A Touch of Solitude

After my last post, I did indeed go back to my room for awhile, but got bored and couldn't bring myself to stay there for long. I went for a walk down to a lone temple about a kilometre and a half south of town. Despite its isolated location, I was still unable to view it uninterrupted...the inescapable guy who isn't a guide and doesn't want any money (but always asks for it later) insisted on escorting me around. I didn't really want a tutuorial on temple erotica from an 80-year old Indian man and I was finally able to get him to leave me alone. Still, I was hoping it would have been a bit more deserted so that I could just have spent some time sitting there alone and chilling out.

After I left there, I continued south along a tiny, dusty dirt road through the countryside. I walked for over an hour, just ambling among the fields, with no company except for some water buffalo and goats. At one point a girl materialized out of a field and pestered me for about fifteen minutes, looking for pens and chocolate and generally babbling on in Hindi at the top of her voice. I am sometimes tempted to carry chocolate around in a baggie here and present it to these kids who are always begging for it. I'm sure it would be lovely in the 40 degree heat. Other than this girl, I was left totally alone and was just able to roam without hassle, noise, interruption or any other disturbance. Being in the countryside and on my own has really helped my state of mind and brought my stress levels down to something manageable.

I went out to dinner tonight, had a really nice meal with decent service and no attempts to rip me off. I even had a slice of chocolate cake for dessert - I figure I deserved it after my day. My walk through the town to and from the restaurant were almost pleasant - I was probably only hassled half a dozen times in each direction. If I can just hold onto my inner peace, I'm sure it will be reflected in my interactions with the locals.

I'm off to Agra tomorrow so may not get to post until the following day. Wish me luck with my travels...