Phaltan

Not deterred by our experience in Solapur, this weekend we ventured back out of Pune to the town of Phaltan. We went to meet up with two other EWB volunteers who are working with the organisation ARTI to convert a diesel generator to biogas. It took two and a half hours on a bumpy bus ride to get there and when we arrived it didn’t take long to spot Jack and Jon - the only other white people there! They took us to where ARTI was based and showed us what they had been working on. It was quite a contrast to the office based work Maxine and have been doing! Later we were taken on the grand tour of Phaltan by one of the guys who also worked at ARTI. This included: a private tour of the local palace, meeting a famous Marathi actor, learning to drive a rickshaw, seeing kite string being made, getting henna on our arms and hands and plenty of chai! This all of course had been specially laid on for our arrival and was by no means a complete coincidence!

The following day there was a kite festival in the town and we were invited to go watch some locals fly their kites. The paper kites with glass string were very similar to those in the Kite Runner. People were flying their kites from rooftops across the town and would try and cut the string of the other kites with their own. The kites were able to go incredibly high and the guys somehow managed to control and direct them with only one string – something I didn’t fancy trying! Later on some guys turned up ith Indian drums and a strange electronic instrument. Every time a kite was cut down the drums would start up, the guys would shout and everyone would start dancing. Even Jack and Jon got involved at one point!

It was really nice to get away from the busy streets of Pune, be able to see the stars at night and breath fresh air in the morning. Not really sure whether Jack and Jon appreciated how much this made a nice change as I think they were both missing their creature comforts. I must admit that it made me realise that Maxine and I are very fortunate to be based somewhere where we can go out in the evenings and live pretty much the same as in the UK.