The true hospitality of India

Pawan and Vishnu
Originally uploaded by An Smith.

Last night I was lucky enough to be invited along as a guest to the home of a man by the name of Kesaul. Sitting on a mat on the floor we ate chapati (the best I have tasted in India), slurped Dal (lentil soup sort of) and drank "Thums Up", the Indian version of Coca Cola (yup, I absolutely laughed my butt off at the spelling of 'Thum' especially since the logo is a thumb. Being the only person in the room with English as my first language I looked mini crazy as I giggled hysterically pointing and babbling thumb over and over because they didn't get it). In fact, nobody spoke the same language (Hebrew, English and Hindi) but it didn't matter - you always find out a way to communicate. I compared jewellery with Kesaul's wife and bonded with him and his daughters because we all eat with our left hands (socially not that acceptable in India - need I say more - hahem).

My friend Avi, from Israel, used to live in Pushkar years ago and trained to make jewellery with Kesaul and so he became quite close with the family, hence the invite. Kesaul is a very eccentric, religious man with an absolute heart of gold. We walked in, sat down, were offered the usual chai and watched while Kesaul casually hauled from a hash pipe and lit matches with his toes. He was surrounded by religious trinkets for worship, flashing lights, albums full of pictures of visitors and journals filled with good wishes from new friends he had met over the years. He proceeded to tell me all about Pushkar. It went sort of like this: "Happy heart, happy mind, happy life, you understand? Giant lake, Pushkar goes round and round in circles and I sit while everything spins and you spin now, giant flower, Brahma, used to only be water, you lucky heart to meet us in Pushkar, good karma, Avi happy mind, you understand. Good karma, you have happy heart no? I rename you 'Indra' because it's easier to say, so your new name is Indra, understand? Good mind, happy heart, you understand and you have good Karma in Pushkar?". Yup. It was wicked. We walked into town with the family after dinner and the best and most surprising part was the giant bear hug I got from Kesauls wife when we said goodbye. (Normally the women are extremely shy).

Indian hospitality is always something that blows my mind. The families trip over themselves to accommodate you (and by Western standards they have what you would consider "nothing"). They feed you, learn about your home and family, there is never awkward conversation or boastful stories. It's about family and new friends and being happy about life at that exact moment, rather than being showy or serving trendy food and expensive wine. It's a refreshing perspective on life.

I also had the opportunity to have chipati and tea this morning with Pawan and his mother at their home. They noticed my skirt is ripped so I'm going over there now for her to fix it and then taking Pawan out for dinner before I leave Pushkar. I will spend the rest of my life brainstorming how I can make sure this kid goes to college..