A Pinch of Spice and a Spoonful of Family

We completed the golden triangle, Delhi – Jaipur – Agra, and return to Delhi via the motorway. Before we left home, I had heard so many frightening stories about the roads and traffic. Top gear had recently aired an episode saying how dangerous they were, honestly I was expecting far worse! Yes, it was busy! Yes, it was very different to Australian road rules. And YES it works! Drivers are prepared for people coming the other way to overtake and basically make another lane, everyones up for it, just deal with it. I came back thinking what crazy drivers we are here. Inpatient, angry, stressed. In India, it just works! When ten lanes of traffic converge to four, it works with at least a mm or two to spare, I am sure we could learn a thing or two.

The afternoon before we continued our journey to Shimla, an old British city and now an Indian summer holiday destination, we were treated to some family time with our tour guide Tarun’s family. Tarun’s mum was going to give us a cooking lesson. So not only were we in India, we were now being taught to cook traditional Indian food in a traditional Indian kitchen by a very accomplished and patient Indian lady. Who, by the way, knew her stuff!

Mumty, as we called her, was delightful! I am not sure how good her English was, it was certainly better than my appalling attempts at speaking Indian. Yet, we communicated and we laughed together and we had the most fun! We learnt to make Chai, a couple of vegetarian dishes and Aloo Paratha..The smell of spices coming from that stove was intoxicating, the colours were fabulous and I can honestly say I have a much better understanding of how much spice to throw into a dish now! We then sat down with the rest of the Sharma family and enjoyed the food, it was delicious. I tried to eat one handed, frankly I just wasn’t co ordinated enough! I’m pretty sure the food tasted just as good with me pushing it around my plate with two hands!

L-R Our driver Lehku and our tour guide Tarun

The Sharma family were very hospitable and gracious, my table manners were quite possibly appalling, I am not sure! They were warm and friendly people and I learnt quite a lot about Indian families that afternoon. Mrs Sharma, you made my day and I will treasure the memories of us cooking together.