June 8 - Exploring Delhi in the heat

June 8 day 113
We slept in to make up for our bus trip, had a good breakfast and got some work done.  We found another giant cockroach in the bathroom and let the hotel know about it and they said they'd clean the room while we were out.
We were going to two sites in the neighbourhood that were short walks around.  Tuktuk drivers constantly slowed down and asked us a barrage of questions about where we were going and one person started talking to us and following us which made us suspicious when he said he was a student practicing English, this guy was not in the least bit young.
We arrived at jantor mantor  after about 10 minutes.  This was an area of huge astrological observance structures constructed in the 18th century.  Admission was much more for foreigners ($5), which seemed fair and there wee only a few people on site.
The structures were truly huge and strange shapes, similar to some of Escher's drawings.  One had a series of curved semicircles, two weer ultra-complicated sundials with the central bowl cut up in precise ways, one in the middle had a tall tower flanked by two almost as tall structures that were supposed to be dark inside other than a pinhole whose light you could track.  At the back were two cylindrical structures resembling the Colosseum with the floor of them sliced into rays like a wagon wheel, apparently to check the angle of the sun, moon and stars by measuring the light through various windows.  There were explanations for each type of structure but not in enough detail to completely figure them out.    We found some strips of calibration on the first structure and it looked like you could measure things really precisely.  Puzzling over and exploring these structures was well worth the visit.
As we left the area we were able to walk past a park that provided nice shade for us although a few touts followed us and tried to tell us where we wanted to go.
About 15 minutes later we arrived at a step well tucked in a residential neighbourhood.  The steps went straight down, as opposed to along the side of ones I'd seen photographed before.  It was still impressive, as it had over 100 steps and would have been enormous when full.  It was completely dry now, and when you looked up into the tower you saw clusters of bats on the ceiling and pigeons everywhere else.   A few people were there but it was by no means busy.
We rested outside it before heading to Connaught Square proper.  Once we got there, the touts attached themselves to us and were hard to shake.  If you acknowledged them at all, they would stick with you, always directing you to a "government tourist office" or telling you that places were closed.  They acted like they were being helpful and often acted indignantly if you didn't go along with their schemes.
In one of our readings on India it was mentioned that the people here use older words that don't pop up in other English-speaking countries much, our favourite being "bamboozled".  Meg was repeating the word over to herself but I told a particularly persistent tout, "sir, you are trying to bamboozle me", when he told me an erroneous location for a tourist office.
We tucked into an underground mall that seemed less fancy than Connaught Place and where more normal items could be had.  Meg checked out some scarves but couldn't find one to her liking so we headed back to the main street and grabbed some cold drinks at an overpriced, faux-Portuguese place.  After that we went to a bakery recommended by the guidebook which was good but not exceptional.  After that it was a short walk back to our hotel in the heat, retreating once again to our air-conditioned room. 
Another half-dead roach was dying in the bathroom when we returned and so the hotel offered to shift us to another room while they dealt with the problem.  This took a while but it beat walking up to the third floor, where all of the other rooms were.  Once settled Meg napped and I caught up with some stuff.  Apurna called and said that she'd be picking us up at 5pm instead of 4 pm because of the heat.
She met us at 5 and we got into the car with her parents, who wanted to meet us.  Her mom is an elementary schoolteacher who can retire after next year and both of them had some English. 
We drove to a local Sikh temple, covered our heads, dropped off our shoes and toured around.  It was larger in space than the Golden Temple but not as singular.  There was much devotion and a pool beside the temple that had supposed healing powers, again.  A Sikh explained the temple (created in honour of some early hold man who cured a local plague) and many points about the religion.  His phrasing was refreshing, as he talked about "beliefs" when referring to his own religion, which was quite a concession. 
We looked around and were fed a sweet substance before getting ready to leave.  At the shoe depot, Meg and Apurna's dad had to wait as their shoes were being polished while they visited the temple, some service!  When Meg made a donation she was given a handful of candy, too.
We then were driving to a sound and light show at a recently built temple.  On the way, Apurna's mom wanted to do some shopping at a wholesale store that Apurna could use because she had a GST number because of her charity work.  any bargains could be had but you had to buy in bulk, we couldn't get water unless we got a case of 12.  We did get some apples, imported from the US and New Zealand.
When we got to the temple at 7 for the 7:30 show we saw that the last entry was at 6:30 so it wasn't going to happen.  Meg mentioned that she'd wanted to see a Bollywood film and Apurna suggested the new Salmon Khan flick and so we headed to the cinema.
Traffic was brutal and t took forever to get there.  We showed up a little late but didn't miss much.  The film was an older guy fighting to keep his store and thinking back to his past history on his birthday.  It touched on the horrors of Parition, which separated his family, had a circus bit, a middle eastern oil worker bit, a ship crew bit with Somali pirates and lots of songs, mainly from his daydreams.  The audience was on their phones through a lot of it and chatted happily away.  Apurna translated what Hindi she could but there was a lot of English interspersed in the conversation and most of the film was fairly predictable.  We took guesses as to how the film would end and which family member he would be reunited with.  It was stereotypical but not boring in the least.
At intermission we picked out some food that was delivered to our seat once the film started again.  When the Indian national anthem was played in the film, everyone stood up and sang along.  There wasn't as much audience involvement as we thought

