Tribal girls, cows cows on main street

We visited a home where girls “from the neighboring tribes”, we were told, go to school. Indian nuns, wearing saris, persuade the girls’ mothers to let them come. Otherwise the girls will be married off as soon as they reach puberty. The girls arrive straight from the jungle, often wearing only loincloths and not knowing how to wash or even sleep in a bed, the nuns told us. This was a surprise as we didn’t know there was anything like primitive tribes in India.

We are heading to the state of Kerala on the coast for a couple of days. We take an overnight train, with six people sleeping in bunks on a coach. Should be interesting.