Chitrakoot 22.02.10
Nikki
It was a long drive in the private cars from Panna to Chitrakoot. The road was rough and narrow but from what we could gather was the main highway across the state. Think almost continuous potholes interspersed with patches of loose gravel and just the odd stretch of properly paved road and you get the picture. We probably averaged about 20 miles an hour.
At one point the cars came to a halt and Dinesh leapt out and immediately started chatting with some local farmers who were relaxing in the fields. (The men are ALWAYS relaxing somewhere!) We all got out and a crowd quickly gathered around us, staring silently. Very quickly a small bonfire was made from dry twigs and clumps of chick pea plants were thrown onto the blaze. Within a few minutes the fire was out, the embers were dragged away and the charred chick peas were raked up. Barbecued chick peas for our coffee break! They tasted great!
Once we arrived in Chitrakoot we were taken to the only hotel in town. It was very basic and the rooms all had a rather odd smell. Several of us upgraded to their 'deluxe' rooms…still basic….but at least the smell in these was confined to the bathrooms!
In the afternoon we went to a rather a bizarre exhibition depicting scenes from the Ramayana in garish paintings and some 3D models. It's a holy town and we visited a couple of the main temples on the way back. In the evening we took a boat from the Ghats down the river to see a small puja (prayer) ceremony…a little taste of what to expect in Varanasi.