but it was a fun night out.

Apurna got us into a cab using an Uber-like app and we got home around midnight, tired from our busy evening.

One of the cool astrological buildings in Delhi.

Meg at the top of the stepwell.

With Apurna and parents at the shoe pick up in the Sikh temple.

June 7 - Back to Delhi

June 7 Day 112
We slept through most of the night and were still groggy when the driver announced the last stop.  This was supposed to be at Kashmiri Gate, a large bus terminal with a metro station.  We were let off by an anonymous highway map.  We asked a young couple about it and were told we were more than two kms from the nearest metro station.  They also told us that 150 rupees was the Uber fare to Caunaught Place, so we knew the taxi driver asking for 400 was not on the level. 
We got a tuktuk for 200 who dropped us off within a short walk of the hotel.  It wasn't easy to find.  We initially rang the bell at a very residential home that had the correct address.  There was no answer and I went to see if there was another entrance.  i saw the name of our hotel Ram's Inn around the corner.  We had been ringing some unfortunate named Ram who was on the street where our hotel was on a lane.
When we got there  we found a locked gate and an unanswered buzzer system at 6:30 am.  We waited there and I went out and got us some tasty prantha and masala chai for breakfast.  After we finished eating the security guard next door saw us and said he'd call the manager, but still no avail.
Someone finally came out about 15 minutes later and we got into reception at about 8:30.  We chatted with a charming, older Australian woman who had been to Agra and was very travel savvy while we ate a light second breakfast.  We then got into our room and rested up and made ourselves feel human again before Apurna met us at our hotel.
We met Apurna when she was staying at Ahimsa House while doing a train-the trainer session with the LHA staff.  Meg and she bonded over having gotten a MSW so we met her for tea and agreed to meet up in Delhi.
She drove us around Delhi and told us much about the city.  The first project she showed us was aimed at people in their 20s.  They taught English, computers and life skills like getting along with people, grooming and interview skills.  Two classroom are used during the day and a new group comes in the evening.  Students are screened before getting in and all are offered a job placement after their 4 month program.  Most of the participants were female, and there was much discussion of young Indian men not wanting to work as they would rather hang out and live off of their parents.  On the way out we got Meg some burfi, which she had been craving for several days.
Next we went to an office shared by many NGOs and had lunch.  We chatted with some of the people there, one who was in a program to repair cleft palates and another looking to fight malaria.  Apurna's mentor was there who had helped with LHA and many other groups and has much experience in NGOs and the other side, being a former bureaucrat.  There was much to talk about and the fact that the different groups in the office could share information and resources was a good setup.
We got caught in a traffic jam on the way to the children's program and Meg complimented Apurna on her driving as Delhi is a difficult place to get around in.  She got us gifts, Meg a colourful silk bag and a keychain and me a wallet.  It seemed a little much but I guess that's Indian hospitality, and the bag in particular was very nice.
We got to the children's program in an urban slum, where people were poor but had concrete buildings as opposed to a shantytown.  It was aimed at kids whose parents had low paying day-today jobs where the kids might be left on their own of with neighbours.  It gave them a safe place to learn and remedial work to help them improve their school performance.   There were about 15 kids there, from 2 to 15 years old and mainly girls.  They had an activity room and another room with laptops and a small library.  They did a dance for us and recited some nursery rhymes before Meg led them in a rousing version of Old McDonald.  Then pictures were taken and we headed out.`
Our next stop was at a nice cafe that Apurna does workshops at a few times a week, working with the employees.  We had some nice sangria and grilled broccoli and the place had tons of busy staff as well as a cool ambiance.  Apurna offered to take us to a sound and light show at a modern temple but we were pretty wiped so she dropped us off at our hotel and we had a nice rest.
We went out to look around and find dinner.  Our hotel was close to Connaught Place, which is considered the heart of the city.  Most shops were closed and a few beggars were setting out their place for the night.  We found a restaurant recommended in the guidebook and had an uninspiring dinner, there's no excuse for mediocre food in a country like India.
We walked back and it was sill pretty warm.  Back in the room Meg gished a giant cockroach in the bathroom, which didn't start the evening off well.  Most of the rest of it was spent on Skype as Meg tried to solve a banking problem.  They had cancelled her Visa password because she hadn't logged in for a awhile and would only send verification codes to our two cancelled Canadian phone numbers.  The fifth person she got on the line was a manager and helped us set up an encrypted e-mail account for Meg that they could send a code to, so all was solved.

