Vol 87 India Part 3

Here I am with Cindy and her sister in the middle and my hostess Anu on the left. After breakfast I called my next couchsurfer and asked her if it was too soon for me to come stay with her. She said "No way! Come on over!" So I said my goodbyes to Sanjay and Anu and my fellow CSers and hopped in an auto rickshaw.

Here's more photos from the auto rickshaw.

Crappy crap everywhere.


I like this one.

Dental office.

Garbage bins.

Here's something I saw a lot of. People living on the sidewalk in makeshift tents. The slightly luckier people get to live in a slum. Sorry no slum photos.

Imagine! Living in a tent on a sidewalk.

This photo has a sidewalk tent and the next thing I want to talk about. How much weight can be hauled on a cart or rickshaw or bike. Look at the size of the load that poor little donkey has to carry!

Bunches of handmade brooms on a scooter.


This was the worst case I saw of hauling too much. These are bicycle rickshaws, 3 of them , and they are each loaded down with God knows what. The guy in front has 5 bundles and the 2 behind him have 4 each. They were struggling to pedal.

One-legged rickshaw driver.

Napping rickshaw driver. By the way, I cannot ride in a bicycle rickshaw because my legs are too long. I simply cannot get into the seat. Funny, huh?

This guy was picking recyclables out of garbage bins.

Women is saris ride side saddle on scooters. I did this with Priyanka, my next CSing host, one day when I was wearing a skirt.


From the back seat of an auto-rickshaw.

I arrived at my next hosts place and was I ever happy. Priyanka was wonderful. So lovely and kind. Her husband came home with their older boy, Dhruv. Very nice guy. They fed me samosa's and juice then invited me to have a nap.

Here is Priyanka with the younger of her two sons, Arjun. I showed Priya the fabric I had bought and she took me to her tailor nearby to have it stitched into a traditional salwar suit. That's not it.

On our way out we came across this dude in the parking lot. He is re-tinning pots. Wacky. When a pan gets old and thin they re-tin it instead of throwing it away.

We went to Priyanka's family home, which happens to be a hotel. There were quite a few people there when we arrived and more arriving constantly. You see, this was a big week for the family. Their youngest daughter, Priyanka's sister was getting married!

No, I'm not kidding. I got invited to stay with a Hindu family in India the week of their daughters wedding. I was Priyanka's first CouchSurfing guest and I felt so honored to be invited to the wedding. Again, imagine! Would we invite a stranger to stay with us the week of a family wedding? I was nothing but grateful and happy the whole time I was with them.

As an added bonus, this was a vegetarian family. Again, not kidding. I thought I'd died and gone to vegetarian heaven. It was a a giant Indian, veg food fest. And they loved me because I ate and loved everything. A western woman who loves spicy Indian food.

Shortly after we arrived lunch was served. Dal, veg masala (curry) and roti. Unbelievably good. Wow good.

The only down side was I was not allowed to help. They have a staff of older women and young guys who do the cooking, under the supervision of Priyanka (the eldest of the 4 daughters, and so the one with the most family responsibilities) and her mother.

Here is one of the house maids in the tiny kitchen.

And another. This one is rolling roti, an Indian flat bread.

She cooks them over an open flame.

Priyanka is a talented artist. Her paintings were all over the hotel/house. This was my favorite. The hotel was closed to guests as they needed all the rooms for the family arriving from out of Jaipur.

This is Prithy, one of Priyanka's sisters, with her son asleep on her lap. They sit on the floor alot.

After lunch Priyanka and one of her Aunts and I went to do some quick gift shopping. They were looking for baby clothes (the 3d sister had recently had a baby girl) and I was looking for a wedding gift. I asked their advise and they steered me towards blankets so I bought a nice bed set. Sorry, no photos from the shopping excursion.

When we returned home it was time for tea with sweets. Indian milk tea has become a big favorite since I arrived in Oman. It's Lipton tea with condensed milk and sugar. Sweet and creamy and good. Indian sweets are quite different to western sweets and I dare not try to describe them other than to say they are often made with milk and something of an acquired taste. Luckily, I had already acquired the taste for them living here, where the Indian population is so great that we have Indian restaurants on every corner.

Then it was time for dinner. Potato masala, veg masala and roti served with a mango pickle to die for. So good.

Every Hindu house has an altar of sorts. Here's some of the little boys eating dinner while facing the altar room.

Couldn't decide if I liked the photo that showed the room better or the boys better.

After dinner we went outside and the women started singing songs to Sweetie, the bride, to tease her. She's the one in the back with the flower on her sleeve and the green scarf. That's the Mom on the left. She led the singing and played the drum.

The older ladies sat on chairs.

The men watched. That's the Dad in the back.

We headed back to Priya's apartment where I had a chance to talk to her about what her life is like, as a woman, in India. Women are encouraged to educate themselves now and then work, but once they marry they are expected to stop working and take a more traditional role in life. Priya and her 3 sisters were all well educated and successful before marriage. But Priya and her 2 married sisters were frustrated and bored with being "just a housewife". Sweetie's fiance had told her she can continue to work after they're married. Theirs was not an arranged marriage, as is the norm, but a love match. They met at work. An exception was made in allowing them to marry.

Priya and her husband gave up their bedroom for me, sleeping with their sons in the other room. I was able to log into Messenger on their laptop before going to bed so I got to chat with Mom across the world. Gotta love that internet!



The days video. There aren't many family photos of this day as I was trying not to be an obnoxious Westerner in the house. Priya's family had disapproved of her joining CouchSurfing so I had to win them over before I could stick a camera in their faces.

That all changed the next day.....