I allowed myself a lie in, but by the time I arose, Nirayin seemed to have planned my day. He realised I had 400km to go to Puri, but that was max 5 hours, he said, so we ambled into town for break and milk, he cooked me breakfast, and proposed a sightseeing trip to see the Hirakud Dam, the largest earth dam in the world, half an hour away, by bike, he said. We'd take my camera. On locking the gate, Nirayin gestured a prayer for Ganesh's protection for the coming journey.

Well I have to say the dam was jolly big and it was doing an excellent job holding all that water back. Shame that since terrorism came to the top of the agenda, no photos were allowed. We were a little behind his schedule, but Narayin directed us to take a snap out of range of the policemen. No sooner had we stopped though, than a burly cop roared up on a scooter, produced his gun, demanded my camera, and bellowed at us about National Security. Of course we were entirely guilty, but after a good 45 minutes raving, he calmed down. Then his superior came along and the whole thing had to be gone over again, and then he wrote down how all foreigners should register with local police wherever they stay, and when I leave, and that sleeping in darbars wasn't good enough, and that it was all for my own security. In the end I said I wished English policemen had so much time to talk, and he obligingly added his mobile number to the page of instructions. Nirayin said that it was Ganesh's protection that nothing worse happened, but I put it down to his stupidity and the policeman's self importance that the whole encounter had been so blown up.