Meg and Apurna with precious burfi.

Meg and Apurna with the children's group.

June 6 Return to McLeod Ganj

June 6 Day 111
We got up and had until noon to check out and so sorted Meg's banking problems over breakfast and took our time until noon.  We putzed around and got a few minor chores done before having a big, late lunch in preparation for our overnight bus.
We did one final visit to LHA to say goodbye and then went to Ahimsa house to collect our stored bags and charge our devices.  Meg had a good talk with Tsewang's daughters and showed them some pictures she took with him in Toronto.  The girls and their mom are waiting to join him but timelines are uncertain.  Our friend Roshni also came down and we got her contact info, Meg gave her some books for the kids she works with and said goodbye.  Most of the LHA staff was pitching in making dinner for a group of visiting Japanese people and so we said lots more goodbyes before getting into our cab.
The trip down was congested but Jackie taxi got us there on time.  This bus was newer and cleaner than the last one we took but also full.  We left a little late, maybe waiting for late people or hoping the rain would pass, which it pretty much did.  We made many short stops along the way to pick up scattered people and take on or drop off parcels.
The driver wasn't as reckless as some others but he drove very quickly over a curvy road and two passengers were audibly sick for what seemed an impossibly long time.  Whenever they seemed to be finished and we went around some tight, fast curves they started up again.  Thanks goodness for earbuds as I missed most of it.
The chairs reclined quite a bit and we got a better sleep than one would expect from a bus.  We stopped for dinner at a place by the side of the road that had overpriced thali, which we shared, and more mosquitoes than we had seen elsewhere.  Amazingly, one of my students, Tenzin, was there on break from another bus.  He was heading to Nepal for a wedding and had another two days of bus rides to look forward to.  We had a nice chat and finished up our food, hoping it wouldn't hurt us later on.

