Day 5, into the sandy plains

Day 5, into the sandy plains
Originally uploaded by caitrionaoleary

The ride from Narlai to Thakur ji ki Guda, 45+km that day. After having a days rest at Ajit Singh's stables in Narlai I got up at 5:30 to feed Chandra, who as ever is one of the slowest eating horses I have ever encountered, meaning we finally set off at 7:30am, later than I'd have liked if we were to avoid the mid-day heat. In the Pali district the mid-day temperatures were in the mid thirties and without shade. That day was especially hot, with the mid day sun blinding us, even with a headscarf and sunglasses. To make matters worse one wrong turn resulted in a 12km detour-7/8 in the wrong direction and then a different route to get back on track. We had only gotten 30 or so kilometres from where we left despite riding over 45kms that day and so when we reached a village 1km outside of Khimara city I got off and asked the locals about getting some alfalfa grass. Which of course resulted in invitations for both of us and Chandra receiving half his body weight in lush green grass for about 20 rupees (30 pence or so). That night Chandra got a water buffalo stable all to himself so had grain, grass and water to gorge on to his hearts content once he got used to the strange smells. Chandra seemingly is the only horse in India who is terrified of water buffalo- quite possibly the most dim witted creatures to survive evolution without killing themselves. Although that said I once saw one run off a cliff edge as it wasn't looking where it was going but that's another story....

The interesting thing I learned staying in that village is that the kids schools actually have very good english books, better than "Language to go" or "Cutting Edge" from my CELTA course but the high standard of educational materials is somewhat let down by the fact that the teachers don't speak the language that they are teaching! A situation I saw echoed throughout the homes I visited. The children are expected to teach themselves or possibly teachers expect the knowledge to magically move from page to child's brain with no effort on their part.