Nine Days In – Nora

We are now 9 days in to our great adventure, having spent 4 days in Delhi, 1 night in Agra, 2 nights outside Udaipur in the rustic countryside, and 2 nights in Udaipur proper, variously in and on the lake.  It’s enough time that we’ve washed one load of laundry, gotten fully adjusted to the time change, already lost track of what day it is (in India, much less in the United States, where it’s 12 hours and a bizarre 30 minutes behind), thrown up in public spaces a grand and gross total of 8 times, and seen enough that we feel overwhelmed by both the beauty and squalor of this chaotic, challenging place.

Here are a few highlights:

While staying in Khempur (the rural village close to Udaipur), we were invited into a school, where we and the students engaged in a sing-along trading back and forth between the students’ (on-key) local songs and our hilariously off-key and out-of-place rendition of “Jingle Bells.”  Then, guided by the blue sign on the wall on the picture above, we all joined together for a rousing rendition of “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.”

Second, I am in love with the women of India.  They are, almost without exception, drop-dead gorgeous, and they have been so incredibly kind to us.  Adding to the charm, they have been as unabashed in taking pictures of us (we must be starring in Facebook selfies India over) as we’ve been eager to snap photos of them, creating a refreshing reciprocity.  Here are a few of my faves:

A third highlight was that, on our first night in Khempur, we were invited to a local wedding.  It was an arranged marriage and, as you can see from the photo, the groom looks none too pleased (though perhaps he had just caught a glimpse of us and wondered what the heck we were doing at his nuptials).

Continuing the theme from above, the women asked me into a private room where we had a cheerful cross-cultural photo shoot.

Finally, over the past 9 days, we’ve gotten a sense of what lies ahead.  And it’s become clear that, even more than the places we’ll see, will be the time we’ll have.  In our hustle-and-bustle lives, time as a family is often in short supply–and I’m feeling so grateful for the weeks and months ahead when we can spend time together at a relaxed pace, without daily distraction.