Had got up around 4, said my prayers and drifted off to sleep only to get up around a half past 6. Went through the chores and was ready, well in time. I'd taken the entire convoy to the Vaazhakkulam panchayat since Maman had to go to the railway station to pick up Mahesh, who'd come down with stuff from Thiruvananthapuram and our office.
We're provided with breakfast at the panchayat and I'd interacted with the President and her colleagues to give them the crux of the yatra. Maman made it by 11 and soon after, the reception ceremony had taken off. The proceedings were rounded off with the street play put up by the Janamaitry Police and it was a hit, as always. The team had rejoined us this morning from Thiruvananthapuram after carrying out repairs on the bus.
The panchayats with which we'd our trysts today were:-
(a) Vazhakkulam.
(b) Choornikkara and
(c) Chengamanadu.
The reception ceremonies today had a comparatively less attendance than what they were yesterday. It was Saturday and the beginning of the weekend, they said. The interactions were meaningful, giving us a rare insight into the way our village folk thought and went about their lives. Is there a tendency to play safe in their official lives? Or are such deviations mere aberrations? Or is it playing politics to the hilt? Do I feel a reluctance, on the part of a few, to accept the opposite political viewpoint?
We'd rounded off the day's proceedings with the police's street play at Chengamanadu. The crowd could have been greater especially because it was at the Desam junction.
We'd returned to the YMCA and into the same room in which we stayed yesterday. Getting a room in the government guest house turned out to be futile.
Tailpiece.
Reading of the newspapers have now been reduced to restricting to the headlines and a quick read of the coverage of the yatra. Television viewing has again come down to scanning the news!
We're provided with breakfast at the panchayat and I'd interacted with the President and her colleagues to give them the crux of the yatra. Maman made it by 11 and soon after, the reception ceremony had taken off. The proceedings were rounded off with the street play put up by the Janamaitry Police and it was a hit, as always. The team had rejoined us this morning from Thiruvananthapuram after carrying out repairs on the bus.
The panchayats with which we'd our trysts today were:-
(a) Vazhakkulam.
(b) Choornikkara and
(c) Chengamanadu.
The reception ceremonies today had a comparatively less attendance than what they were yesterday. It was Saturday and the beginning of the weekend, they said. The interactions were meaningful, giving us a rare insight into the way our village folk thought and went about their lives. Is there a tendency to play safe in their official lives? Or are such deviations mere aberrations? Or is it playing politics to the hilt? Do I feel a reluctance, on the part of a few, to accept the opposite political viewpoint?
We'd rounded off the day's proceedings with the police's street play at Chengamanadu. The crowd could have been greater especially because it was at the Desam junction.
We'd returned to the YMCA and into the same room in which we stayed yesterday. Getting a room in the government guest house turned out to be futile.
Tailpiece.
Reading of the newspapers have now been reduced to restricting to the headlines and a quick read of the coverage of the yatra. Television viewing has again come down to scanning the news!
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