A REST IN PEACE

Cecile and Perrine's dream comes true

After all these big lively cities, overcrowded with people willing to sell something – every possible thing - we truly need some peaceful place to rest and to do our laundry. We reach Orchha. We are saved. We get a feeling of relaxation, without being forced to always be on our guards. The bus trip to Orchha seems to tell us we made the right choice. Even though the bus is on the edge of overbooking, the landscape we cross is wide open. This is the India we were dreaming of as we planned our trip from Finland. Large fields, some saris moving in green land, a few spread houses, some hills. Nothing special really, but a space that can be lived in at human scale. Plus, the bus driver play some Bollywood soundtrack loudly. It feels like a wonderful dreamt road trip. We smile endlessly.

At first Orchha seems however to be one of these very touristic place, brand new, quite clean compared to Indian standards, a few baba shops, a lot of foreign faces (mainly Coreans)… The atmosphere is that of a sea side resort, without a beach but with a beautiful river, the Betwa.

And Baba land is back...

 But after a few hours only, we realize that this is only a very superficial side of Orchha, and that our first opinion was quite wrong. Orchha is a centre where mainly Indian tourists come for pilgrimage or to visit one of India’s important historical place. As we get to our hostel, found by chance and located a bit outside of the centre on the heights, we are overwhelmed by the view. Many historical buildings (temples and palaces) are spread in the area, drawing wonderful silhouettes watching over this very small city. The nature is everywhere to be seen, and only a few minutes walk take us out, whatever direction we take. Our dream has come true, we can abandon ourselves here.

Of course there again, we meet some very strange people, like the “doctor Raj”, but overall we are left in peace and our movements are free around. We even manage to spend some times with locals without there being any back thoughts. We spend lovely walks along the river, which is merely a stream, where few people bath once in a while. We discover a path besides the Natural park, and walk in the midst of monkeys. Cécile is afraid there might be some tigers, luckily we don’t meet any. We can finally enjoy after 10 days being alone. And the sun bathes our faces, that little by little turn brown (Cécile) or red with freckles on the nose (Perrine). We understand how pleasant the life of a lizard can be. And we see the cows, the dogs, the pigs, and some human beings doing the same: do nothing under the sunlight. 

A cow life

Another cow life