First blog after a month and a half in India

Tuesday 22 September 2026

It's starting to get close now. On 3 or 4 October we begin the Narmada Parikrama: a journey of more than 3,000 km along the Narmada river, straight through a large part of India. And honestly, we're not really well prepared yet. The website still isn't finished and we don't have all the gear we need, like a sleeping mat, a pillow and the kurta we'll wear during the walk. We also still need to take a few other precautions. I do have a good idea of where we need to go and where we can spend the night, certainly at the start. And on top of that I'm still walking around with those damn braces in my mouth, which need all sorts of things arranged in between as well.

So it's another typical Yasha and Diederik move: sorting everything out at the last minute.

Wednesday 23 September 2026

Worked hard today on mapping out where we can and can't walk. I looked closely at the first 50 km in particular. I also finally found a route description, only it was in Hindi. Luckily there's Claude, a top AI, which translated the whole 50-page PDF for me. How easy life has become. Still, the days are flying by. I still can't believe I've been in India for more than a month and a half already. Bizarre.

And yes, Yasha has sprung into action too. She went to the market with her mother today and bought two beautiful white kurtas there, with matching gamchas (don't know what that is? Ask Claude 😉). That way we can walk the Narmada Parikrama the way tradition prescribes.