I am back from 10 days spent in the village of Basra, in Haryana, just 2 km from Rajasthan in Northwest India.
Views of the fields and village
I had a fantastic time. I was staying in the house of the family of Pawan, who was our local contact and guide in the village - and sometimes interpreter when it was too difficult for Kaifi, my interpreter, to understand bagri (local dialect of Rajasthani).
From left to right: Kaifi, Pawan, Vinod, Pawan's uncle, and Pawan's mother in the fields
I learnt how to cook roti (a kind of round flat bread) with Bhabbi, Pawan's sister-in-law. She was very patient with me, never complaining about the strange shapes of my rotis...Bhabbi prepared some scrumptious special dishes when I was here: halwa, khir and bajra roti (roti made from pearl millet flour)...
There was also Mukesh, who was living next door and was teaching me Hindi with a children's book. The word to learn the vowel U was Ullu (an owl). If one day you go to India and want to make people laugh, say Ullu for a try... or is it just me who has a funny face when I say Ullu?? Anyway, Ullu quickly became my favorite hindi word...
Mukesh also taught me a Hindi song (fortunately, the lyrics did not mention any owl). There were also some great inter-musical exchanges with Nirmala, Pawan's niece. I learnt a Rajasthani song. And Nirmala now can sing "Frere Jacques"...
(drawing from Uderzo)
After work, we had a lot of fun in the fields:
Our favourite game... 1,2,3...run!
I did the same game on the back of a camel
Last day, after a big meal in the house of Rajkumar, our sympathic local driver, we went altogether for a trip to Agroha Dham, one of the largest temple I ever visited. In this temple, you can drop a coin to animate some singing deities (a bit like in the Galeries Lafayettes/Fenwick during Christmas), get lost and scare your friends in an artificial cave of several floors, it is much more fun than to visit a church...
Going to the temple...From left to right: Nirmala, me, Kaifi, Radj Kumar, our taxi driver, and Surender, a friend of Pawan
Next episode to come soon!
In the meantime, visit Agroha Dham temple: http://www.agroha.com/temple.html
And prepare Indian dishes at home:
Halwa: http://www.indianetzone.com/2/sweet_halwa.htm,
khir: http://www.koausa.org/Cookbook/165.html
Bajra roti: http://www.tarladalal.com/recipe.asp?id=3892
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