June 5 - Last Day in Amritsar

June 5 Day 110
We woke up a little late again and had breakfast at the hotel and lumped around and got stuff done on the computer.
In the afternoon we headed out to a local panorama of a Sikh hero that was within walking distance of our hotel.  The walk was busy, as any sidewalks you can find are used as parking lots for scooter and motorbikes.  The two main streets had pedestrian lights, but they were only reen for about 5 seconds and were completely ignored by the vehicles in the road.  We made it through two busy intersections and followed a shady path beside a prk until we found an entrance. 
The path through the park went beside an empty children's amusement park full of creepy guys who seemed to have nothing to do but watch us.  We spotted a local squirrel that was coloured sort of like a badger and then came upon the building that housed the panoramas.
We talked to teachers from two different school groups, as this place was apparently a magnet for them.  We toured it between the groups.
The bottom floor had paintings of events from his life and a room full of doll-sized dioramas of his early life and first few victories.  Upstairs was a life-sized spectacle of his major battle victories complete with a soundtrack of cannon fire and shouting and screaming.  Downstairs was another roomful of doll-sized dioramas of him getting the koh-i-noor diamond and some more battle victories.  The final hall had some more paintings outlining how he hated bloodshed and loved his horse.
On the way out we encountered our second school group, whose teacher we had been talking to earlier, and took pictures with them.
The walk back was easier since we knew the way and we stopped at the recommended Crystal Restaurant for lunch.  The ground floor was the original restaurant, the Crystal Lounge on the second floor had the same menu but was run by a different branch of the family and there was a take away with some of teh menu available for eating more casually.
We stuck with the main floor and it was really posh and had the AC cranked up to freezing levels.  Prices were a little higher than we were used to but the place was way posh and the  food way really good except for a pickle that must have consisted mainly of salt.
On the way back Meg wanted to get us over our avoidance of tuktuks so we took one back with a slightly bargained down price for the short ride back to the hotel, fairly painless.
We packed and lounged until 5 pm as we paid for an extra half day to feel cool and clean before our bus ride.  The bus office was less tan a 5 minute walk away but they directed us to another stop to get our bus that put us back right in front of our hotel.
The bus was as dirty as before and the AC usually worked.  There were only about 12 of us on the bus so there was lots of room to spread out.  Our driver wasn't as aggressive as before so the ride was only moderately hair-raising.  The overhead lights didn't work so I had to use my Kobo light once the sun set.
We stopped to fix a side view mirror and then in the middle of nowhere for the driver to go into an unlit house.  Just before our destination our driver stopped for a 30 minute dinner.  We had butter naan and onion parathas with curry, which hit the spot.
Once we reached Dharamshala a huge number of backpackers were sitting there waiting for us, so the main purpose for the bus was the last leg to Manali.  We got a taxi for a good price and asked them to call our hotel as our phone reported having no service.   The woman who promised us a room and told us to call to get the key (we were arriving at 11 pm, after the desk had closed) said there as no room and acted as if she couldn't remember us.  This caused us a bit of anxiety as we headed up the hill with our maniacal taxi driver.
We got off at the Green Hotel and it as indeed closed.  The phone worked and the woman said that she'd send a boy.  He asked about our reservation and what our room number was and we said he should know, not us.  He then produced a key and showed us to our room.  No balcony or fan but we weren't going to do any better as the rest of the town had closed down by now.  We settled in and had a pretty good sleep.

A detail from one of the life-sized dioramas.

One o the classes visiting with us.

A local we met on the way back.

June 4 - The Golden Temple

June 4 Day 109 -
We slept in and it was delicious!  We quickly got organized and crossed the street to the railway station.  The pedestrian walkway was a convenient way to cross the busy street but it was full of homeless people trying to sleep.
At the train station we wandered around for a bit before finding the free bus to the Golden Temple.  It was arriving and took off as soon as it was loaded.  There was lots of room and it got us there quickly, nice.
The area around the Golden Temple is mainly pedestrian walkways so we followed the crowd and didn't have to worry so much about being hit by vehicles. 

One of the few pictures taken before being told that we couldn't take pictures.

An old, faded glory kinda house.

On the bus heading back, soaked with sweat.

