All the ladies in the hall from previous night had left for the boat ride by 3:45. I slept for some more time and woke up at 5:30. Narmadashtakam was playing on the loudspeaker at the temple near by. I got ready by 6:30 and went in search of tea. The first stall where the man had said previous night that he will be open starting at 3:30 am was closed. I went to the next stall and she pointed me to the third place where I could get tea. I asked him
For two cup of tea. He made really good ginger tea and gave me in a larger cup instead of two little cups. Tea was very good. I woke Sunilji After tea and we took a drive down to the place where we would take the boat tomorrow.
They say a picture is worth thousand words. We walked around the place. Asked couple of guys is this where we take the boat. They pointed to a mud path leading into some shrubs and said this is the way you have to go tomorrow since the way will not come to where we are now. The path disappeared beyond the shrubs. Oh well to tomorrow is still far away. We got out of there and went Hanot town to withdraw some cash and get a Fanny pack. Turns out the ATM in that little village doesn’t open until 11:00-11:30 am. It was only 9:30 am. I asked Sunilji to drive to Ankleshwar which is much bigger town. Sure enough we found an ATM that was open. There was a security guard who was trying to tell me that this machine gives only Rs. 200 notes. His soft spoken Gujrati was not understood by me. There was another gentleman withdrawing from the other machine. He translated for me. The machine he wa using gives only Rs. 500 notes and the other machine gives Rs. 200 notes. Ah. Now I know. Using debit card for the first time was fairly painless. I was done with in few minutes. Then we went in search for the Fanny pack. Local live GPS worked. We hound a shop. He was just opening at 10:30. I asked the Fanny pack. At first he showed me a shoulder bag. Then I actioned tying a bag at my waist then he gave me the one and only Fanny pack he had. Seemed like the bag was collecting dust for a while. But it would serve the purpose and bought it. We got back to Vamleshwar by 11:00. We had to check out and re-check in to the Birla Mandir. The fairs said go and eat lunch first and then come back. When we went to the temple the lunch was over. We went into the kitchen and ate with the volunteers. Rest of the afternoon I relaxed in the big hall all by myself. It was what no electricity in the afternoon till 2:30. I caught up on my writing. Around 3:00 pm went out looking for some tea. There was yet another stall closer to temple entrance that was open. Had tea then walked around. Have to find Ramji Bhai so we can add our name to the list of people going on the boat tomorrow. Finally around 6:00 pm we found him and gave the money for the boat ride. Now I can relax for the evening. We had dinner at 7:00 and got back to the hall. Still didn’t see any signs of others in the hall. Maybe someone will come for the night. I put on alarm for 4:00 am since I am alone tonight. Have to get ready by 4:45am