A Little Pacing…Taking it Slow
Some people are wondering why I’m spending so long in each city (I’ve had this question a couple of times); I’m averaging about 5 to 6 days. Basically, I’ve found that traveling for a year is a really long time and rushing from place to place is really stressful. So the answer: I’m pacing myself! I’m not on vacation as so many of my lovely friends and readers would like to believe – long term travel means at least one “business” day each week and probably two. This means hand-washing some clothes here since in India they wont even remotely touch your underwear, calling home to assure the parents I’m alive and well, blogging, and this time of year…I am endlessly amounts of stressed about my taxes.
So with that in mind Cousin Helen and I took it really easy in 
Udaipur. We started one of our days with a trip to the rose garden. The walk was a bit longer than we anticipated and we were a little disappointed to find that the enormous rose garden provided virtually no shade – that means plans to relax in the shade and read a book were nixed, but we were able to wander through the vast rows of every type of rose imaginable and snap pictures of the flowers and butterflies.
It could just be my limited amount of travel in the country so far but I’ve found that green space, like parks and gardens, are extremely rare. In a country that is busting at the seams to hold its billion inhabitants, they haven’t yet discovered the benefit of keeping some areas free and open – or perhaps I’m being naïve because every open space on the streets is filled with the homeless and beggars, so perhaps that’s a reason for the lack of parks and grassy areas inside of the cities. Whatever the reason, I was really surprised by the loveliness of the park and it was a welcome relief to be able to wander through the roses without worries of a motorcycle running over your toes, stepping in the steaming piles of cow manure, or dodging the hordes of Indians and tourists alike.
Later that day, Sanju, the resident miniature artist who followed my every move and pouted like a sad, kicked puppy every time I walked by, suggested that Helen and I visit the cultural show taking place near our house. Sounded like a great idea to us, and Sanju knew the people so we got in for free (note to self: make friends with the locals and save some dough!). The evening cultural show was a mix of traditional Indian dancing and a master puppeteer.
The puppeteer was a bit strange and the women dancers were by far the best part of the show – they wore beautiful, intricately ornate dresses. My favorite dance was a group dance with about six of the women – they danced in perfect unison and when they twirled in circles their dresses were a blur of vibrant colors. There was also a peacock dance and the finally was a woman doing a balancing act. She started with just one big bucket on her head and then slowly stacked as many as 16 buckets! Then she twirled all around the dance floor shuffling her feet and swaying to the music – pretty impressive!
Her dance was designed to showcase how talented the Indian women are with balancing large loads on their heads. They carry big buckets of water on their heads from the community well back to their home. And now, in more modern times, we have seen women as a part of every construction crew in the country. The men do a lot of the specific labor while the women carry rubble and stones away from the construction site one plate-full at a time, all day long! A women with a team of donkeys was able to forgo carting the rubble on her head and instead wrangled the donkeys through the town, back and forth, all day long around the town.
Oh! Helen and I had the best thalis ever in Udaipur; I don’t think I would ever go b
ack to Udaipur without stopping at Natradge Lodge for a $1 thali. The spot is completely local and not remotely near the tourist side of town – we were the only goras there. It was worth the 15 minute rickshaw ride though because the food was amazing. I’ve mentioned the thali before – it’s a never-ending dish with dhal, curries, veggies, rice, naan, and a variety of dips for the food. The servers come around with a big tray of the various dishes and scoop a refill onto your plate whether you want more or not. To stop the flow of food onto the plate you literally have to cover the dish with your hands and arms – after a few times of that situation they get the message and bypass your table on their rounds. Basically, this is one of the best dishes we’ve had in India so far – just incredibly tasty, a bit spicy (our noses were running when we were finished), and totally authentic.