Soon the crowd thickened and we saw a gate that everyone was going through with some shiny buildings behind it.  To get there, you have to check your shoes and cover your head, yellow scarves are provided for this.  Two people asked to have their pictures with us and we realized that we could spend all day doing this if we didn't start saying no.
We walked barefoot through a water trough to clean our feet and then we were in view of the temple.  According to our guidebook, the water surround it is the real attraction as it is supposed to have healing powers.  Men bathe in it and women can go into one of two enclosed buildings to take advantage of the powers.  We took a few pictures before being told that it was not allowed (our guidebook said that it was only forbidden inside of the temple).    A few people were still taking selfies, but so few that you knew most people knew better.
We walked along the outside seeing many people lying in the shade and places to drop off wet clothes, pick up your communion or get a bowl of water to drink.  We kept walking until we got to the lineup for the Golden Temple itself and joined it as it slowly made its way upon the walkway into the temple proper. 
The crowd was quite a squeeze as we slowly made our way forward, as the guards would raise a barrier to let people into the area into the main entrance and wait until the area was clear again.  At least the walkway was covered and lined with fans blowing down from the ceiling.  There were very few tourists and many people stared as if they had never seen a foreigner before.  The kids were okay, but, as always, the young males were more abrasive.  They would turn and stare at us and look Meg up and down until a counterstare sent them off.  The ones behind me would push with their bellies and toes into you.  When I leaned back into them they pushed by other people to get to the front first.
Once there, the temple was tiny but almost impossibly ornate.  Musicians constantly chanted their holy book, which was piped throughout the complex.  Relief musicians were on the carpet behind them and a select group sat in front of them.  All of the stone and metalwork was finely done, like the best mosques and palaces in Istanbul, and had a mixture of Muslim and Hindu features.  We went outside to look around us then up to the second floor, which had a balcony view to the main chamber as well as delicate paintings protected under plexiglass and many people gathered on the floor, looking down and/or praying.
The top floor was a roof with nice panoramic views and a room where people were praying to a holy man.  We made our way back downstairs and exiting was much quicker than coming in. 
We made our way around the temple in search of langar, the largest kitchen in the world where the Sikhs practice generosity by giving free food to everyone who shows up.  We got our trays, spoons and bowls and waited to get into the main dining chamber.  While we waited, a rude bunch of young males kept trying to take our pictures.  I grabbed the phone off of one of them and covered their view with my tray while the people around them gave disapproving looks. 
The doors opened and everyone got up and headed in to take their place on the floor on burlap strips.  people came around with chaipattis, rice puddling, dahl, water, squash curry and rice.  We all ate on the floor together while servers constantly walked around with their buckets and scoops, seeing if anyone wanted seconds.  We got a few curious looks but people generally left us alone. 
After about 20 minutes the next group got ready to come in and they quickly squeegeed the spilled food off of the floor and directed us out through a large stairway.  Our dirty dishes were dropped off and we made a donation.  Apparently they welcome volunteers to help with the dishes but we had tourist stuff to accomplish.
We walked back and got our shoes quite easily.  We retraced our steps and Meg spotted a post office and quickly got stamps and dropped off some postcards.  Taxi drivers were constantly offering us trips to the border and you couldn't address them all nicely or you'd never leave the square. 
We found an overpriced but air-conditioned coffee shop and started to feel human again.  We decided to stay downtown and headed to the partition museum.  partition happened when Pakistan split with India and the Punjab was one of the hardest hit areas with millions dying due to ethnic violence and 40% of the city destroyed by riots. 
The museum gave some good background and had many many first-person testimonials.  It covered a lot of the background history of the area and could have used more detail on the politics of partition, but is still worth seeing.
Back in the heat, we looked, unsuccessfully, for a pedicure place for Meg, and then found a place selling kultcha for me.  This is a local food which has oily bread stuffed with good stuff served with chickpea curry and yummy mint pickle.  In spite of he heat, we managed to find our appetite and polish the treat off.  Of concern was the ice in our drinks, but no ill effects were had.
Meg unsuccessfully tried to find a scarf she liked in a shop and then we decided to head back.  The bus to the railway station waits until it is full before it headed out and there were still a few seats left when we showed up, on the sunny side of the bus.  As we slowly baked and waited for the bus to fill, Meg struck up a conversation with a Sikh family and photos were taken, although the conversation was limited.  Eventually the aisles were full of people standing and we headed out.
Back at the hotel, the AC was delicious and we hung out unril dinner.  The tv was weird as there was a payment system for all movie and international news channels except Al Jazeera.  The charges were small, 1-15 rupees but figuring out an Indian designed payment system was a frustration we didn't need, so Al Jazeera it was.
Dinner was in the hotel's Bottoms Up bar.  The kitchen was good and the beer was cold.  We shared the space with some Sikh men drinking from cold beer pumps at their table and watching a cricket match on tv.  It wasn't exactly rowdy, which was good.  We only saw one other foreigner at the hotel, a grumpy bearded computer guy, and most rooms were continually empty when we passed them.  It really was off-season, we guessed.
We had another solid sleep in our nice cool room.

