Towards Narmada Dam

On Tuesday morning we are again on the road, this time driving towards South. We are heading to the Narmada River where a 2nd workshop will be held, with painting and writing activities. The drive takes a few hours, on country roads. We make a stop in a small town, where we pick up a few more workshop participants. There are narrow gauge railway tracks, which belong to the large 2'6" rail network that links the countryside. A few years ago there had been steam trains, but as I had read on the internet, these have all been decommissioned. A real pity, as I would have liked to see some of those old locomotive sin action.

In the town there is again music: but this time it is not related to a competition or a festival, but has a more serious background, as the music accompanies a pilgrimage which people undertake towards some temples miles away. When we continue, we see more pilgrims along the road, people dressed in costumes, and one is always dressed as a horse. I really feel like I am in another century - it is very rural here.





While in the car, I realise that I have forgotten to pay my council tax. So I take out the laptop, and while the car speeds over potholes, I try to access the website for paying my dues. However, my debit card gets refused several times! Is this a consequence of me getting cash with it at the cash machine on the first day in India? Well, I will have to pay my tax after the return to the UK. Hope that refused card is not a serious issue... I check actually my bank account, and everything seems ok. A very strange feeling, to be here in the middle of another century, on the other side of the globe, in a car that seems to fly over the road, and check the bank back home.