The Other Village

Our fifth day was our day off. We were allowed to sleep for another hour, and after that checked out the town of Gudivada. Even in a place with around 100,000 people, they saw very few foreigners. People would stare at me like crazy. I even had a man slowly ride his bike next to me, just staring for more than ten minutes. Thankfully, rural India doesn’t seem very hostel. A smile and a handshake later and the stares seemed much less threatening.


Eyes of Gudivada.


Stores of Gudivada.

In the afternoon we headed to another village that many volunteers have visited in the past, including our two group leaders Megan and Anna. The name of the village is very long, so it was referred to GP village. GP village was even more rural than Chevuru, but the children were much more…intense. They had no inhibitions and knew what volunteers wanted to see. Even though I would say even fewer knew English than the children from Chevuru, friendship seemed like something made in an instant. The next thing I knew, kids were telling me jokes in the local language, Telugu, and I was just laughing knowing no idea what was being said.


Waiting for auto-rickshaws outside of GP village.


Barren Beauty


The faces of GP village.

Unfortunately that evening my roommate, Joe, got sick and I was soon to follow.