But Indian pilgrims are also expected to walk barefoot. For villagers who go barefoot most of their lives, this presents no special hardship. But for the foreign tenderfoot, walking barefoot on Indian roads can be an excruciating affair even from the start. A typical pada yatra in South India might amount to one hundred kilometers over four days and nights. When walking by day, the road becomes hot by 9 am.
Food is served in profuse quantities.
By late afternoon the road surface cools enough for pilgrims to resume walking. If the pilgrimage happens to coincide with a full moon such as Tai Pucam or Pankuni Uttiram, the pilgrims may go on walking throughout the night, stopping for only a few hour's nap on the ground under a tree or in a temple. For popular pilgrimages like Tai Poosam to Palani , the roads may be choked with hundreds of thousands of foot pilgrims, all gaily dressed and many singing devotional hymns as they walk. So there is no chance of losing one's way. But there is the very real possibility of getting separated from the other members of one's kuttam or party of pilgrims, as this pilgrim has discovered.