Sat Jan 5: 2:30pm
Last night, after a long day of Hindi class and shopping, (I
got shoes and an amazing handmade leather purse) we headed out for dinner. Alex
and I did not think much about it because that is approximately what we have
done every day since we got to India, but last night’s dinner was something
else.
We ended up in a place called Chokhi Dhani that I can only describe as an Indian
medieval times. We started with dinner, where we were ate sitting on floor and
were served by men in traditional Rajasthani costume: a red kurta, white
Aladdin pants, and a colorful turban. While we made the choice not to eat the
fresh food or dairy products, the rest of the food was great, though incredibly
spicy as usual. After dinner we got our shoes back on and went to explore the
grounds, where there was entertainment and activities all over the place. Alex,
Vidya Ji, and I all got henna on our hands and we saw a balancing act, animals,
and dancing. We even saw a magic show, which was still incredibly funny regardless of the language barrier. We thought he was
going to be snake charmer, but there has been a major movement in India to
stop snake charming, so we got pigeons instead.
The movement
was started a few years back by an Australian reptile hunter who began an
education campaign to end the removal of the teeth of the snakes who perform.
Removing the poisonous teeth of the snakes is a necessary step to for snake
charmers, but it greatly reduces the life span of the snake, so animal rights advocates
have protested, and most legitimate business have stopped offering it as an
entertainment option. Don’t worry about the snake charmers though; the
government hires them to catch deadly snakes who have made their way into areas
populated by humans.
Right now we are on a seven-hour car ride from Jaipur to
Delhi, where we will catch an eleven hour train to Varanasi. The driver is a
butthead and not a particularly good driver, so it is a little tense.
http://www.chokhidhani.com/home.html
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