Fourteen

It's mind boggling to me what the women can carry on their head, not just in bulk like this but the shear weight of some loads like loads of bricks or rocks. This woman was quite smiley and that is rare for these ones.

This is Vinkatesh, he runs Shanti Cafe, a local hangout for westerners. He is such a nice guy, a truly beautiful soul, can't you just tell this by looking at him ? No matter how busy they are or how demanding and rude the westerners are(and some of them are just awful) he just carries on in his usual sweet manner.

And this is Shanti Cafe. Very simple, sitting mostly on the floor and they have a very simple menu with omelets, baguettes, croissants, coffees and other such traditional Indian fare !

This man is off to market with a really big load of...something ! Hundreds of small bags of things that I think are like a prawn cracker-type food, without the prawns. This photo was taken with the iPhone whilst following him on the motorbike. The most amazing photo was missed by me the other day, it was a pony somehow jammed into the back of an auto rickshaw and that's just not something you see every day !

Vinkatesh again, he sort of looks like an Indian Tom Cruise I think

And this is his small staff, with the help of an older woman who works out the back and never comes out. It's amazing the quality and quantity of food and drink they are able to produce out of a very small basic kitchen, especially when there are several power cuts every day, each lasting several hours.

Stethar on the way to Fort Gingee last week

Steethar again at Fort Gingee, he's a bit of a character. An "only child" in the extended family, until today that is. Kisspoo and Logo are bringing home their new baby today, that will shake his spoilt little world up well and truly.

Balu and Priya in a rare show of affection for an Indian couple but it was really nice to share a day out with them, even though Priya had to be up at 4.00am to get her jobs done then work till midnight when we got home !!! She even made time to make an exceptional lunch for us which she carried all the way up the steep hill to the top. And you can't just help out either, it doesn't work that way, that is something of an insult.

This is the view from the top. The larger hill in the distance is where the king lived, his queen lived in this one. It is known as "Kings and Queens"

And this is part of the queens residence, the stunning room at the top there was the throne room.

This is the view from inside the throne room looking across to another part of the substantial grounds and old stone buildings on top of the hill. In the distance again is "kings" which is apparently regarded as the most impenetrable of all Indian forts

And here you can see why it is considered so

And back on the flat here's another of those loads. I have noticed the men have to use a hand to steady the loads whereas the women can balance perfectly. A cynical view might suggest the women have learned to do this so they can do additional work with their two free hands !!!

Just one of those rare photographic moments, you have to have camera at the ready all the time here

How do goats drink ??

Yum yum ! And they say we have evolved from monkeys ??

Priya masterfully preparing food on the open fire. This was for the Pongal celebrations so a lot more food was required. The cows even get to eat human food which I'm sure they really love !

A view of the guest house and farm from a little hillock nearby

This is what they do to the cows at Pongal. First they wash the cows by hand then decorate them (which all seems a little bit silly, especially the balloons !) The cows also get a brand new rope through their nose for the next year which is quite a painful thing for them and causes bleeding. It's hard to watch how they treat their animals sometimes

Even baby Christmas got decorated and she hated it.

The women preparing food for Pongal

The men washing cows for Pongal in a dam with Arunachala in the background.

Always smiling even though on this day she had extreme back and shoulder pain. Definitely over worked and not even paid !

Would love to know what happened to this rickshaw

More cow washing

You wouldn't call this guy a sissy for doing the ironing would you ? And still using an old iron filled with hot coals.

This girl and her family were selling sugar cane for Pongal

These are the Kolams "drawn" onto the ground by Priya for Pongal. They are redone every day outside each door but not usually to this extent. For three days during Pongal she was up doing these till well after midnight. On the final day they were redone with the addition of colours as well.

A sugar cane girl

And more of Priyas artwork. The Kolams (yes I now have the correct spelling by the way !) are actually done by skillfully "pouring" the granules through the fingers. This who are able to do this start when they are small children and they are done every single day of the year to one extent or other.

I love it, this guy was so proud of his collection and he couldn't even ride his bike !

This is Amma with Logo standing in the background. The three small village boys sitting are being fed.

What I would like to know is how they actually got the truck up onto the tyres

I have no idea at all what they are selling. They had zero English and I have pretty much the same Tamil

The three village boys being fed. They are such wee characters.