Sights here in India start to become less and less shocking as the days pass, one of my favorites being Friday morning when we saw a man riding a bicycle with a monkey on the front handlebars and then another monkey sitting behind him. The idea was to cut down on pollution by bike-pooling, apparently.
This day found us traveling by vans to a village to stay at a fort high up on a hill called Madhogarh which overlooked the village of Bhandarez below. Turns out it is owned by one of the last maharajas (kings) of India. Every room was decorated uniquely, so not bad digs, especially considering our group of 10 were the only guests there.
After finishing lunch outside in the courtyard we took a walking tour of the village, complete with trips to two different schools, where the kids practiced reciting all of our names by loudly shouting them and then bursting into laughter.
We also stopped at a small room on the third floor roof of a home where 5 women sat together at what looked like sewing machines making stones for jewelry as well as a home where two women were carefully hand stitching designs onto saris. I also rotated this big wheel thing that grinds flour in an outdoor kitchen area of the same home.
While walking through the village, lots of school kids would stop for us to take their picture; I was teaching some of them to hi-five, but this was quickly halted when one of them decided to hi-punch my hand. I did get a group of them to HOLLA when I took their photo--teaching youth of India how to holla, I AM contributing something here! (The HOLLA group below)
There are some SERIOUS cool dudes rockin’ their own personal style and stand alones in the village. Two of my faves particularly stood out---Cane and Glasses Man and Spicy Snack Fire Man. Cane and Glasses was the Village Bad Ass, no doubt about it. Spicy Snack Fire made these TASTY, spicy snacks called pakoras right from under his little hut; fried to satisfy my taste buds divinely. I am pretty sure he kept raising his bushy white eyebrows at me as well. Frisky, that one.
As we walked along, we also saw groups of women digging a lake BY HAND. Maria has a post on her blog about this. We made yet another stop at a place where a teenage girl was making bangles by placing each bead on to the bracelet painstakingly. It was here that two boys befriended me (13 and 15 years old) and decided to practice their English--first asking to see Senor, then if Senor was my husband, then whether I had a husband. With my negative reply they reported, in an unappreciative tone, “Oh, you are UNMARRIED.” hahaha, yes, they got it right.
Later the bangle making girl got her bicycle down for me and I was able to ride her bike up and down the village street, and my new 13 year old friend got to ride on the back for a bit. Minutes later while walking back up to the fort about 20 village women walking down the road tried to convince me to come to dinner with them; an interesting exchange since we did not speak each others’ language.
Oh and yes, I wore the hot dog shirt this day. Probably seemed even more odd to them. And generated more unabashed stares.
That evening we watched the sun set from the top open veranda area of the fort, then we all got to dress up in traditional Rajasthani garb (see picture of me with my Harem of Men), have dinner in the courtyard, and practice our Bollywood moves. After the dance party (see Anant showing us his moves below), the Maharaja came and spoke to us about the history of the fort as well as the current state of affairs in India. Not bad to be rubbing elbows with a Maharaja. My regret is I did not get a picture of him and his Stand Alone.
A rum nightcap rounded out the evening, which was my favorite day in this colorful land thus far.
One of my favorite stray dogs.
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