The people I have met

have been truly nice. And here is an incomplete list, in no particular order.

• I once reached Ddun at an ungodly hour when I returned from a field trip. The rickshaw-wallah agreed to take me to my corner of the town without haggling over price, and those of you who have travelled in any of the larger cities in India know what a miracle this is. I reached home, and paid my fare. He waited till I unlocked the gate and got safely inside before driving off. That was such a lovely, non-intrusive, and good thing to do. I don’t know his name, never saw his face. But he made me feel a whole lot better about Ddun.

• The chap I buy veggies from. It’s not like we are bosom friends now, but his is a friendly face I know and someone to chat to.

• A family of five who were crammed into a three-seat bench on a bus, but still made space for me.

• Owner of the Vishwakarma Lodge at Ghat. She did not like me, or trust this strange-talking, backpack carrying solo woman traveller, but I liked her. She was an immensely confident, hardworking, and gutsy woman in a tough place. It is perhaps not very politically correct, but I need to mention that she is a Muslim woman in the Land of the (Hindu) Gods, where most of the women, irrespective of religion, are in purdah. My sis would have really liked her- we need to go there.