By the time we got going, it was almost 11, so we high-tailed it over to the Bagalore Ki Haveli museum, where we saw the traditional dancing last night, to see the actual house. It was simple, yet tastefully decorated for noble or royal blood, and was downright humble compared to the extravagant opulance that we saw in the City Palace yesterday. We saw another puppetshow in the interior courtyard of the haveli, then stopped through turban land where we were in the presence of the largest turban in the world (each side represented a different style in Rajasthan) and compared turban styles between professions and castes (Karla's fav was the carpenter's and Alicia liked the barber's). Then we went downstairs to the portion of the house converted into an art gallery. The most interesting section to Alicia was the Hungarian artist's exhibition. She had traveled extensively in India, converted to Hinduism, and adapted traditional painting methods to show her devotion. Karla was fascinated by the glazed sheet-metal pieces mounted on canvas. Big surprise.
After the Haveli museum, we meandered over to a roof-top restaurant (the only way to dine in Udaipur!) by way of our hotel. While we were waiting for our food to be prepared, Alicia ran down the street to pick up an album that she'd had made. Efficiency is a must on a busy day!
Next we walked to one of the markets in town. This was a silver, gold and textile market, and we were fascinated at how proficient the women were at picking out fabrics to match as pieces of saris, not to mention knowing how much fabric they wanted, and their measurements for the tailor. The fabric stores alone are a feast for the eyes: there are literally hundreds of fabrics in different colors and materials, some with sparkles and sequins, some without, folded neatly onto shelves, with shoeless men pulling them out haphazardly and flicking them onto the floor with flourish, where their female clients are sitting. It's such a colorful sight! We must have passed more than 2 dozen of these scenes on this one street alone! It was quite intimidating to attempt at getting something for ourselves. When we did finally walk in, they asked for our measurements. Uhhhh...we had no idea.
We found our way to the fruit and veggie market next by pure willpower. This too was colorful. Different again from any other produce market we'd been to, here the vendors were all seated on the ground with their wares laid out in baskets in front of them, and people pushed their way through the narrow gaps to try to find the freshest food. The women shopping and selling were wearing their best, moat colorful saris, which complemented the deep purple of the eggplants and the bright red of the tomato well.
After we had seen our fill of fruits and veggies (wishing it was safe to buy them), we started heading back toward our part of town. We weren't exactly sure where we were, but it didn't matter because we of course got distracted by another shop where Alicia did in fact buy herself a traditional outfit. And it's fantastic. By the time we were done bargaining, of course, we had to take a rickshaw back to be on time for our 6:00 Indian cooking lesson!
Our instructor, named Shashi, is awesome. She is a progressive Indian woman, doing her own small part to rebel against the caste system that, even at the top, works to oppress women and keep them confined to the home. Her story of how she started the cooking and learned english was inspiring. Not only is she interesting, but wow can she cook! We learned to make naan, chapati, vegetable masala, chai masala, pokara (fried veggie snack food)...and a variety of other dishes, all within 3 or so hours. We left her home stuffed, happy, and decked out with bindis on our foreheads and bells on our wrists. Now we're looking and cooking like real Indian women!
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