June 3 - To Amritsar and the Bizarre Border Ceremony

June 3  Day 108- to Amritsar
After a few days staying in a hotel and saying goodbye to everyone, we got an early bus to Amritsar.  The McLeod Ganj bus station was closed so we needed a taxi to Dharamshala to the gas station where the bus was waiting.  It was definitely dirtier than the bus we took from Delhi, with grime and cherry pits at the bottom of our drink holders.  The woman behind us kept dramatically wailing to her family about some need or other she had but the other passengers were fine, almost all Indians.
It was a relief when we got going as the driver turned the AC on.  The trip was supposed to be 4 hours but we heard it could be 6 hours on the internet and 7 hours according to the guidebook.  There is no certainty when you're travelling in India.
Our driver certainly wanted to make time, as he had us leaning over from the force of his curving and smelling burning gears over a gravelly stretch.  Anyone who wasn't going the same speed as him got tailgated and honked at until they got out of the way.  He was a little more cautious about passing, but his aggressive driving got us there in 4 1/2 hours with one stop for breakfast.
We got off by the train station and were set upon by a swarm of taxi and tuktuk drivers, but they did not get to us.  I had booked the Grand Hotel close to the train station so we were there in less than a 5 minute walk.
The hotel had a quiet, green courtyard that we waited in while the owner did a strange dance.  He acted as if he didn't have ur reservation, which he did, and then encouraged us to look at upgrade rooms.  We initially didn't bite, but when Meg found out that the toilet didn't flush we got the upgrade.  For all of our trip around India, AC was a must as the temperature was solidly over 40 and sometimes approaching 50 degrees.
We had a nice lunch and settled into our room until our 3 pm tour to the flag ceremony that we booked at our hotel.  This is the tour to the Pakistan border where citizens on both sides try to outdo each other as the military of their country does high kicks and folds up the flag at the border's closing.
The taxi had AC and we could see tuktuks packed with 10 or more people all heading along the highway with us.  We also passed many bases for the border authority which went on for kilometres of high walls and barbed wire.  Since we were foreigners we got to use the close parking lot and saw streams of locals walking beside us, as if they were going to a popular concert or a sold out hockey game.
We got into the foreigners and reserved seats line and saw many Indians quickly leave it once the military started to check if people were actually on the guest list.  We were so obviously not Punjabi that we got waved through most of these checkpoints but Meg had to circle back to the bag check when we found that the books we brought could not be taken in.
Past security there were restaurant and vendors selling snacks and drinks as we walked towards the stadium-like building at the border.  Locals got the large bleacher area but we went to the posheforeigner area which had metal seats.  We were next to the similar reserved seats and across from the VIP seats, which had plastic lawn chairs.
We were entertained by loud Indian dance music while the stands filled up and snack vendors worked the crowd.  They were actually charging reasonable rates, perhaps because the whole things was being overseen by the border guard agency.  As thousands of people filled the stands and cheered to the music on the Indian side, the Pakistani side was quiet and empty and no one could tell us why the difference was so great.
Wen the stands were full at 5:15 the ceremony started.  One guard grabbed a mike and got the crowd riled up while a huge crowd of women with a few children lined up.  The women took turns running around with 7 flags to music while the guard got the crowd screaming.  After about 15 minutes of this, the rest of the women were led into the space to dance to various songs for another 15 minutes.
The real ceremony then began with a few soldiers waving flags around in a surprisingly imperfect formation.  Then two guys with fans on their hats did some super high-stepping and were followed by a group of about a dozen soldiers.  On the Pakistani side, you could see soldiers mirroring what was happening on the Indian side and now about 50 people were in the stands.  When the Indian soldiers took to the mike, you could hear that music similar to the Indian side was being cranked out on the Pakistani side.
Some Rambo-sized soldiers holding very large guns and some border dogs were marched out before they opened the gates.  The dogs got a big cheer when they both bowed down at the same time.  The gates were opened and there followed a few theatrical marches toward the gates to face the Pakistani guard and both sides would high kick, flex their muscles or twirl their mustaches. 
This went back and forth several times until some soldiers grabbed the flag ropes and slowly lowered and folded the flags.  Meg tried to beat the rush by leaving early but wasn't allowed out until the flag had left the premises.  Interestingly, throughout the whole ceremony, people kept arriving and being sent to seats and even as we left, people were still coming in.  Yet another thing we didn't understand about this bizarre ritual.
We did beat most of the crowd and had a pretty quick drive back to our hotel.  The bar and restaurant there was fine, the first decent draught I've had in a long time.  Many Sikhs were there watching a world cup of cricket match.  We headed back to our room and had a great sleep in the cool chamber.

