There and back

No classes at the Institute today. Had a nice morning at "home," an enjoyable lunch on a rooftop restaurant, and then a trek to the outskirts of Pune to a celebration of Maher Ashram's "Annual Day Celebration." We stayed for some of the singing and dancing by the lovely and beautifully dressed children and half of the official presentation, much of it in Marathi. When it seemed like it might go on for quite a while, we thought we better start back, not knowing exactly how that would go.

A sweet local couple was getting a ride back to the closest town, so we asked if we could go along. At that more populated hub we all got out of the Maher car and discussed our next move. We generously offered to take them back with us in an Uber, but we couldn't get a signal. So then they generously offered to get us a rickshaw, but then we hopped into a six seater. Turns out it takes as many riders as want in and goes very slowly. In the bottom photo you see our new friend from Maher and Paul on the right; there were four of us on the facing seat, as well. Two separate rickshaw rides later, with many stops for the driver to ask strangers on the curb if they could help figure out where we wanted to go, we made it back.