sketching the dust storms of nowhere, india (with a broken charcoal pencil)

ever tried drawing a town that doesn’t show up on maps? my kneaded eraser’s covered in *rajasthani truck grease and regret. the air’s clinging to 17-and-change degrees-tight enough to make your pencils snap if you press too hard. humidity’s at 36%, which means my watercolors dry faster than the bhang lassi at Ramu’s stall.

check the weather app this morning: 17.75°C but feels like 16.52. perfect for sketching if you enjoy your fingers going numb. pressure’s at 1017, which locals claim makes the street dogs sleep sideways.

if you get bored, Orchha’s fresco ghosts and Jhansi’s rogue auto-rickshaw gangs are two hours of pothole therapy away. heard from a goat herder that the Chanderi weaving workshops near the old well pay in chai and fabric scraps-TripAdvisor won’t tell you that (but here’s their limp attempt).

some wrinkled dude at a chai stall swore the abandoned fort’s west tower has a mural older than his debts. “Don’t go after sunset,” he said, wiping snot on his sleeve. “The guards aren’t human.” checked it out at dawn-just a bunch of bats and the best ochre pigment I’ve stolen all year.

pro tip: always carry chalk pastels here. the wind steals graphite. found a Yelp review calling the dhaba near Bus Stand a “culinary war crime,” but their dal could resurrect dead sketchbooks. read the drama here.

last night, some german backpacker muttered about hidden murals in the sewage drains. turns out it’s just 90s Bollywood graffiti, but hey-free ultramarine inspiration. locals say the Bhander River dries up faster than their patience for tourists. niche drainage art forum. don’t ask.

gonna nap in a haystack now. might update if the village fax machine* (yes) lets me upload this.

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