Ginger Without Borders

While traveling in South India, most of our hotels included both a breakfast and a dinner buffet with the room. So we had labels to explain what we was displayed on the buffet. I still had to ask Kingston questions about many of the dishes but at least I could see what I was eating before I put in on my plate. In North India, dinner was not included and we depended on Kingston to both find a restaurant and explain the menu. We ate in restaurants that offered both meat and vegetarian dishes. But for our last night in North India, we had agreed to eat a vegetarian meal. Lena’s friend from Dehli had recommended a vegetarian restaurant in Jaipur known for its Thali. The word means “plate” and it is a traditional Indian meal offering small portions of various foods. The number of dishes varies. In Kerala, the Thali is served on a banana leaf. In the Jaipur restaurant, the Thali was served on metal plates and you ordered by the number of dishes you wanted (Dawn chose 6, I chose 7 and Kingston chose 9). I was a little reluctant to have an entire meal of vegetarian dishes but the variety of the Thali was intriguing and I did find several of the dishes quite tasty. I have no idea what the names of those dishes were however.

In North India, I had grown fond of a chilled drink of lime juice and carbonated water with sugar and salt added to make an interesting sweet/savory taste.  Unfortunately for me, this restaurant used ice in the drink to chill it instead of just chilled water. Notice the glass next to my Thali. Dawn and I had indulged in some drinks with ice in Alleppey, so I removed the ice (thinking that would protect me from any stomach discomfort) and enjoyed my drink. We had been so careful, even brushing our teeth with bottled water. But my luck ran out that night and I awoke with “Dehli belly” the next day. Although it was a fairly mild case, I would not touch any drink with ice for the rest of our trip.

We returned to our Heritage hotel in time for a presentation of local folkdance with live musicians. While dancing to the musicians seated behind her, the younger dancer gradually added bowls one at a time until she had these five balanced on her head. She continued to dance until her companion brought the silver candlesticks for her to add another balancing trick to her presentation.

There were a number of guests who had gathered in the courtyard next to the pool to view the entertainment. The dancer in blue continued to dance with just two bowls on her head as she solicited the audience to join her. Eventually, Kingston and another young man joined Lena in the dancing. Dawn and I just watched (although in my earlier years, I was the entertainer inviting the audience to join us for the Southern folk dance tradition of Appalachain round dances). Kingston had been a dancer in school, so he had no trouble with the flowing hand jestures that were a large part of this dance tradition. Lena had a little difficulty. And I have film of both of them dancing with smiles. This was a very nice surprise to end our last night in North India.