India day 38 – Udaipur, Rajasthan

We are moving from the Old Jheel Guest House.  The four flights of very narrow and steep steps, the lack of even the most basic security – often there is no one in the reception – the trek up to the top of the building over the road for breakfast only to find it deserted and no-one serving and having someone else’s washing hanging on the terrace immediately outside our room – have contributed to the decision to change to the Nukkad Guest House just round the corner.   The Nukkad is a family-run place in a beautifully kept old haveli and is an altogether a more friendly and welcoming place.  It has rooms from 600 to 150 rupees and we take one at 450.  There is a guy next to us in one of the 150 rupee rooms which is a simple box room with a single bed and a shelf, but he thinks it’s too expensive at just under two pounds a night! 

We have been invited by Ragu who runs the Nukkad to join tonight’s family celebrations  in honour of Ganesh’s forth-coming birthday on 23rd August.  They are hosting a meal in the courtyard of a local school where Raju’s brother is headmaster (family connections are underpin everything in India).  A few other people staying at the guest house have also been invited and we are taken to the school on foot (in a crocodile formation appropriately).  500 people have been invited and because of the numbers the meal is served in shifts with people arriving and leaving throughout the evening.  As soon as we arrive we are seated cross-legged on one of several long mats laid out on the floor and a thali-style meal is served from stainless steel buckets and trays.  We have two curry sauces, rice, a cakey kind of bread and a very sweet desert, all eaten without cutlery which is quite a challenge particularly when the curries are mostly liquid. 

We get chatting to a French couple who have also been invited and who have recently arrived in Udaipur from Kerala in the south.  As the celebration winds down we all four go in search of a bar and spend a pleasant evening over a beer or three.

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