The deeper we traveled into Rajasthan, the fewer tourists we encountered, especially Western ones. We arrived in Jodhpur and got dropped off at our rental. This is the first time I booked our house through booking.com and not Airbnb. I first started to search on booking.com in places where I couldn’t find an Airbnb that I liked. That’s when I realized that lots of Airbnb listings are also available on booking.com and sometimes for a lower price, possibly because the format for booking.com doesn’t allow for separate booking and cleaning fees.
We arrived at the address of the rental and I didn’t know what we would find. The place was on a dusty street outside of town and there was a tall brick wall surrounding the property. Through the iron gate, we could see a grassy lawn and two one-story structures. We rang the bell and waited outside for a while. A middle-aged lady scurried out from one of the structures. She couldn’t speak any English but we managed to communicate well enough with our smiles and gestures. She showed us through a sliding glass door and into the house and we were surprised to see the modern décor and western features of the house. It was much fancier than we expected. The living room had a comfy leather seating area and a flat-screen TV. AY was delighted to see a set of decorative planters on the coffee table that looked like people and where they would have had hair, the leaves of the plants cascaded out.
The separate dining room had a traditional wooden dining table and matching chairs. In the corner of the dining room was a feature, common in India, that I have come to love – a hand-washing station. Since Indians traditionally eat with their hands, a hand-washing station in the dining area is a welcome convenience. Not just for those who eat with their hands, but for everyone, it is a good habit to wash your hands before and after eating. Having a sink next to the dining table makes it easy to encourage this healthy habit.
There were only two bedrooms in the house so EY shared our bedroom and the other three kids shared the other bedroom with the boys in the double-bed and AY in a rollaway bed.
We were pleasantly surprised when the lady showed us the backyard and there was a refreshing looking pool with crystal blue water. The kids couldn’t wait to jump in for a swim so they took a dip in the afternoon. The climate in the winter is quite mild, but we know that temperatures in the summer can reach 40 degrees and water can be scarce. We recognized that the presence of this pool in a private house was really a luxury.
The kitchen is the heart of the home. It is the place where food, a central part of every culture, every family, of life itself, is prepared. The best food is the traditional kind cooked by mothers and grandmothers around the world. In developing countries, mothers and grandmothers cook with simple appliances and tools. The modern appearance of the rest of the house gave me high hopes, but the kitchen left me a little wanting. Nothing fancy here, just a sink, a countertop two-burner gas stove and a microwave. In the cupboards, there were a few Indian-style pots, none of them resembling the kind that I typically use. I really miss western-style kitchens with a dishwasher, oven, and the appliances that I love like a pressure cooker, air-fryer, popcorn popper, etc. I admit, the typical western kitchen seems excessive compared to the simplicity of this modest kitchen, but I still do miss it.
We were relaxing at home that evening and before we knew what was happening, the lady from this afternoon and a young man were standing in the living room with smiles beaming across the room directed at us. We were surprised by their unannounced visit and sudden appearance inside the house. The young man who spoke English introduced himself as Nikhil and the lady from earlier today was his mother, Pinky. They were the caretakers of the house who lived in the small bungalow next to the main house. He told us that his mother would prepare breakfast for us every morning and asked us what we would like to eat. We didn’t really know what was available so we agreed to his suggestion of parathas, omelet, yogurt, masala chai and coffee. The kids insisted on plain parathas although aloo and paneer parathas were offered. We were all tired of the masala, spice and rich flavors in the local cooking and were craving some simple and plain-tasting food.
The next morning, Pinky let herself in at 7 am and we were surprised to wake up to the smell of fresh parathas. We hadn’t given it much thought, but we didn’t know that she meant she would cook the breakfast in our kitchen. The breakfast that she prepared was generous and delicious. Everybody loved the taste of the homemade parathas that she made from scratch. Nikhil came by while we were eating breakfast to check that everything was ok and he proudly pointed out that everything, even the yogurt, was made from scratch by his mom. I noticed the way Nikhil carefully translated everything that his mom said so we could understand. He also translated everything that we said for his mom so she could provide an answer. It was clear that he deeply respected her. Even when he could have simply bypassed his mom’s participation and answered the questions himself, he still made the effort to complete the translations both ways. It was endearing to observe their interaction and it made me really like this family.
Since we liked the plain paratha so much, Pinky recommended that we try the aloo paratha the next morning. She promised that it would not be spicy at all so we agreed. The potato filling was so delicious, especially paired with the tanginess of the homemade yogurt, and we all loved it just as much as we loved the plain paratha.
Nikhil’s family looked after the property while the owner was away. Nikhil works full-time during the day as a software engineer and his sister works as a teacher. His mom stays on the property most of the time taking care of the domestic duties. Nikhil’s family probably didn’t make much money from looking after the house, but they did get a place to stay that looked pretty nice compared to some of the other places we saw in the neighborhood.
We appreciated the big garden and lawn area surrounding the house, so on the third or fourth day, we decided to do a family exercise and games morning outside. We started off with some stretching, exercises and jogged around the garden a few times. RY led us in doing some squats, planks and burpees. We didn’t have a ball so the kids fashioned a ball out of a long-sleeve shirt. During our game of monkey-in-the-middle, we noticed a few neighborhood kids had gathered around the big iron gate in front of the house and were watching us. We smiled, waved to them and continued our game. After a while, we decided to go in the backyard to cool off with a swim followed by some learning time and downtime.
The morning that we left Jodhpur, Pinky prepared extra paratha for us so we would have something to eat at the airport. Nikhil, his sister and his mom came to see us off and wish us a safe journey. We showed Nikhil and his mom a pile of clothes the children had grown out of. We had organized the clothes into a few stacks on the couch and asked them to share the clothes with kids in their extended family or neighborhood. Nikhil and his mom were so grateful to receive these items and we were happy to give these clothes a second life. Leo also gave Nikhil an old android phone that we had brought with us as a backup phone but at some point, it had stopped working. He told Nikhil that he could have it, but he would need to fix it. Nikhil was completely overjoyed, almost speechless.
I asked if we could take a photo together, which Nikhil translated for his mom. She suddenly ran off in the direction of her home. When she returned, she was dressed in a beautiful red and black saree and we realized that she ran off to change out of her working clothes and into something “picture worthy”. We took some photos together because I very much want to remember this family in Jodhpur. Though seemingly an ordinary family, in my eyes, they are actually extraordinary – in their warmth and kindness, to strangers like us, and also within their own family to one another.
A few weeks after we left India, Leo received a message from Nikhil expressing his gratitude for the phone and saying that he had indeed managed to fix it.
