This morning while I ate the "fix breakfast" (2 boiled eggs, toast and "hash brown, potatoes" which are actually boiled potatoes in gravy with green peppers and onions) while Anita tried some yogurt (curd) and tea, we heard the whack, whack of clothes being washed. We looked over the wall of our rooftop restaurant and saw the lady next door washing clothes with buckets of water. She was beating the clothes, including saris, with what looked like a little cricket bat. Saris are very long wide pieces of fabric. Later we saw another lady walk up to her rooftop wearing a sort of halter top or Indian sports bra thing and big waist high slip, pull a sari off the line, start by wrapping around the waist and before you knew it she was completely covered including her head. It's an all purpose garment for this climate. We don't think they wear anything else underneath because we see them sometimes squat to pee in the street. Practical.
This afternoon, Anita felt well enough to leave the hotel for the first time in 3 days. We walked over the footbridge to the main part of the city. On the way, we saw ladies bathing their children in the polluted water of the lake. They do what they have to do. Except for the homeless beggars, people here appear to be very clean in their person and dress, despite the challenges of keeping that up. I'm not sure everyone at home would be so diligent about personal hygiene. It's too bad they're immersed in pollution.
Anita is still feeling weak so we thought a visit to Museum Bagore ki Haveli would be a suitable outing. It's not far and it's not big. For 100 rupees each plus 50 rupees for a camera (total $5 Cdn) we wandered through an old haveli (mansion) built by a former prime minister of the former local state of Mewar in the 18th century. The haveli had been abandoned for 50 years before being restored in 1986 and turned into a museum showing life in the 1700s.
Puppetry was and is big here so we saw a whole room full of puppets, some of them life size. Then we saw rooms typical of the time, for wealthy people. In a wash room for the wealthy ladies, there was a short wooden seat in the middle and brass containers of water around the room. One container had a small heater underneath that likely burned some liquid fuel. The indoor environment fanatic in me noticed that this was vented into the room. Carbon monoxide, anyone? There were also other typical rooms of the era. The lifestyle required many servants to help with the bathing, move the ceiling fans and so on. They also had displays of weddings, turbans from various regions and castes, and weapons. It was an interesting afternoon.
On the way home we took pictures of a couple of the little shrines along the water. Traffic and commerce just flow around them. As we got back to our hotel, we had to walk through a big awning setup to get to our front door. It looks like there might be a wedding just outside our door this weekend. Should be interesting.
This afternoon, Anita felt well enough to leave the hotel for the first time in 3 days. We walked over the footbridge to the main part of the city. On the way, we saw ladies bathing their children in the polluted water of the lake. They do what they have to do. Except for the homeless beggars, people here appear to be very clean in their person and dress, despite the challenges of keeping that up. I'm not sure everyone at home would be so diligent about personal hygiene. It's too bad they're immersed in pollution.
Anita is still feeling weak so we thought a visit to Museum Bagore ki Haveli would be a suitable outing. It's not far and it's not big. For 100 rupees each plus 50 rupees for a camera (total $5 Cdn) we wandered through an old haveli (mansion) built by a former prime minister of the former local state of Mewar in the 18th century. The haveli had been abandoned for 50 years before being restored in 1986 and turned into a museum showing life in the 1700s.
Puppetry was and is big here so we saw a whole room full of puppets, some of them life size. Then we saw rooms typical of the time, for wealthy people. In a wash room for the wealthy ladies, there was a short wooden seat in the middle and brass containers of water around the room. One container had a small heater underneath that likely burned some liquid fuel. The indoor environment fanatic in me noticed that this was vented into the room. Carbon monoxide, anyone? There were also other typical rooms of the era. The lifestyle required many servants to help with the bathing, move the ceiling fans and so on. They also had displays of weddings, turbans from various regions and castes, and weapons. It was an interesting afternoon.
On the way home we took pictures of a couple of the little shrines along the water. Traffic and commerce just flow around them. As we got back to our hotel, we had to walk through a big awning setup to get to our front door. It looks like there might be a wedding just outside our door this weekend. Should be interesting.
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