Children play with sticks and old tires in the dirt roads; city buses arrive with daily workers; farmers return from the fields on rickety bicycles with loads of foilage strapped behind them; cows, sheeps, goats, and oxen stroll ahead of women carrying huge pots of cleaned kitchenware or clothes on their heads. 
This past week, I decided to give it a go, this whole balancing baskets on your head thing. This lady was on her way home from the bus stop, so I asked her if I could borrow her bag for a minute....one nimsha, ma?
There were only three coconuts in the basket, an odd number (never good for balancing) and the bottom was flimsy. Two strikes against me. We continued on to the next village where I took this picture of Mercy and a pack of kids who tagged along for our home-to-home survey. Now mom dukes over here jumped in the picture with that huge pile of sticks on her head as she was returning from the fields. 
So I admit. She looks a bit more steady than I did with the coconut bag. But... any physics student will immediately recognize that her sticks essentially form a uniform rod with a sturdy COM (center of mass). Much easier than balancing three coconuts. You know?
After finishing up for the day, Mercy wanted to buy some fresh vegetables. So these same kids led us out to the fields to gather cucumbers. They got some fresh snacks while this nice lady cut long, ridged vegetables i'd never seen before.
Sure did make for a bomb diggity curry the next day at lunch, thanks to Fazila.
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