Pune-Bijapur
India 2017
There weren’t many photos for today.
And so we stepped out at the railway station in Bijapur. Those first minutes in a new city are so important, so touching… I always feel like a lurking animal, sneaking along and trying to sense the mood of the city, the atmosphere in it, as if I were feeling it by touch… I immediately liked that crowds of tuk-tuk drivers didn’t rush at us. They just stood there and waited.
We walked past them, farther along the wide dusty street with little shops on both sides, and along the road black piglets were running around. A couple of times children came up to shake our hands. Apparently white tourists are still a rarity here…
Piglets along the road
We checked into the hotel and went to have breakfast. Although it was already one o’clock in the afternoon, for us it was breakfast. The hotel restaurant pleased us with delicious food. I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet that here in India, in good establishments, it’s customary to bring a little plate of fennel after the meal. We really like it and always eat it. Sometimes they bring sweet fennel coated in sugar.
Fennel with sugar and without sugar
We decided to leave one of the town’s main attractions — Gol Gumbaz, near which we live — for later. And today we went to the central market; we wanted to buy Volchyi a new shirt (his old one was completely full of holes, like a sieve). At first we thought of getting there by tuk-tuk, but then a cabman latched onto us (there are lots of horses here with beautiful carts for tourists) and agreed to take us to the bazaar for 50 rupees, so we jumped into the makeshift carriage and set off. On the way we caught a glimpse of the city’s main mosque and some dilapidated tomb — Bijapur is simply permeated with Islam.
It was very lively at the central market. We saw huge sacks of hot red chili peppers. We came over to take photos of a spice stall, and the merchant gave us a handful of peanuts. Then we took photos with him, and he asked us to send him the picture.
Wolf with the Spice Merchant
At a men’s clothing store, they bought Volchy a new shirt. And at the market, they bought two melons.
They walked home on foot. Groups of schoolgirls shyly looked at Volchy. Along the way, they bought Indian sweets again; this time they were all different and delicious.
They passed by a mountain of coconuts, and Volchy suggested having some coconut to drink. We stopped and watched a man in a car buy coconuts to take home. We sat down on little chairs and ordered a coconut for ourselves, and the man paid for his coconuts and then said, “I paid for you too, I’m treating you to coconuts :)” It was so unexpected that we didn’t even have time to properly thank him — he jumped into the car and drove away. So we got coconut drinks for free — by the way, they were very tasty.
