26 June - India - Orchha

After a rough night I have to pass on the morning activities so send R off to report back.
Am starting to feel better so hopefully will be able to get to the cooking class this afternoon. This town has a population of around 10,000 people & is over endowed with palaces & temples dotted along the riverside. The highlight of Orchha is the large, well preserved cenotaphs of the Bundela kings.

As the day progresses I feel ok enough to join in the afternoon cooking class & what a highlight & so much more than a cooking class!!! After a short tuk tuk ride we are at Vandana house. She lives in a small street & welcomes us into her house. I would suggest they are considered reasonably well off so its interesting seeing the inside of the house. It's beautifully tiled but the walls are plastered concrete (no paint). There are no windows but skylights, the doors are cut out of the concrete walls....... No doors. There is electricity but the wires festoon the walls & loop across the ceiling - all the wiring is exposed.
She has a well stocked kitchen with lots of bench space & there is hot & cold running water both in the kitchen & washroom which has both an eastern & western toilet.

She welcomes us with iced water (bottled) & a brief introduction as to what sort of food they eat & the spices she uses. It's lovely to see how well her sister-in-law & niece all interact & help out. She hands out recipe sheets & sets off making Marsala chai (the tea that is served everywhere & anywhere) ....as she is Hindu the recipes are all vegetarian which is great.
We are encouraged to look around the house & bedrooms, kitchen & shrine area & to ask questions. She effortlessly moves from one dish to another whilst we savour the smells. Her sister in law makes wholemeal chapattis - an art she had clearly mastered ..... & invites us to try .... She makes it look effortless but there is a knack in rolling them out just so & cooking them on the naked gas flame just so.
We are invited to peruse the flat roof top & Bhagi explains what an important role in family life it plays. Summer nights the whole family sleeps outside, at family get togethers the kids play & fly kites from it, daily the washing gets hung from it, & of course budding romances abound amongst the youth - flirting from rooftop to rooftop.
We are called for dinner & enjoy the meal that we watched being prepared.

Then, our hostess dressed up all the ladies in saris & the men in turbans & long outfits - then we had our arms hennaed & were able to wear the saris home in the tuk tuks.
A lovely evening & highlight for me.