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Some Pictures from my travels

Biscuits!

Today, i drove down to Rangilpur, a small village in Ropar district of Indian Punjab. The road was difficult with several potholes and then i came across a patch where there was labor laying the road anew.

Shiela was walking on this road, coming from the opposite direction to my car. Suddenly, the grit on her face while she walked on the stones striked me. I thought, what could be her age, stopped my car and had several questions for her.

Shiela is here in Punjab from a village Panota, which is perhaps beyond Delhi or Mumbai. Shiela knows the name of these two large cities in the country. She lives not her with her parents but her sister and her brother-in-law.

I had a sea of questions for the little girl who does not know her own age. Do you go to school Shiela, i asked? Do you like to play? What do you eat?

What is different that you eat over here, I asked, because i was expecting an answer from her, that would say, she ate more vegetables or more chapati, but to astonishment, What Shiela ate DIFFERENT here than at home was "Biscuits".

Shiela, who is eight has been brought here to Punjab to look after her one and a half year old nephew. Her sister said that they did not get enough money in their own state thus did not know about biscuits there, here they get more money so they can buy Biscuits!