Orchha 3:

On our second-to-last day in Orchha, we were invited to visit the guest house manager's grandfather in a village 5 kms away. This time, the ride was not free so we added a few rupees to hire the autorickshaw again. The countryside is really a wonderful sight to behold, especially with the rickshaw driver playing pulsing Indian dance tunes and cheesy love songs as a soundtrack for the trip. The sight of side-view mirror pompoms flapping in the breeze as we pass by wheat fields and swerve by herds of goats, it's enough to make me smile.

We were taken to the temple, where there's a holy pool only for the god, and we could only dip our fingers to ask for a favor.

The cute boy is an orphan they found on the street,
and now he's part of the family.

Ragu/Maharaj, the manager's younger brother, introduced us to his cousins and his grandfather - who's in his 80s and still works in the field. Later, I realized why they said he goes there in his bike; his legs were damaged by polio, and he walks with his arms.

Meanwhile, grandma was busy making chapatis for everyone.

Actually, when they gave us some food to eat, his grandma kept making chapatis for us and we were so stuffed because she wouldn't stop! Olivier asked them to switch off grandma, but they couldn't.

Sharma, the cousin who inherited the farm land, took us to the field to show us his crops. He had ginger, chili, peanuts, eggplants, potatoes and more. Everything they eat comes from what they grow; so the money they earn, they don't use so often.

This time, it was Henri's turn to make the chapati. So cute!

Aklesh and Deva were around to do the chopping, while Ragu (as usual) added generous amounts of salt.

After lunch, Sharma took us back to his house to see his newborn, Anya, who just came home from the hospital.

On the trip back, his brother offered to take me on the motorbike until the crossroads, of course, I couldn't understand because they have a habit of talking to us in Hindi. Pero syempre hindi ko maintindihan (but of course, I couldn't understand). It was great to be on the bike and be able to look all around, unencumbered, as the sun made its slow descent behind the mountains. Sharma's brother didn't go faster than 45 kph so I didn't fear for my life.

The day after that we went back to see Puja and her family. 

It was Laurianne and Olivier's turn to get henna tattoos; Puja's dad gave them bidis to smoke.

I made a yin-yang for Henri, and Puja gave him a nice warrior band on the arm.

Then Puja's brother, Manoj, invited the boys for a short ride around town. He had just learned how to drive and now he can work part time as a car-for-hire driver.

Us girls waited for them at the rooftop, where we realized there were a few more temples to discover, just behind Puja's house!

We were very fortunate to meet Chinku and throuh him, Puja and Manoj. On our last night, Henri invited them to dinner and Manoj proposed to drive us to the train station AT 6 IN THE MORNING the next day. It had been a bit of a problem for us because the rickshaws were charging a hundred, and the cars were charging five hundred, while tempos (like jeepneys that wait to be full before leaving) might be cheap, but hard to come by especially on a Monday at the end of Diwali. But aside from that, their gestures to help were a way to show us that not every one we meet is out to hit us for money. There are good people out there, you just have to stay a while and wait for them to come out of the woodwork.