This evening we had a memorable experience…..we cooked with Auntie (who we met yesterday). Auntie offers cooking classes to young girls and women around town, so that they can learn to cook. She agreed to do the same for us. She taught us how to cook 4 dishes – Dal, Chana, mixed vegetables and paneer masala. All of them turned out awesome, and I look forward to cooking them when I get back home (if I can remember!). It truly was a delight to meet with them and get to hear about them. I learned so much from Uncle about India, its culture and its future.
Upon leaving their house, we felt a sense of welcome previously unexperienced on our trip. Here are these people who are pratical strangers who open up their home to us, feed us, teach us to cook, show us around. They treated us as members of the family – not as guests. This truly was a delight and an inspiration. It reminds me of what is truly important in life…..friends and family. You are a collection of many things, one of the most important is the people you know and the relationships you form. These interactions make up your life and shape you into who you are. Sometimes we forget this, but the hanging with Auntie and Uncle reminded me of this. Not only from their hospitality, but they way they talked, acted and showed respect. Ok, enough gushing.
We also did some shopping today along with seeing the Amber (pronounced Amer) Fort. It was the best fort we have seen but pailed in comparison to our evening.
No pictures can be uploaded today, sorry. But we will head to Bombay tomorrow to meet Ritesh’s folks.
nick-
To tell you the truth, the only impact on time zone is keeping track of LSU football games.
In Europe, I stayed up for the AU game and checked on it. I could not do this for the Tulane game (or the ones before) as they were too late. In India, the day games are completely out. But the night games are doable. India is 10 1/2 hrs ahead of eastern time zone. So I could potentially get up at 6am and catch a full game. I did monitor the end of the UGA-Ole Miss game last week in my hotel on the internet. When we go to Thailand, it will be even easier for night games
Michael
Great post!
If you have a chance, can you guys maybe post some thoughts on how the change in time zones has affected you throughout the trip?
Thanksk.
Seriously – I now need to go look for an Indian food cooking classn (and make some new friends…) Thanks for sharing!
– Carissa, Otis & Cowboy (reading this while eating waffles, which pale in comparison to your Indian food.)
What an great experience…y'all have always enjoyed indian food so much. Now you have the basics you need to share your experience with us when you return home to Cataula.
Dad, Mom, PJ & Wags…you know I love any kind of food!
glad to see the trip is going well – embarrassed to say I haven't checked it out until now.
Saw an article that made me think of you – will email it to you.
Write down those recipes quickly so you can cook them for us when you get home.