From Kerala we got an overnight train that took us across the South of India to the transit hub of Trichy in Tamil Nadu, ready to begin our month long volunteering assignment in a pre-school in a small nearby town.  During this time we also transited from tourist India to another place, I suppose you might call “real India”. This “real India” is an uncompromising place, where prices are a fraction of what they are in tourist India, the stares are hard and often angry or suspicious and the flies abundant.  The photo opposite shows where we breakfasted most days before school began, eating with our hands off banana leaves for less than 50p each.  These guys were some of the nicest people we met on our journey and always made us feel welcome.  But living in a stock room next to a busy classroom with constant interruption during the long school day was wearing and stressful. At the weekends we felt impelled to get a crowded bus back into Trichy to spend a ni...