A Bicycle Built for Two?

A 10th standard student has been pestering us for about 3 months to go to his house in a neighboring village. Finally, we cleared our weekend to head out to a village only reachable by bicycle on Saturday. This turned out to be one of the best days I've had in a long time.

It began with a slow Saturday morning without any classes. Addaia and I had asked for a second bike the night before and were patiently waiting around for it to appear on our front porch as we sipped our second cup of morning coffee. Eventually, and unsurprisingly, the school bell rang and we were still without a second bicycle. Yeshpal, the student, came to our porch at 11:30 on the nose and asked if we were ready. "Um, sure thing. We can fit on one bicycle, right?"

The scenery on our ten kilometer ride was so beautiful, we were really upset we didn't bring our cameras. We told Yeshpal how lucky he was to live in such a beautiful place and all he said in response was:

"Yes, teacher. I am afraid."

"Um, what?"

"...of the tigers. There are many tigers in these fields."

"Excuse us... did you say, tigers? Like big, carnivorous cats?"

"Yes, teacher. Many dogs are (hand signal for killing)."

(a later shot of the same area)

Well, at least we were on a bicycle, we thought. No use in worrying now, but Addaia began to pedal a little bit faster. This, of course, only gained us more attention as two American women squeezed onto one rickety bicycle going as fast as we could to a village in the middle of nowhere.

Before leaving, we had asked if we should bring some filtered water. "Oh no, teacher. We have Bisleri water." After our bike ride all the way to his house in the mid-day sun we are given water. After half a glass, we are told "Oh, teacher. This is not filtered water. We have no Bisleri water." Amoebic dysentery here we come!

Eventually, after eating delicious bananas straight off the tree, we ended up going down to the river with Yeshpal and his friends. "Miss, you swim?" chided one of the boys. Well, we can put our feet in, we thought. Ten minutes later, we were swimming in our salwar khameezes with water buffalo and cows. Literally. We only decided to get out of the water when the cows began to pee into the small pool we shared.

After we got out of the water, we were joined by three of our female students who took us to their house to eat a delicious lunch of Gujarati thali and more non-Bisleri water. The students seemed to be taking shifts with us. Every 5 minutes a new girl would come into the kitchen with two flowers, the previous one would leave, and we would begin another conversation about school and their village.

We finally told the students: "Only one more house, then we must go home." This of course turned into three more houses in a village 5 kilometers in the other direction from Kadod, more unfiltered water, sugary sodas, and chai. By this point, our stomachs were beginning to rumble as we braced ourselves for the 45 minute ride home.

Now, I don't know if you realize this, but this whole time Addaia and I are riding on a rickety old bicycle, she is pedaling and working hard to carry both of our weights and I am attempting to balance myself on an unpadded metal bar over the wheel. Meanwhile, I must suspend my legs just above the ground while using my arms to try to brace myself while we hit the many bumps in the Indian roads between the two villages. Not the most comfortable bike ride in the world...

(the bike we rode on, note the back wire rack where I sat for nearly 3 hours that day)

In the end, it was a great day spent with students and friends. We have already made plans to return to their beautiful village. Maybe next time, we'll borrow a motorbike instead...