4th of April, 2023.
Hitchhiking in India.
Spoiler alert: a long hitchhiking day ahead!
The first person to pick me up is Satish, going to Hyderabad. He wears a stylish pink shirt and is a very nice man. Satish calls his beautiful wife and we chat for a while. He shows me her Instagram also. We have some breakfast and he drops me off in the highway to Hyderabad.
While I am walking, hopeless, alongside the highway, Raju stops. He offers to drive me just to a better place, because he is not going anywhere really. Raju is a nice man too with a really nice voice. Unfortunately, the toll gate where he drops me off, it is in the wrong direction, opposite of the way to Nagpur.
Luckily for me, a young man (18) and his uncle are going to fetch some crafted table in Hyderabad, and offer to take me along. The preposition is to take me with them, because they are actually going to Shilparamam Craft Village, a kind of local market for crafts work, so they say it will be interesting for me to see it. How thoughtful! And after they can take me drop me off on the way to Nagpur. It is a very nice place indeed but they have to pay for my entrance because it is not for free. How come? If you want to attract people to buy local crafts, why would you charge an entrance fee? I would have to pay 500 Rupee just to take my camera with me. What? That’s insane! I refuse, of course, and to not leave the camera itself, I just leave the battery at the entrance gate.
Inside Shilparaman we have some chai and samosas. As I said, it is a very nice place, with lots of great and beautiful work. But I only have a picture of the gate, at the main entrance. After a while, we drive to my hitchhike spot.
Dr. Kuldeep is an eye doctor who has travelled to over 100 countries! He does a lot of volunteer work too, helping people with eye appointments and to get glasses for free too. Even so, he is very surprised with my travels.
I am in the highway again. What is it with Central India? I am only 2 exits away from Nagpur.
Something very sweet happen next. I am not in a very good spot but what to do? I know I must get to exit number six but it is far. I am a bit hopeless when this small truck, in quite bad conditions stop. Two very young men, Vankut and Arun, say that they can take me to exit number six. We manage to speak a little bit in English and they are very nice boys. When I am leaving, they tell me to take care.
I am hitchhiking alongside a road in construction. I had to walk a lot to get here. Gangadhar stops and he is going to Nizamabad. On the way we stop to pick up a colleague of his, Lakshman. They both work with construction roads regulation. Lakshman seems very suspicious about me travelling without money, and keeps asking question about how do I do this or that, which is very funny. They drop me off in front of a church near their own village.
I come to the church, where a service is going on, and immediately people invite me to come over and seat. I talk with some man about the fact that I need a place to spend the night and withing seconds he is asking around, checking with the locals about who can help me. Manisha and her family are the ones.
When the service is finished, I make a quick speech. That’s funny! I grab my backpacks and we walk together towards their homes. They are a big family so we pass by some of their houses, where I meet some of the relatives, drink some water, and then we carry on. They are all so very lovely and kind to me.
At Manisha’s family house I have a quick bath and then we eat. It is a big house. The girls and I decide to sleep on the roof top. How cool is that? It is so warm that I think it is a wonderful idea! I don’t even think about the mosquitoes. Manisha’s mother comes a few times upstairs to check on us. Honey is the youngest, only eleven years old, and she is very sweet. No pun intended. The other family member’s names I got are Anna Megomi, Manisha, Sujatha, Nissy, Melvin and Poramod.
It is indeed a wonderful night! I cannot explain how great I feel with this kind of welcoming from completely strangers. There is so much kindness and goodness in the world! How come so many people still do not see this? Manisha’s family is only one incredible example of the thousands of wonderful families I have met out there. And I know that are hundreds of thousands, millions of people out there with just as good a heart, full of kindness and generosity, waiting, willing to help anyone and everyone who seek for help.
Next morning, after breakfast they take me to a hitchhiking spot by the highway. I come in a motorcycle if a man and the rest of them in other bikes. They wait with me until a car finally stops.
10 Years Around the World 