Day 291: Nashik-Maleganon

I could not get out of bed this mornig, it was too cosy, not too hot for a change, so I slept some 12 hours in a row. Once I got up around midday the sun was too strong for cycling, instead I took a walk through the city. I found a new baseball cap (the last one did not survive the last laundry and fell appart) and drank coconut water. This stuff always makes me feel like popay after he ate his spinach. The entire city seemed to greet me with shouts, nods, wavings and the school-kids toppled over each other to do handshakes. An old man wrapped in white cloth and a walking stick stopped in his stride, fixed me with his intense stare and gave me the indian lateral head nod with a sincere smile. I smiled back giving him the european nod and felt very honoured.
I think one could write a book about indian nods, when their applied and what they mean. Wagging the left and right is the I-hear-you-whatever-nod, it can mean yes, but I hear you is more general. Malou and Naveen had vivid discussions about this gesture that were funny and confusing at theu same time. I remember when Anil came as a guest-scientist to our lab in Dresden, he would do this while I was talking to him all the time and after initial irritation I interpreted it as yes, but subsequent actions led me to believe that it can't be (only) that. The rickshaw drivers have their hop-in-nod when they jerk their head in a rotational movement to the left. This nod can be easily mistaken the european-no-head-shake. My favourite one is the one I got from the old man today. It's a single tilt to the right and back (no turning). The hi-I-am-cool-with-you-nod. By answering with the same gesture you say; hi, we're cool. This last one I only figured out by reading Shantaram.
At three p.m I hit the road nice road today was more down than up, in very good condition and an amazing tailwind accelerated things considerably. At eight, shortly after dark my fast cruise with a couple of really nice landscape views ended in Maleganon. I checked for a room in a resort. The boss himself sat outside after an answer I did not quite understand but which sounded more as a no than a yes a small crowd had gathered. They asked questions, checked the pressure of my tires or just observed. At some point I was asked about my motivation to travel so far with a bicycle. That's a rare one, so rare that I can't remember being asked during one of these many short encounters. I gave my best explaining in simple english supported by sign language. I said in simpler phrases and words that I want to see the world with my own eyes, rather than just hear stories, read travel-blogs or news papers. Then I gave him the example of Iran and you always hear about politics and people tend to forget about the people of a country. I don't like the government of Iran much but then it governments make it generally hard to like them, however the people in Iran are good and they make it hard or won't even allow to make theu connection between them and their government and its politics. The boss seemed very satisfied with my answer giving nodding (not wagging his head) once I made my point. There was talk between them and his staff and I only picked up a word resembling complete, but I got the impression that he would have helped if he could. Before we parted the boss indicated me the way to another hotel.
Here they told me what I heard yesterday also a couple of times, that thei only have then a-c deluxe suite free, in other words then most expensive room, that costs three times as much as a basic room. I made a bit of drama but then receptionist said that that would be all they have left, so I said that I wanted to see it. When he opened the key drawer I mentioned that there would be an awful lot of keys for an almost complete hotel, there he just glared at me. I took a look at the luxurious suite acknowledged that it is indeed beautiful but not my price range. After some more drama the found a room in a lower class, finally I could knock a bit of the price and took the room. And unexpectedly I got to see some eu-championship on tv, a nice finish.