This was in Thane district of Maharastra before the monsoon. I spent one and a half day in the field doing nothing due to mis-communication, in the very begining. I and my colleague spent about 36 hours in a village named Nandgaon. We slept in the open veranda in the afternoon sweating and waiting for rain and did so in the night too. As soon as the sun went down, we climbed up the hillock nearby and stood on top of the biggest rock available and we waved our hands like people stranded in uninhabited islands to get signal in our respective mobiles. My colleague was much taller than me so he could talk normally whereas I had to shout on top of my voice keeping the phone up in the air in loudspeaker mode just to convey home that I was fine (winking)! The incident early next morning was the crowning glory of this part of the trip. A cow followed me when I left for my nature’s call and I do not want you to puke by telling why it did so! But, yes Indian cows of Hindu mythology like variety in meals too, especially when the other option is dried up grass!
We went to a village named Kusumshet the next day. We had to walk a distance of 3 ½ km to reach the village from the nearest bus stop. A meeting was fixed in this village at night which revolved around issues of forest land and forest protection. I could talk to a lot of people individually too about health care available and problems of access to food and education. They proudly informed me, they had a river nearby. The thought of walking uphill after a bath kept me away from the idea of visiting it although my colleague grabbed the first opportunity to run to the river. When, even the womenfolk started going for an evening bath, I could resist it no more and followed them. I should not have got that enthusiastic about a bath in the evening. The river was 1 km. downhill! Therefore you can well imagine how I huffed and puffed coming back from the river! The very purpose of bathing was completely lost.
But, I gained an important insight! When we were ready to come back, women filled their pots with water from the same source. I thought they were taking this water to wash clothes at home or for some other purpose but then...they offered me a drink form the pot. I was shocked to be offered that water! And imagine my mental state when they told me this is the water that I drank upon arriving Kusumkhet. It was the only water available. I was given this information after a bath with a lot of soap and I could just say “Allah malik! Khuda bachanewala!”!! When I passed this info to my co-worker upon returning to the village, he assured me that he has Norfloxacin in his bag!!! Such caring colleagues I tell you....
We went to a village named Kusumshet the next day. We had to walk a distance of 3 ½ km to reach the village from the nearest bus stop. A meeting was fixed in this village at night which revolved around issues of forest land and forest protection. I could talk to a lot of people individually too about health care available and problems of access to food and education. They proudly informed me, they had a river nearby. The thought of walking uphill after a bath kept me away from the idea of visiting it although my colleague grabbed the first opportunity to run to the river. When, even the womenfolk started going for an evening bath, I could resist it no more and followed them. I should not have got that enthusiastic about a bath in the evening. The river was 1 km. downhill! Therefore you can well imagine how I huffed and puffed coming back from the river! The very purpose of bathing was completely lost.
But, I gained an important insight! When we were ready to come back, women filled their pots with water from the same source. I thought they were taking this water to wash clothes at home or for some other purpose but then...they offered me a drink form the pot. I was shocked to be offered that water! And imagine my mental state when they told me this is the water that I drank upon arriving Kusumkhet. It was the only water available. I was given this information after a bath with a lot of soap and I could just say “Allah malik! Khuda bachanewala!”!! When I passed this info to my co-worker upon returning to the village, he assured me that he has Norfloxacin in his bag!!! Such caring colleagues I tell you....
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