The building itself is absolutely stunning! I love architecture to begin with but ancient architecture with incredibly detailed, hand carving is even better. One of the men that works at the temple was giving a bit of an explanation about the rows in the stone carvings. The first row were demons, then elephants, a sign of good luck in Indian culture, then horses, for power, followed by humans, and then the Gods dancing. The carvings of the Gods’ were of course larger than the rest of the rows. I really liked how the Gods were dancing. I love to dance, and have always loved to dance. It makes me feel free, expressive, beautiful, sensual, enchanting, fluid, ethereal even. Dancing is definitely one of my most favourite things to do. To see it literally carved in stone being performed by the Hindu Gods made me pretty happy.
Inside the temple there are offerings being given, bindi’s marked with a bright red powder, women are chanting, men are lying down on the floor, arms outstretched and hands pointed in prayer at the god idol, sitting at the perfect centre of the temple. Everything is alive and devoted to worship. While sitting with some of the chanting Indian women I noticed a mother and young daughter at the temple. They seemed very sweet and I smiled at them.
When it was time to go Michele and I came down the many temple steps and were greeted by the mother and young daughter I had seen in the temple. I mentioned them in an earlier post as they invited us to tea at their home. I was further invited to dinner at their home, which I did later accept. I went to Geeta‘s, the mother, place of work and confirmed that I would come on Sunday for dinner. Well this invitation extended into a whole day affair where Geeta, her daughter Jaya, and the rest of the family would take me around all of Udaipur, and then prepare a homemade meal for me. How fabulous!
Sunday it was. I met Geeta at the Jagdish temple and walked with her to her home where the two children were waiting eagerly. Geeta’s husband, Krishna, was just coming home from work. When I arrived at the house Geeta first prepared a traditional Rajasthani breakfast for me; poha and chai. Poha is seasoned rice, no spicy, with some seeds mixed in. it was delicious and I wondered why restaurants in town didn’t offer it as a breakfast option. Of course chai was offered. Chai is always offered and always the thing to share amongst people. Even if it is 11 o’clock at night, chai will be served if there is someone there to drink it. This suits me just fine as I love chai and could drink it all day everyday, and I do!
After breakfast it was dress up time. The children were put into ‘going out’ clothes and Stephanie became the large, white, Canadian doll for them to dress up. First it was the choice between two traditional Indian dresses; one white, one green. The green suited my complexion better, so green it was. Then Krishna, the husband painted to finger and toe nails to match. He also covered me with a very mild perfume, which was lovely. But made me feel like I had a B.O. problem! Then Geeta and Jaya put makeup on me. They wouldn’t accept ‘nay‘, or ‘no’ as an answer. So they drew kohl on my eyes, making them appear larger. They consistently told me how wonderful and beautiful I looked. I personally wasn’t a fan of the dress. I like the typical kourtas and sari’s that Indian women wear. But I was a guest, and they seemed to enjoy playing with their large Canadian doll, so I let them!
We left the house to “see the city”. I walked all over Udaipur. I walked all over Udaipur in someone else’s’ high-heeled sandals. It wasn’t so bad at first. But we walked for over an hour to get to the Neemish Temple. The Neemish Temple is the place where Krishna and Geeta met, fell in love, and eventually married. After walking the distance to get to the temple we then walked another 750 feet up a hill to get to the top. My tree planting legs were still strong and enduring so the height and distance didn’t bother me. What bothered me was that my sweaty feet kept slipping out of the sandals. Krishna had to hold my hand almost the entire way up so I didn’t fall out of the shoes. Ha ha ha ha ha. I certainly felt like a white, Canadian doll in distress.
But the view was worth it. At the top were vistas upon vistas. All of Udaipur lay in front of us, and all of the neighbouring mountains lay everywhere else. Truly amazing. Although, yet again, my camera died once at the top. So I only got a few pics in. Oh well, another time, another 750 feet!
