India - Jaipur and Homeward Bound (8)
Nov 19, 2013 17:08:52 GMT
Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2013 17:08:52 GMT
Where did we go to eat? Well, there was no restaurant at our hotel. We could order food in though, and it was brought over to the hotel from God knows where. I didn't like the thought of my food having traveled around a few streets before it gets into my hands. Anyhow it's no fun ordering in, unless you happen to be too knackered to go out, after a very busy day for-instance. Once or twice we ate at at neighboring hotel, where they had their own cook and restaurant. However it soon got boring doing that and the variety of dishes available were quite limited. Not only that but many flies were flying around while we tried to eat, kind makes you lose your appetite.
So we decided to walk the streets and try out a few different places. I'm not sure how to begin describing these places that we ate at. They were very very basic, with no doors as such, it was all open. There were tables inside, you walked in sat down and ordered. The cooks were busy at the front of these establishments as well as at the back. There seemed to be no rules or regulations as to who did what, people walked back and both, from front to back doing whatever they had to do. A tiny sink was at the back to wash our hands. However I don't know if I came back from washing my hands cleaner or dirtier.
I wish I had taken some photos of these places, but I was too busy just trying to maneuver through it all, trying to get from one place to the next without tripping over someone or something or falling into the open fire or sizzling oil at the front used for cooking. It really was very primitive indeed, but of course to me, very interesting. It was also very male driven. It was, like just about all other such places, run entirely by men. And it was mostly men that were being served. A large barrel of cooked rice stood to one side, as well as other pre-cooked, but still hot food. Different kinds of lentil curries and sabjies (vegetable dishes).
One time we had just sat down and a beggar came over (they always seemed to zoom in on us). He knelt down at the side of our table and started to beg. We were waiting for our meal to be served and no one seemed to notice him, there was too much chaos and activity at that place to pay much attention to anything. It was not a good situation. Eventually I managed to flag down one of the workers there and the beggar was moved on.
However there were even worse places to eat than this. One day we found an egg-man making fresh eggs with bread. As it was cooked right in front of us, it seemed like a good bet. However as we were waiting for our eggs to be done, rats and some mice came out and I could see them near my feet just under and behind the table that the man was using to cook on. Even these vermin were used to humans, and no one seemed to want to harm them. In fact the egg man dropped bits of food for them to eat, leftover I guess. Amazing I thought.
Then as we walked further on, right in front of me was a chicken having it's head cut off. I didn't have time to turn away before I saw what was happening. And that is how this town just was. One thing after another. Another time a drunk rickshaw driver started to follow me, even though I told him we didn't need his services. It was very hard to get rid of him. This place was really something. The desperation, the poverty, the broken spirits and the lost. Apart from Agra this place was probably the hardest to be in. But really, it was probably worse than Agra in parts, the only difference being after weeks of being in India I was just more used to it and took it more in my stride.
So we decided to walk the streets and try out a few different places. I'm not sure how to begin describing these places that we ate at. They were very very basic, with no doors as such, it was all open. There were tables inside, you walked in sat down and ordered. The cooks were busy at the front of these establishments as well as at the back. There seemed to be no rules or regulations as to who did what, people walked back and both, from front to back doing whatever they had to do. A tiny sink was at the back to wash our hands. However I don't know if I came back from washing my hands cleaner or dirtier.
I wish I had taken some photos of these places, but I was too busy just trying to maneuver through it all, trying to get from one place to the next without tripping over someone or something or falling into the open fire or sizzling oil at the front used for cooking. It really was very primitive indeed, but of course to me, very interesting. It was also very male driven. It was, like just about all other such places, run entirely by men. And it was mostly men that were being served. A large barrel of cooked rice stood to one side, as well as other pre-cooked, but still hot food. Different kinds of lentil curries and sabjies (vegetable dishes).
One time we had just sat down and a beggar came over (they always seemed to zoom in on us). He knelt down at the side of our table and started to beg. We were waiting for our meal to be served and no one seemed to notice him, there was too much chaos and activity at that place to pay much attention to anything. It was not a good situation. Eventually I managed to flag down one of the workers there and the beggar was moved on.
However there were even worse places to eat than this. One day we found an egg-man making fresh eggs with bread. As it was cooked right in front of us, it seemed like a good bet. However as we were waiting for our eggs to be done, rats and some mice came out and I could see them near my feet just under and behind the table that the man was using to cook on. Even these vermin were used to humans, and no one seemed to want to harm them. In fact the egg man dropped bits of food for them to eat, leftover I guess. Amazing I thought.
Then as we walked further on, right in front of me was a chicken having it's head cut off. I didn't have time to turn away before I saw what was happening. And that is how this town just was. One thing after another. Another time a drunk rickshaw driver started to follow me, even though I told him we didn't need his services. It was very hard to get rid of him. This place was really something. The desperation, the poverty, the broken spirits and the lost. Apart from Agra this place was probably the hardest to be in. But really, it was probably worse than Agra in parts, the only difference being after weeks of being in India I was just more used to it and took it more in my stride.