Distance walked 230.4km by Pankaj 182.1km by Mike 36.1km by Daryl
Funds raused NZD 4791.82 or INR 239591
My snoring last night kept Daryl awake all night and so he was not able to walk today. The drive to Peth for the start was fairly uneventful as Rajgurunagar where we stayed was the only town to get through. Our driver for today and next 2 days has no English so communication when Pankaj is not around is an interesting challenge. Interestingly he plays lots of video clips of cricket highlights (with narrative in English) so his nickname is Mr Cricket.
It was a cooler day, largely because of a breeze. The 8,5km to Manchar was done in 90 minutes. Manchar has a large milk processing plant and produces the milk for Pune (6 million population). We stopped for a rest break and a drink in Manchar .
I saw no tuktuks at all today but there were some larger 3 wheelers being used as taxis but somewhere around Manchar they stopped as well so the only public transport available is buses because I doubt Uber has moved into rural areas. At the north end of Manchar the school was having prayers and all the children were lined up in the playground. It reminded me of my days at Howick District High School. There was no school hall and unless it was wet we lined up outside the main entrance for morning assembly in class rows. At the end Colonel Bogey march was played (badly) through the schools speakers and we marched to our classes.
Crossing the bridge into Kalumb on a narrow bridge we had to stop halfway and wait for 3 ox carts carrying burnt sugar cane to pass. The sugar cane will be used for manure as it will no longer contain enough sugars for the local biogas plant to want to use.
I was getting hungry by now and was keen to stop but our driver had passed through Kalamb and another 3km further on and I was needing the chikki (nut brittle) to keep me going for the last half hour. Lunch was what I have named the Bombay Hamburger - I don't remember its Indian name - but it is a potato patty inside a bun.
Having done 16 km before lunch it was an easy walk on to Narayangaon. Some friends of Amoa had met us earlier in the day and invited us to their place for tea or arrival and for dinner.
After tea we were taken to the local temple and being VIPs we were allowed inside the sanctuary where the god of the village is.
After that it was the normal formal welcome to the village - I am beginning to feel a bit like a show pony and we now have ridiculous amounts of fabric from all the turbans that have been put on us.
The road from Narayangaon to the hotel 10km out at Ozar (same name as but not the Ozar near Nashik which is Pankaj's home town) was a fairly typical Indian rural road with very rough seal and lots of pot holes. The biogas plant is somewhere off that road and there were dozens of ox carts and a smaller number of tractors with trailers carrying sugar cane to the plant.
After a nap it was back to Narayangaon (with a small detour where we took the wrong turn in the dark) for dinner. After dinner we went to the pharmaceutical warehouse run by the family where a donation was given. After that a shopping trip was done and I have sandals and Daryl has sunblock and a replacement for the hairbrush he lost.
Donations can be made at https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/school-of-walk in New Zealand or direct to 06-0574-0833554-00 or https://milaap.org/fundraisers/givealittle-schoolofwalk in India
Funds raused NZD 4791.82 or INR 239591
My snoring last night kept Daryl awake all night and so he was not able to walk today. The drive to Peth for the start was fairly uneventful as Rajgurunagar where we stayed was the only town to get through. Our driver for today and next 2 days has no English so communication when Pankaj is not around is an interesting challenge. Interestingly he plays lots of video clips of cricket highlights (with narrative in English) so his nickname is Mr Cricket.
It was a cooler day, largely because of a breeze. The 8,5km to Manchar was done in 90 minutes. Manchar has a large milk processing plant and produces the milk for Pune (6 million population). We stopped for a rest break and a drink in Manchar .
I saw no tuktuks at all today but there were some larger 3 wheelers being used as taxis but somewhere around Manchar they stopped as well so the only public transport available is buses because I doubt Uber has moved into rural areas. At the north end of Manchar the school was having prayers and all the children were lined up in the playground. It reminded me of my days at Howick District High School. There was no school hall and unless it was wet we lined up outside the main entrance for morning assembly in class rows. At the end Colonel Bogey march was played (badly) through the schools speakers and we marched to our classes.
Crossing the bridge into Kalumb on a narrow bridge we had to stop halfway and wait for 3 ox carts carrying burnt sugar cane to pass. The sugar cane will be used for manure as it will no longer contain enough sugars for the local biogas plant to want to use.
Having done 16 km before lunch it was an easy walk on to Narayangaon. Some friends of Amoa had met us earlier in the day and invited us to their place for tea or arrival and for dinner.
After tea we were taken to the local temple and being VIPs we were allowed inside the sanctuary where the god of the village is.
After that it was the normal formal welcome to the village - I am beginning to feel a bit like a show pony and we now have ridiculous amounts of fabric from all the turbans that have been put on us.
The road from Narayangaon to the hotel 10km out at Ozar (same name as but not the Ozar near Nashik which is Pankaj's home town) was a fairly typical Indian rural road with very rough seal and lots of pot holes. The biogas plant is somewhere off that road and there were dozens of ox carts and a smaller number of tractors with trailers carrying sugar cane to the plant.
After a nap it was back to Narayangaon (with a small detour where we took the wrong turn in the dark) for dinner. After dinner we went to the pharmaceutical warehouse run by the family where a donation was given. After that a shopping trip was done and I have sandals and Daryl has sunblock and a replacement for the hairbrush he lost.
Donations can be made at https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/school-of-walk in New Zealand or direct to 06-0574-0833554-00 or https://milaap.org/fundraisers/givealittle-schoolofwalk in India
No comments:
Post a Comment