I have learned to walk down the alleys and narrow paths rather than the main streets on the way to the temple. It would seem that the villages of India have moved to small houses and apartments along these back streets, though perhaps the first stop is the slums around the central part of the city. This morning women at the pump clustered with their plastic yellow, green, red water jugs. Carts set up to serve breakfast (thali on banana leaves). Young men washing their faces from buckets. Children, off from school because it's Saturday, giving me the "hello, how are you? what is your country?" I tell them "Norway," adding, "very cold, very cold." Fruits, potatoes, bananas for sale in little piles. A priest opening up the shrine on the corner but other shrines line the walkway, simple stones, trees and rock carvings. The gods (shiva, ganesh, pavarti) already are annointed with their morning offerings of flowers, ghee, rice powder. And I haven't walked a full block yet.