Today we took a trip to the village of one of the boys who lives at the ashram, Sudanshu. He is 17 years old and an absolute sweetheart. We met his mother, grandparents, brother, and a handful of other relatives and neighbors. It was actually quite beautiful out in the countryside, in the fields. We feasted like kings; the food was incredible. Everyone responsible for serving food here is like your grandmother, offering you so much food that if you ate it all you would surely burst. They don't take no for an answer easily! After lunch there was a mandatory nap where everyone lay down on the beds outside. All the guests did, anyway. The occupants of the house cleaned up after the meal. We took a walk around the village and drew quite a crowd. This was definitely an off the beaten path kind of place; they don't see too many tourists. One of the coolest things we got to do was eat sugar cane. I've got quite a sweet tooth, but I've never tasted the sweetness at the source. Bellissimo! Bahut baria (really great).
Sudanshu prepares the sugar cane for eating. Never having tried it before, I approached it like a popsicle, top-down, as the locals chuckled. The trick is biting from the side, pulling a strip off, chewing on it to get the sugar, and then spitting out the fibrous part. They gave us each a piece about 3-feet long, which of course we could not finish.
This boy was curious, but a little camera-shy.
Some of the many cows we saw on our walk. These ladies look a little underfed.
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