In my guesthouse works the wonderful 18 years Manju.Manju comes from a village in Karnataka (another district in India), 10 hours from Palulme, Goa. He is the main supporter of his family, and has started working when he was 10 years old. Without knowing how to read or write, he speaks 5 languages and is an excellent businessman. When talking to him you can easily see the good hart of this young man.
From the moment I met Manju, we made a connection, and spent about half an hour every day talking. Manju has invited me to come with him to a Hindu festival in his small village, and I willingly accepted, taking Neil with me as a chaperon. And so it happened, that from the 26th of December till the 29th, I spent the most incredible time with Neil, Manju and Manju’s family. This picture was taken on our way to the village (we exchanged about 5 local buses).
Some general details:
The festival we attended occurs once every 3 years, and no white person has ever attended it. In fact, according to Manju- no white person has ever visited his village (and we could certainly feel it from the attention we drew). Therefore, there were no hotels or restaurants in the village, and no other appropriate services. For 3 nights we stayed at Manju’s home with his extended family (many people from his family, who live in other villages, have come to celebrate the festival). We ate with them the same food, used the same toilets (the un-existing ones…) spend time with them and joined the religious ceremonies.
An unforgettable, unique and wonderful experience!
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