Pānī aur macchar.....khuljī khuljī khuljī

Yep and that’s very annoying. First you get wet and your clothes have a hard time getting dry again. The second bite and that does itch very very much, as I already mentioned 3 times above J

Well the rain decided that now it decided to come it had to come all in once. And not a little drizzle, but the sky opened up and, I don’t know what upset the gods, but it did upset them real bad. No sunshine only grey days…And with some luck, I think when the gods are asleep or have dinner, there are some dry moment in which you can do something useful, like visiting a school.

The bike is now in my possession and we have used it last week to visit the first school in Moharli. 3 people on the bike is quite normal here, only you must not forget that there are some mayor holes in the road and the 3rd person is not supposed to fall of. (Me being this 3rd person on the bike) Also the road is not a race track and, I know top speed of 50 km doesn’t sound like an awful lot, but on this bike it feels like you are going a lot faster and that is a little scary. Of course protective clothing is never heard of, at least not in this area of India. In Delhi they did have helmets…Like going by bus, on the bike it also seems to be a rollercoaster ride, wind blowing through your hair many times swaying from one side of the road to the other side to avoid the wholes, a sudden break before a part with more holes than road and if you are lucky you also find yourself in mid-air for a moment. The best thing of all, no long Q and no paying entry fees!!!

I have finished all the theoretical parts of my assignment(s) and with the SCF questionnaires I like to start this week. When I (officially) will start with the assignment for the forest department I don’t know. I still wait for my permission letter to come and before I have that I officially am not aloud to ride the bike in Tadoba, which means that I can’t visit the towns and therefore can’t start my problem inventory. Bus is no option, since I am also not aloud to walk in the park, and after you get off the bus a walk of a few km is quite normal to get to the towns in Tadoba. Unofficially, I have asked the boys to do the inventory for me, because my time is running out. There are only 3 weeks to go and then I have a holiday brake, so before that the practical part of the assignments must be carried out.

I must say that after being here 2 months I let the Dutch way of thinking go a little and picked up on the Indian way. This works a lot more relaxing. The Indians have a phrase: “jo honā hai, so hogā”, meaning: “whatever has to happen, will happen”. Well, I think I can live with that J

So it has to be this way that:
Bats are using my kitchen, bathroom, and toilet (and 1 even my room by mistake!) to shelter for the rain and the daylight. (yugh, the smell)
Macchar dislike DEET 30% for 4 hours at the most and then they just love to eat you again.
A monitor lizard keeps me awake because he walks in-between the roofing and my sealing. (I saw his tail and hind legs disappear..)
In India everything takes a lot longer than I am used to….