Rajasthani Treat

What I like about India the most is its diversity. Travel from one state to another and you’ll see (and hear) different languages, traditions, clothing, life style. Living in the North part of India, in the city, a Union territory of two states Haryana and Punjab, we are lucky enough to have a piece of another state just 27 km away from the city. This place is called Chokhi Dhani, and it represents culture of Rajasthan state.

the restaurant building in palace style

the path leading along the performances

Last Sunday the company my D works for organized a get together for its employees and their wives and kids. It was a fun event, full of interaction and interesting things. We were able to witness some of the traditional Rajasthani performances.

Curiosity lead us to the palmist. Well, I said as soon as he doesn't tell anything bad its good :) Me and my D were happy with his predictions.

These women’s rhythmic and cheerful dance involved few of us later on (I was among them too). We danced  in the circle, repeating the dancers’ movements. That was my first such experience and I loved it!

The guy-rope walker’s show was a little scary at the moments when he was turning, lying, and walking backward. Another guy was sitting below, playing drum (or tabla?) and having some funny conversation with the rope walker, making the overall impression of danger even deeper.

The puppet theatre was hilarious, accompanied with music, singing and some story telling. I had already presented  Indian puppet theatre once in this post. Mostly, the scenes and  the characters from people's daily life are shown during the spectacle. 

The magician took all our fancy. His tricks must have been simple, nevertheless interesting. We were under impression from the last trick, when the magician covered a white dove with a lid and when lifted it up, there were already 3 doves sitting!

I’m sorry, but even the washrooms bore that ethnic touch - a drawing of a man and a woman in traditional clothing.

This boy was also dancing to Rajasthani beats, inviting people from our company to join him on the stage.

The most delicious part of our visit was Rajasthani lunch. Yes, this is the way it is served – on the broad dishes which stand on the low benches. You have to sit on the special mats and enjoy eating with hands! It really tastes better this way.

Such type of serving of the dish with loads of various meals is called “thali”. Ours included loads of things which names I’m not able to recollect now J. I liked chautneys a lot, those in the bottom right corner of the picture are garlic, green and peas with some plant. Yumm!

I liked the lamps which were hung all around the place and gave a stunning look with their lights at night.

Hope you liked being a part of our short visit to Rajasthan. It left many good memories to us and, of course, we would like to go to the "real" state to see all those beautiful maharaja palaces and try more of yummy food. 

Have an interesting and happy day!