A walk in the hills.



Graham and I dragged ourselves out at 4:30 am so that we could start our trek before sun up. Anticipating blue skies, sunshine and heat we were dressed in t-shirts and shorts - to encounter a cold, stiff breeze. You can see the resulting mist being swept over the ridge we walked along and taken about twenty minutes into our walk.

The photo's below are taken in the village down in the valley at the end of this ridge. We then headed left and back up to the top behind us.

Schoolboy.



Right at the base of the hill we found this chap playing cricket in the school playground waiting for classes to start with a few of his friends. After I took the picture they all dashed over and had a good laugh at the image on the preview screen. He then decided to show off a bit, jumped on a bicycle three times too large for him and promptly fell over. It seemed to be a bit of a communal toy - just like everywhere else in the world.

Village restaurant.



Graham and I decided to stop for a cup of chai in the village at the bottom of the hill. This restaurant sits beside the village 'square' where people congregate to hitch lifts, have their milk picked up to be taken to the dairy, socialise a bit or pop into the temple.

As soon as you pick your camera up everyone stands to attention for the photograph and its very difficult to get them to relax, smile and carry on as normal. I tried my best below.

Village girl in a truck.



We saw this girl in the back of a truck whilst we had tea and struck up a converstaion with her. She comes from a village at the head of the valley we were in and is very tucked away. Nevertheless her English is impeccable. She was on her way to work on a food stall at Sinhagad Fort - a nearby 'beauty spot' where flocks of Punekar day trippers roost on their days off.

Homework.



On our way out of a village we came across this chap doing his homework on the side of the road outside the shack that he and his family live in and in the early morning sunlight. He was doing maths. Neither Graham nor myself could be of any assistance - not that he needed it.

You can see colouring in on some of the pages. His much younger brother scuttled off into the shack when he saw us coming.