The crowd in the stadium at the border.

Relegated to the foreigners' section.

Our military cheerleader with the open border behind him.

June 1 - A Home Visit

June 1 - Home Visit -
On the Temple Road there was this dignified looking musician who often smiled and said good morning to us.  Meg had started a conversation with him and gotten an invitation to his home.  We had been discussing the date back and forth and asked that it only be for tea (tea being a confusing term for anyone using British English) and so on the 1st we met him at 5:30 and walked through town to his home.  On the advice of friends we had brought a carton of milk and another of juice as gifts.
He lived down the hill from the main tourist part of town in a concrete building reached by paths rather than the road.  His family had one room for mother, father and four children.  Half of the room was taken up with a bed, there was a blocked area around the sole spigot for washing and a shelf against the wall where food and the gas burner was.  The rest of the floor had a carpet which we sat upon.
He played music for a bit and a daughter sang a few songs with him.  I tried his instrument and made some horrible sounds  It had a full octave of steel strings but you played a horsehair string that crossed them with a bow.  He had long fingernails on his left hand for touching the string which went across the others and had bells on the bow which could be used for percussion.  He was from a musician caste and was proud of his heritage but lamented his financial state.  When we passed him in the street he usually only had 50-60 rupees in his basket.
         He spoke about the land (he used the word "desert") he owned in Rajastan, where his mother lived in a tent.  His daughter was married but her husband had died in a motorcycle accident, leaving her alone with a child. 
While we were talking his wife and oldest daughter heated tea and made chapattis from scratch.  She served us tea and chapattis with vegetable curry and yoghurt.  This was more than we wanted but we finished one and insisted on splitting another.  One daughter was eating but everyone else seemed to be waiting for us to finish. We avoided the yoghurt as we knew of only one store in town that kept it cold and they didn't have a fridge, so milk products seemed more of a risk than the food itself.
Meg tried to find alternatives for him but he said hotels never called him back as they wanted modern guitar bands.  He also said only tourists bought his CDs and now that was fewer as CDs were no longer a thing.  We agreed to buy some CDs when we saw him the next day and made our exit before it got dark.
On the way back the girl who was singing followed us for a few minutes and then tried to beg money off of us.  She tried to be cute and said please several times but we weren't biting so she went off.

After this was over we had planned to meet our friend Firoz for a goodbye meal and he invited Roshni, another volunteer at LHA who was quite interesting herself.  She had been volunteering with the daycare facility and was spend full days with young kids before coming to the conversation class at LHA and so was justifiably exhausted most days.
We had a good meal and chat about our home visit amongst other things before walking Roshni home and saying goodbye to Firoz.

Performing with his precocious daughter.

Me looking good but sounding bad.

The musician at home.