Our Trip with Pictures:
https://www.gaiagps.com/public/orHldjKiIolOaF8z5gv7aLhM
Last night was brrrr cold. We slept with jacket, socks and buff on the head all zipped up in the sleeping bag. Woke at 5:30 am. Used the bathroom, brushed teeth and promised ourselves that we would bathe in the evening. Packed up and went out to the corner shop for Tea. They were just opening up. We ordered the Tea and walked down to the Narmada Maiya. The Sun was just rising and there was mist rising up from the river. The scene looked like it was staged. The mountains in the back had fog rolling over them. There was a man fishing sitting in a makeshift boat made out of a car tire. We took some
Pictures to capture the beauty. Then we went to say bye to the Maharaj in the ashram and he said to have Tea before we go. So we waited for few minutes had a cup of Tea and then went to the corner shop. The lady was just making the Tea. We saw one Parikramavasi going by and asked him for Tea. There was another person standing in the Sun trying to get warm. He did not refuse Tea either. All in all we got five Teas and four packs of biscuits. The lady charged Rs. 45 for all of it. Baiju gave her Rs. 60 saying she is charging too less. She smiled and took the money. We drove about 3 kms. to the main walking road and started walking. It was about 8:45 am. We want to set a record for waking distance. We walked for one and half hours and came to Vikrampur village. There was a lot of hustle bustle on the main road. People setting up of stalls. The first two we was were
For shoes. We wondered what was the population for them
To have two large stalls of shoes. We went little further and stopped at breakfast shop. We ate a large breakfast – Samosa, Aloo Vada, Daal Vada( Urad Daal Vada ), Tea and hot hot Jelebi. Oh then I had a sweet Paan from the next shop. When we went to pay both shops refused to take any money saying we don’t take money from Parikramavasis. Narmada Maiya had given us enough. We were humbled. We said Narmade har and continued our walk. We were walking on state highway. Road was lined on both sides with Eucalyptus trees. It looked very beautiful. There were rolling hills beyond the Eucalyptus trees with very little population. We would see one or two people walking their cattle in the fields. There were also Paddy fields that had been harvested. There were golden heaps of Paddy in the middle of the fields. About 11 kms before Shahpur one gentleman on a motorbike stopped and told us to go to his house for lunch which in Shahpur about 7-8 kms away. We said ok. He went his way. Around 1:00 pm. I was thinking of lunch. We had not reached Shahpur yet. Suddenly as we were passing a public school in Nariya village, a teacher from the school greeted us Narmade har and asked if we would have lunch. He said it is simple Rice Daal and Subjji. We looked at each other and said ok. We went into the garden. Immediately couple of students brought out benches for us to sit. We put our gear down. Just then all the children came out of the classrooms. This is Public Primary School from 1st grade to 8th grade. There are about 250 student total. It was their lunch time. The state government provides hot lunch for all the children. The teacher’s name was Moolchand Marawy. He instructed students to set a place for three of us. We washed our hand in the garden and sat for lunch. They served plates full of Rice Daal and Subjji. The amount of Rice was four time what I could eat at one time. I asked them to reduce it. The food was hot and tasty. As we finished we saw all the children sitting on mats in the concrete drive and entrance for the meal. The meal is prepared one the premise and served every day. We were lucky to have experienced it today. The state government gives a bicycle to each student in 6th grade which they use to come to school. Many of the fathers go away from their homes to work and the rest of the family stays home with the grandparents. We sat for few minutes talking to the teachers. The school has student body with PM, CM and Ministers for different departments. The 8th grade students are assigned these roles to help Govern the students. Young boy named Ganesh is the Prime Minister and young girl named Parvati is the Chief Minister for lunch. It was very rewarding to see these young children getting free education and hot lunch. They come
From surrounding poor farming communities. By the time we left it was 2:30 pm. We wanted to walk till 4:00 pm. We walked through a small village and stopped at a fruit cart to buy four Bananas. He first was counting a dozen to put in the bag and I said no only four. He gave four in a smaller bag and said no need to pay. Second time today the shop keeper did not take any money. We walked on. Short distance ahead we saw two Parikramavasis sitting by the road side. We stopped to chat. Turned out they had not eaten much till then and were hungry. We gave them the four Bananas. We said Narmade har to each other and moved on. Around four o’clock we checked to see how much we had walked. The APP showed 27.3 kms. Just then Sunilji drove up to us. It was the perfect time to get in the car and find an ashram for the night. We drove past couple of places since they looked empty. We came to one by the river called Chandon Ghaat Ashram. It was already dark. The ashram was clean but the restrooms were across the street and very dirty. We decided to drive further. We came to Rajendragram village and asked for an ashram. They suggested there is no place here to stay. You can drive to Amarkantak where there are many options. We had quick dinner in a small Dhaba and drove to Amarkantak. We stopped at the first hotel we saw and booked two room for tonight. It was very cold. The bed was clean and looked warm. We asked if we could get some hot Tea and the owner of the place said once the worker comes he can make the Tea. We got into the bed and waited. After about half an hour the room bell rang and there was Tea in two large cups as requested. We asked for Tea in the morning at 6:30 am. He said he will get it. The Tea warmed us and we went to sleep. Today we walked 27.3 kms. Record number of kilometers in one day.