Keep on Dancing

Wednesday. No requirement for an early start today and the sun is well up by the time that we go for breakfast. Chandoori Sai omelettes are close to perfection and set us up nicely for the day. Today we plan a little local pottering about,  starting with a visit to the village pottery.  Unlike Monday when everybody was busy getting the finished goods to market, today we saw the potters working on their wheels turning wet clay into pots ready to be finished and fired. We made the recommended donation and people were very happy for us to wander around the big shed taking photos.

We take a stroll along the path out of the far end of the village and across the paddy fields.  As we return one of the lady pottery workers indicates that we should follow her and she leads the way to a small building.  When she pulls back the curtain a beautiful pottery elephant is revealed. Another chap wants to show us the large, planter sized bowl that he has made with relief figures of dancers decorating the inside. The local skills are really exceptional. We discover later,  talking to Leon, that all of the floor tiles in Chandoori Sai were made in the village.

We make a quick pit stop for a cup of tea. Our fellow guests have just breakfasted and plan to visit the local school so their daughter, Ganesha, can exhibit her dancing skills to the pupils. Our plan is to walk down to the river to see if we can spot some birds. The first thing we see is a large lizard which lets us get quite close before disappearing under a rock. There a quite a few birds at a distance but IDs are difficult. We do see red vented bulbuls, bee eaters and a sunbird but they scarper much faster than the Lizard. Down by the river we spot  a rock showing clear evidence of being a kingfisher roost but no bird appears.

By now it is after midday and getting very hot, so we retreat to Chandoori Sai for a shady verandah lunch. We will miss these. Given the heat a short siesta is in order then it is time to start packing for tomorrow's departure. Leon has recommended a short excursion to the nearby village of Khajirpur. We sign up for this and at 4 p.m. we set off, just the two of us with a local driver.

At Khajirpur a wedding is just getting into its stride. The village ladies are gathering in their brightly coloured saris. R starts to hand out sweets to the children and is almost trampled inthe rush of grown women chasing a boiled sweet. We extract ourselves and walk up the main street seeing all sorts of entertainments on the way including the local peddler, who has his wares strapped to his bike, and an impromptu fight between a cockerel and a rather bossy hen.

At the top of the village tere were splendid views across the countryside. As we took these in a band started to play down below. When we got back down the street some of the village men were dancing to the music played by several drummers and a single trumpet like instrument. Son the ladies start to join in and the dance becomes a long chain of bodies. D did manage to shoot some video but that will need to be edited and uploaded. R turned down the opportunity to participate depriving the assembled multitude of some serious fun.

We reluctantly make our farewells and head back to base. Just as we approach Chandoori Sai we see a crowd assembled around the village pump. Ganesha is about to start a dancing display for the villagers so we jump out to watch. She moves very gracefully and the locals seem to enjoy the show.

Back home we  shower, change and finish packing then sit on the veranda watching fireflies and bats in the garden. Ganesha  dances a very entertaining chicken dance for us before we sit down to supper - roast chicken, potatoes and green beans followed by not quite frozen home made chocolate and coconut ice cream. Excellent.