Last week I spent 3 days pruning pomegranates at Condo, because my Dad was working near there and they needed people.. and I could use the cash.
What I didn't expect was that going a couple of hours west would sink me straight into a little India!!
I (and my bro Ben) were working with a whole bunch of guys from Punjab, Gujarat, and Pakistan. They rattled away in Hindi and Punjabi all day long - and I understood nothing but 'Sahib Paul', 'Sahib Cartic', and 'smokee'!
They chewed on tobacco and pruned away to the tinny bollywood tunes bouncing from phones or mp3s. Every now and then the braver (and better at english) ones would strike up a brief conversation with me or Ben.. and the more flirtatious of them threw small pomegranates at me and moaned about how little sleep he got because he was addicted to facebook (um, excuse me but how is that attractive?!) haha.
I wiped sweat from my top lip and prickles from my legs.. and worked on developing blistered fingers, muscular thumbs, and a decent sock tan.
We swilled litre upon litre of chilled water (ah, heaven!).. and at lunch break they shared some of their curry and chappatis with us.
When they found out I was visiting India they were very excited - though a little disappointed when they heard I wasn't going into the north at all, they still tried to think of friends in the places I was going who might be able to show me around!
So despite the 40 degree heat and ensuing exhaustion, it was actually not a bad few days.. :)
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