We left the hotel at 8:30 AM. There are two workers in the hotel, a man and his son. They sleep on mattresses in front of the front desk. The boy is around sixteen and the cutest thing. Him working legitimately the whole Saturday night and still being the biggest bro? Pretty cool.
We drove to the outskirts of the city and went for breakfast. We then went to a mock village that was set up to look like it did back in the day.
The houses were made of animal dung and were very small for a family to live in. People there make clay for a living. Mel and I helped this man make a clay pot on the turning wheel! It was super cool. We also saw musicians and watched them play a few songs. In the museum parts, there were old machines that make wool thread and yogurt and butter. Madan said his family used things like these when he was a child. I learned something interesting: a married couple don't sleep in the same room. Usually the women sleeps inside the house with the kids and the man sleeps outside of the house, in his own room. Again, no cameras were allowed at this place. We then went back into town and cruised around the streets. At one stall, this family handed me their baby so they could take a photo of me with her. Then the dad wanted one and then the daughter wanted one. I think it's because of my skin colour. A shop keeper was chatting us up and said since it is summer here, there are a lot of Indian tourists, but hardly any crazy Westerners like us. Which makes sense, cause it's the hottest time of the year here.
We see many stray animals here. I found out how cows become stray: if they don't produce milk, no one needs them or keeps them (they don't eat the meat). When we saw a pregnant, blind dog come up to us, we had to give it water. Jess gave her water bottle and Jerry used a knife to cut it up a to make a dish.
We went for dinner and hopped the overnight bus at 7 PM. The streets are windy and the stretch of land is all desert leading out of the city. There was a lot of traffic! The title of this post refers to the Kelly Clarkson song, naturally. Whenever we are doing anything a out of our comfort zone, the girls and I sing it. If I can go to the bathroom in a Indian toilet on the side of the road, I can do anything. You should have seen this one. Picture the grossest bathroom you have ever seen and then times that by a hundred. I had to sing pretty much the entire Kelly song to get through that one. You've got to just chalk it up to an experience :)
Torry Harris
DWC Student Team Leader
Sikar, India: May 2012
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