This is really amazing. BJP won the May election and Modi became the prime minister. He is setting out to reduce corruption. This is one of his first acts - everyone must have a bank account and ATM card. And to make it work, he has installed ATM machines in many small villages. The population of Valathi is probably 500 and here is the ATM machine site 24/7 available with backup power. So when the govt provides gas subsidies they are deposited directly into your account - instead of passing to someone who charges a "fee" for distributing (politely called skimming) - the ATM machines bring transparency to the passing of salaries, subsidies, etc
The ATM machine
I love to make photos of cooling tea. Its a wonderful demonstration of physics - the flowing tea changes from laminar flow at the top to droplet flow at the bottom - because of surface tension and gravity that promotes droplet formation
Preparing chickens - fresh
Morning chickens
Morning rice field before planting.
Driving to AP and the West Gate Church
We drove north for a couple of hours, through Vellore and into Andra Pradesh to the West Gate Chapel - an outreach church Betty built
All came outside to meet us
Then marched back in for th emorning service
Arputhraj
After the service, tea and bicuits
Driving back to Vellore
Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore
Sign
Downtown Vellore
And along the way - folks are planting rice. So I stopped and took some more photos
Usuall mixture of amazing colors
More colors
C. Frank Starmer