Christmas in India

 Christmas 2011 was spent in Udaipur, a lovely city on a lake in southern Rajasthan.  In the morning, John and I took an Indian cooking class with a woman named Shashi.  Shashi started teaching cooking classes after her husband died 9 years ago.  She told us that she hesitated to start teaching cooking because she didn't know much English, but now she can speak comfortably after learning from tourists taking her classes.  There were 3 other people taking the class with us... a couple from Denmark and a girl living in BC who was originally from Ontario and studied at U Windsor and graduated the same year as me (small world!) ... 

We spent 4 hours or so in Shashi's kitchen, watching her cook and trying out some new skills on our own. We made a lot of food.  Chai tea... chutney... curry... naan... chapati... stuffed parantha... pakora... the list goes on.  We also got a copy of all the recipes.  During our cooking session, the power shut off (standard practice in Udaipur... lights out at 12 until 2pm!) so we had to get creative, cooking in the dark.  Of course with any good cooking class you get to eat everything you make.  We all had a little feast at the end... it was delicious!

With Shashi

In the evening, I attempted to call home as you may know.  The connection was terrible but luckily I got to talk to Zia Alba and Alyssa on Skype... and to my mom and dad through a phone through Skype, ha ha!  It's weird spending Christmas away from home since it isn't a big holiday in India.  However, in the evening John and I were able to watch a random Christmas movie "Four Christmases" at a rooftop restaurant for dinner.  They had a little Christmas tree set up, so it was nice... but there's no Christmas like a home Christmas!

The rest of our time in Udaipur included taking a painting class with an artist named Madan.  Madan taught us how to paint the traditional miniature paintings on silk.  John did a replica of an elephant miniature and I did a camel.  We had to draw the animals and then paint them with small brushes.  You had to keep your hands really steady because the paintings were small and detailed.  It took us 3 hours to do the paintings... but they turned out great!  

Painting class in Udaipur

Another highlight of our time in Udaipur was attending an awesome Rajasthani music and dance performance at an old haveli (Indian heritage mansion).  The best part was this woman dancing around balancing 10 pots on her head... amazing!

I really enjoyed Udaipur, as it seemed a bit more relaxed than most Indian cities we've been in (although not without the cows and constant honking of horns).  Udaipur is famous for being a filming location for the old James Bond movie Octopussy.  The city is so proud of its claim to fame that they show the movie every night in multiple restaurants.

Now we're in the holy town of Pushkar... stay tuned for the next update!