Rural Tour with more than a touch of Reality!!

I first took one of Reality’s tours to Dharavi about a year ago attempting to acquaint myself with Mumbai.  It was fabulous, interesting, informative worth every rupee so when I heard that Chris Way and Krishna Poojari were starting rural tours in Maharashtra I went along.

I can thoroughly recommend the tour.  It is extremely well organized and Krishna is an excellent guide. We all met at the Gateway of India early in the morning alongside a local laughter group in the throws of their morning practice!  We took the ferry and met Krishna about an hour later.  The itinerary includes a mix of visits which give the visitor the feel of rural Maharashtra including a stop at a Buddhist village where we had a delicious meal with a family.  Next we visited a Hindu village where again we were given the warmest welcome and enormous amounts of delicious food.

 During the drive we made frequent stops to observe farmers working in the fields with Krishna giving us an outline of farming methods and also we had the opportunity to meet loads of local people.  We visited several schools – once again we were warmly welcomed with smiling children swarming around our group dying to start a game of cricket.

 We visited Reigar fort reached by a perilous cable car – an absolute wonder of the world – situated on a mountain top covering acres and acres Chatrapati Shivagi’s domain and one gets the feeling of the might of the man and his kingdom. The feel of Maharasthra.   Apparently there is a network of mountain top forts which he established amidst lots of battles. 

 As the light dropped we climbed a hillside and visited an Adavasi village – the surroundings were breathtaking, the circumstances of the villagers – basic with the people walking miles each day to fetch water while a film star lives in luxury at the top of the hill with her private water supply!

 Early in the evening we visited an Ashram where a group of Adavasi children live and are educated.  We arrived in time for evening songs and prayers.

An overnight stop was with a family in a village – more delicious food – huge quantities cooked by mother and daughter…. mmmmm!!  The tour was 2 days one overnight stop.  The next morning we had an Indian breakfast, visited the village school, the boys played a lengthy game of cricket, the girls attempted to carry water on their heads without spilling a drop – not altogether successfully!!!  Driving the bullock cart proved to be a slow business- the beasts immediately recognized an amateur and refused to budge!!  So all in all we had more than a taste of life in rural Maharashtra.