34/ 100 Be Careful with the Apple

I took these two serene photographs on our first day in the desert town of Pushkar, or at least on the way to the town itself. This was a very small village that didn’t have a name and we enjoyed meandering slowly through it each day.

As with most days in India, we were woken at sunrise by the morning songs of various creatures. Cockerels, dogs, cattle and children all seemed to enjoy vocally welcoming the first sunshine of the day. I wanted to get out and about to capture some of the low sun (great for photographers) and generally have a nosey around. We pocketed a couple of apples that we had left from the day before and thought we could eat them on the walk that morning. 

I cannot even begin to put into words how peaceful it was. There were barely any people around, except for the old chap in the photograph above who was on his way to collect his milk in the aluminium urns that you see everywhere there (most often slung either side of a bicycle). The morning sun was gentle and the animals were standing wherever its warm rays touched the ground, warming up after a chilly night in the Thar desert.

Fiona spotted some piglets huddled in a corner and, for whatever reason, decided that one in particular looked hungry. She removed the apple from her pocket and proceeded to upset the delicate balance of peace and harmony that had existed, unchallenged, for many years. 

She gave her apple to the tiny piglet who then instantly became the guy with the food who was to be caught at all costs. The little pink rocket bolted up through the village whilst emitting the loudest shrieks you can ever imagine, chased by dozens of pigs, piglets, dogs, cows, goats – you name it. A group of adult pigs, all squealing at the same time, appeared from the other end of town to see what all the fuss was about. Utter chaos. Doors flew open, families appeared, cars stopped in the street. Everyone wanted to know what on earth was happening. Then, when they saw it was the tourists, they simply tutted and went back to bed. Fiona never fed anything again after that day.

(If you look closely at the bicycle photograph you can still see an excited pig running around 30 minutes after the apple event.)