supply of wheat at harvest and have some milled each month so that the flour is fresh all year. On the way back Parag took up to look at two housing blocks he is building. The first was a block of four apartments - 2 up to down. Plenty of houses in New Zealand would be the size of all four apartments. The construction is reinforced concrete pillars and floors with unreinforced brick walls. Earthquakes are not a concern in this part of India. There so rather sweet feral puppies near by. The next block was a number (5 or 6) 3 bedroom apartments. These were across 3 floors with a singe bedroom on the ground floor (which also provided an undercover car park, kitchen and lounge on 1st floor and 2 bedrooms on the top floor. Ground and top floors had small bathrooms. There were then steps up to the roof which provided outdoor space along with balconies on the 2 upper floors. These were good sized apartments. Again construction is brick and concrete.
In the evening I got taken to the vegetable market. This is a wholesale market where farmers bring there crops and they are sold by auction in lots to merchants. Once the sale is done the merchant loads them onto his truck which takes them to the APMC market in Navi Mumbai for sale to retailers. The merchant pays before he leaves and the farmers collect the proceeds of the sale (minus commission for the auction). I was amazed by the number of people who remembered Pankaj from his time when his family ran a trucking business in Ozar.
Before breakfast Pankaj, Aayush and I went for a walk. Pankaj kept telling me off for talking to the dogs, worried they would turn vicious. Interestingly when there were a pack of dogs on an empty lot I was keeping an eye even when behind us Pankaj was quite relaxes. Sunday morning breakfast was an Indian variety of French Toast but of course with a bit of spice to the bread.
I was then taken to Nashik to visit his barber for a shave, haircut and a massage (chest, back, arms and head). After a trip to the mall to buy a few essential supplies we returned to Ozar for a lunch of goat and chicken curries.
I am now having a rest before the drive to Thane (on the edge of Mumbai) and tomorrow the walking starts.
Total raised so far NZ$3420.25/ INR162869
Remember you can donate at
In India https://milaap.org/fundraisers/givealittle-schoolofwalk
In New Zealand https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/school-of-walk or direct credit to 06-0574-0833554-00.
Posted from Ozar 2 December 2018 3:45pm
Most of the morning was spent at the Ozar (or Ojhar) branch of IDBI which is on the ground floor of Pankaj's family home opening an account for School of Walk. The same know your customer and anti-money laundering processes that are used in New Zealand apply to Indian banks. In India everything seems operate at a more leisurely pace and the process took well over an hour but at the end I was given the celebrity customer treatment.
In the late afternoon I was feeling like I might fall alseep so Pankaj and I went for a walk lookimg at the local farms. There is a little sugar cane but mostly it is vegetables or grapes. An unexpected highlight was visiting a tiny mill where an electric mill was grinding wheat to flour. These are common in India. Pankaj's family buy a years supply of wheat at harvest and have some milled each month so that the flour is fresh all year. On the way back Parag took up to look at two housing blocks he is building. The first was a block of four apartments - 2 up to down. Plenty of houses in New Zealand would be the size of all four apartments. The construction is reinforced concrete pillars and floors with unreinforced brick walls. Earthquakes are not a concern in this part of India. There so rather sweet feral puppies near by. The next block was a number (5 or 6) 3 bedroom apartments. These were across 3 floors with a singe bedroom on the ground floor (which also provided an undercover car park, kitchen and lounge on 1st floor and 2 bedrooms on the top floor. Ground and top floors had small bathrooms. There were then steps up to the roof which provided outdoor space along with balconies on the 2 upper floors. These were good sized apartments. Again construction is brick and concrete.
In the evening I got taken to the vegetable market. This is a wholesale market where farmers bring there crops and they are sold by auction in lots to merchants. Once the sale is done the merchant loads them onto his truck which takes them to the APMC market in Navi Mumbai for sale to retailers. The merchant pays before he leaves and the farmers collect the proceeds of the sale (minus commission for the auction). I was amazed by the number of people who remembered Pankaj from his time when his family ran a trucking business in Ozar.
Before breakfast Pankaj, Aayush and I went for a walk. Pankaj kept telling me off for talking to the dogs, worried they would turn vicious. Interestingly when there were a pack of dogs on an empty lot I was keeping an eye even when behind us Pankaj was quite relaxes. Sunday morning breakfast was an Indian variety of French Toast but of course with a bit of spice to the bread.
I was then taken to Nashik to visit his barber for a shave, haircut and a massage (chest, back, arms and head). After a trip to the mall to buy a few essential supplies we returned to Ozar for a lunch of goat and chicken curries.
I am now having a rest before the drive to Thane (on the edge of Mumbai) and tomorrow the walking starts.
Total raised so far NZ$3420.25/ INR162869
Remember you can donate at
In India https://milaap.org/fundraisers/givealittle-schoolofwalk
In New Zealand https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/school-of-walk or direct credit to 06-0574-0833554-00.
Posted from Ozar 2 December 2018 3:45pm
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