The bullock cart ride was great fun. We drove through endless palm tree, bananas, and rice paddies to a village where Sudevan, the owner of the bullocks was waiting with the cart that Suresh had constructed. 
 
He had conceived the idea and has strongly resisted the pressure to commercialise it by making it available to just anyone. He refused the notion of bells and other hockey trappings. The floor of the cart was well padded and clean so up I jumped to sit like a yogi but soon shifted positions to avoid cramps. 
 

It was fascinating to travel through country lines and roads, far from heavy trucks and speeding cars, where I saw endless rice paddies being planted and the harvested crops being failed and set out to cure, mostly on the paved roads. We passed cashew trees, mangoes, papaya, turmeric, ginger fields. Even a peacock posed for a picture. The villages were swept clean and people were purposeful in their activities but were always curious to see a white face passing by and stood to stare. I often waved, smiled or said hello to which some would respond but others wouldn't. 

Our destination reached, a small village that specialized in pottery making, Suresh and I walked along the narrow street . again I was impressed with the cleanliness. The one potter we visited had only clay underway. So we walked to the river. A collection of five small boys, ranging in age from six to thirteen, tagged along. Soon they were entertaining me with their anties. Out the river they splashed and giggled. They kept looking at me so I finally asked if they had ever seen blue eyes, everything being interpreted by Suresh. They hadn't so all five peered into my eyes that I made as big as possible. With glee they produced their wooden spinning tops to show me their dexterity. Each one had a top that they wound a string around, pulled or throw somehow or either in the air when it would land on the ground or a flat rocky surface to spin away. They could then pick it up and hold it in the palm of their hands without loosing the spin. They even showed me how to break the stem of a vine near the leaf to blow bubbles. Later when I was leaving their village after lunch they followed on bicycle and one got into the cart to ride for. It was great fun also when we practised the little English they know. I made them promise to tell their teacher that they had been speaking English. Great fun! They enjoyed as did Suresh and so did I.

Before this journey began we stopped in a small village for me to buy a dhoti and a Lungi, the cotton skirt that men wear.

One of the villagers allowed us to sit in his house to eat the lunch prepared. Quite delicious vegetable curry stew, rice cooked with ghee (butter) and vegetables, and bananas cooked in jaggery (raw sugar) satisfied my appetite nicely.
 

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