I should mention that on the walk up to the temple Geeta and I stopped to get Panipuri. A new favourite of mine. Imagine puffed out Pringles chips. Small, round, hollowed out dumplings. That are very light and crispy in their texture. You poke a hole in the top, stuff it with a seasoned potato mix, then dunk it into a spicy lime brine, then into a sweet, but thicker, sauce. You put the whole thing in your mouth at once. I am always so worried about being rude or offensive in a new and different culture. But it is nice to know that there are some times you don’t have to worry and you can put the whole panipuri in your mouth at once! It tastes incredible. What doesn’t taste incredible is the incense you eat when you go to a Hindu temple. Here in India I am putting things in my mouth I never thought possible! Yes, I understand how funny that last statement was. When you enter into a temple, besides taking off your shoes, you often ring a bell, take a spoonful of water to drink (which I pretend to do as I don’t know if my body will agree with the water) and then one to pour on your head. I think (finger’s crossed) it is incense that you can also take into your mouth. There is also some kind of seed. You take a spoonful of it in your hand. Geeta examined the seeds in my hand for quite some time, then put some more, and some more. Then told me that the seeds represented the prayers I had asked for. I was now to keep these seeds somewhere safe and my prayers would come true. I put them in a zipper of my camera bag. If my camera gets stolen then my prayers certainly won’t come true ;)
After the, also difficult, walk down in the same sandals. We took a rikshaw to a local garden that was built for the Majaranas daughter. It turned out to be one of my favourite places in Udaipur. Solely due to the fact that it was quiet, peaceful, and away from the dirty city streets. It was lovely. We sat there and munched on roasted peanuts and popcorn. Both a very popular street treat. You can smell the peanuts roasting as you walk down any city street. Just the same you can also see the large woks popping fresh popcorn anywhere in the city of Udaipur.
After we left the garden we refreshed ourselves with some freshly squeezed cane juice. The juice press has a large crank and squashes the sugar cane. It pours down onto a large chunk of ice, which cools the juice. Then they pour the juice through a strainer and into a glass. Delicious. Then there was even more food!!!
We arrived back to Krishna and Geeta’s home for dinner. Unfortunately the tube for the propane tank which they use to cook all of their food has been blocked. So Geeta had to use a small kerosene element to cook the entire meal. There were rounds of delights. Let me tell you. First there was chai, which was more than welcome after a busy and slightly draining afternoon walking around in the hot Indian sun. Then there was a piece of chocolate cake, which was shared by all by feeding each other. It was at this point that I remembered a birthday of my best friend Jasmine. I was invited to her home for cake and festivities. Everything was the same as in my home for the birthday celebrations, however, once the cake is cut the birthday girl/guy is fed the first bite. In turn everyone in attendance is fed a bite of the cake. Jasmine’s family is Indian so it makes sense that I should practise the same tradition in India!
I watched Geeta’s mother-in-law, sit in front of the t.v., shell and peel clove after clove of garlic. She must have prepared twenty plus cloves. All of which were going into our dinner! As the cooking was coming along Krishna and Geeta pulled me into their storage room. Once a week they purchase a bottle of beer and share it between them, but away from the kids and Geeta’s mother-in-law. Out of respect, of course. Here I am in a storage closet with a bottle of clandestine beer, which I cannot drink because of my gluten intolerance. But I drank some of it anyway . . . And suffered for it in the aftermath. It was nice to spend time with Geeta and Krishna. You can see how much they love each other and what a happy family they are. The kids are always smiling and playful. There is always lots of silly, playfulness. Lots of hugs and affection. It was incredibly sweet. In addition to the beer Geeta and Krishna had a bag of chips, which we all shared, and all fed to each other as well.
As the night passed I caught up on Bollywood and Hollywood movies, the latest in Indian MTV, and some traditional Rajasthani folk dance. Geeta kept apologizing for how long the food was taking to cook. But truth be told I would have waited double the time for homemade Indian food . . . In India! I couldn’t have been happier.
At last the meal was ready; mutton, or goat, rice, and chappati. The mutton was cooked in a pressure cooker, which made it all the more tender and moist. So incredible! We of course fed each other, which I liked. I think it is considerate and intimate. Although I noticed that as everyone else just ate their meals, Krishna kept solely feeding me. I wasn’t sure if I looked starved or if it was the Indian obsession with a white woman, but I think I had two servings for dinner that night!
Before I knew it the day and evening had passed. It was time for me to go back to my hotel and rest my weary white Canadian doll head. I was invited to stay the night at Geeta and Krishna’s. Considering the fact that this family of four all sleep together, in the one room of their apartment, which serves as their family, living, and dining room, I thought it best to say good night and sleep in my own hotel room bed. The gap between a rich, white, Canadian tourist, and a humble Indian family had never felt as grand as it did then. Especially in light of the their abundant supply of hospitality and generosity bestowed to me.
That was when the Canadian doll spent the day with Geeta, Krishna, Jaya, and Ragvir.
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