We rolled into Jaipur on the night of the 13th after back to back 100k days (ouch). We timed our arrival with the kite festival celebrated in the city every year. By the time the sun was up on the 14th, the sky was filled with kites, populating the horizon like a pack of flitting butterflies. The entire city took to the rooftops and there were numerous kiting competitions throughout the city. The neighborhood kids battle locally to snip competing kites out of the sky with deft spinning motions (so much harder than it looks!). Every time a kite is felled there's a hearty "whoa katah" wailed from a nearby rooftop- roughly translating to "your done/dead." We spent the day flying kites and relaxing with friends on a rooftop in a nearby colony outside the city. How we came to meet these friends and how they have impacted the last two weeks of travel and adventure is a whole new story, one that I will attempt to recount here but hardly believe myself. Here goes...
Our first major cycling destination was Bharatpur to visit Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary and rest for a few days. While there, we made a chance acquaintance with some friendly locals who invited us to dinner. After two nights of good conversation and learning how to make chapatis and curry, we were invited to stay on a family farm outside of Mainpuri. We cycled the 180K or so back to Uttar Pradesh and were welcomed with the most amazing kind of hospitality I have ever experienced. That may sound over stated. It's not. They say that guests in India are "treated like gods" and I have to say that's really not an overstatement either. We were given the best room, fed and entertained constantly, and were refused when we offered any effort (monetary or otherwise). Of the week we spent in the village of Jinjaing there were several highlights. Overall, the chance to see "real" India and be absorbed into a family was the best kind of experience and one I had hoped to have during my travels. The kids were incredibly fun and some of the kindest and least shy hosts (their English is best too and our Hindi is much improved after our visit). We played all versions of tag, foot races and caroms with them (a family favorite). Rita, our host mother, taught me how to milk a buffalo and cook chicken curry (right after Dada had Dave point to the bird that would be our dinner). Our second to last day marked the first day of a two week district cricket match. The cricket grounds were in our host village, and the preparation field smoothing, food preparation, and visiting team accommodations for the games were a collective effort. Dave and I were invited to the match as "chief guests," which turned out to mean that Dave would throw the ceremonial opening ball to a visiting parliamentarian (like a Senator), I would have the pleasure of the second ceremonial bat (I whiffed it and Dave got his first wicket), and I would give out the post-game "man of the match" trophy. We were a spectacle the entire day, seated between the dignitary and the MC. Over the course of the 4 hour 20/20 match, we could hear a smattering of Hindi over the mic interspersed with our names...followed by laughter. Lots of pictures were taken by local newspaper outlets, and our host informed us that evening that we would be featured in several papers throughout the Mainpuri district the following day. Indeed, our names and a picture of the DEM batting Dave's pitch made the front page of the Hindustan Times the next day. Hilarious. They could not have chosen two people more reluctant to be semi celebrities for a day.
We spent a day biking to a nearby lake and bird park in Salman, 20k down the road. Dada joined us on his new bike and arranged our impromptu bus ride home (3 punctures and looming night fall called for it). Mobs of people surrounded when we made a quick stop for lunch in town. We collect large crowds just about everywhere we go outside the cities. Our hosts explained that most of the people in these villages have never seen foreigners before. Between Dave's height and me being a foreign lady on a bike (with my calves showing- gasp!), we attract quite a lot of attention. Everyone is very kind, so it's mostly just a lot of wide-eyed curious (male) faces. We manage to the usual questions about where we are from, where we are going, the number of gears on our bikes, etc. The actual trip to the lake made for a memorable excursion. We and an entourage of Dada's friends were led to a weathered lake side boat half filled with water. My suspicions were correct, and all 15 of us did in fact pile into the not-so lake worthy craft and "set sail" (ok, we moved by bamboo stick thrusts and the water was 3 ft deep). We had many a near capsizing interspersed with laughs with the good humored crowd.
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