hot water and pani puri

Someone has fixed the hot water in the kitchen and i am in heaven. No more ice cold water hands. Yay! Like i said before: the simple things. Today played 3 chess games with Nakul's niece Manu after breakfast. 9 years old and she plays a mean game of chess. Pretty cool. The shopping trip with Ritu the other day was a blast. We sat in the sari shop while shirt after shirt after shirt (salwar top) was laid out for us to choose. Every shirt in the shop was brought out. I selected one nice one. And pants too, but the pants I will have to return since they don't fit. Then we strolled the streets of the market arm in arm, browsing in the shops. It seems we created quite a stir because people would look and whisper when we went past. We must have been quite a sight, Ritu dressed in her finest sari, looking like a princess, on the arm of one scruffy-looking by comparison foreigner.... they always seem to never like my feet. Whenever I get the "once over" it is always on my feet that their eyes seem to linger. Must be my bare ankles or lack of jewellry or any kind of adornment. No self-respecting Indian woman would leave the house so naked. Anyhow. We meandered down to the river and paid our respects, Ritu made me try different delicacies in the street. She is a fan of fried things, not sweets like me, and before i knew it i was agreeing to pop a whole "pani puri" in my mouth, not knowing at all what i was committing to. It looked like a small fried puffy bread, that is hollow and then dipped in what looks like some kind of sugar syrup. Looks tasty enough. Well, thats what i figured. The reality was a shocking strange kinda salty, kinda... i don't know, how to explain. NOT what i expected, thats for sure, and now i had a whole unwanted mouth full of it. Hilarious. What to do but to keep chewing, swallow and refuse the second helping. It was fun to watch. We picked up a few foodstuffs for the house and chattered away as we walked, exchanging ideas and likes and dislikes. I learned alot, about ritu, about India, about life.
Yesterday Nakul and i photocopied my passport and couriered the authorization letter off to amit in delhi. Probably on Monday he will go to the airport, then we will see. It was a lovely day yesterday. Thoroughly enjoyable.
I am loving being in the kitchen. Learning so much. Absorbing like a sponge, how to make tarka, how to make chole, how to make mushroom aloo subji, all these wonderful things. It is like a chemists lab in there and i am amazed at the power of observation, both of daily tasks and of human interaction and sociology. I guess there was a reason I was always interested in languages and travel and sociology and anthropology in school. so fascinating. I love to be involved with everything and i am finally finding my quirky little place amongst the family.
The food is so amazing. I am starting to feel really really good from eating such great and healthy food. The spices in the food are like medicine, turmeric, cumin, chili and ginger. Mmmm so good. Starting to feel downright energetic and clean.
ok
gotta run,
love and kisses