Day 21 (01/03/12) - Himachal Pradesh

Houses, the Nishta Centre, and Dinner at the Mill Owner's House

Today in Himachal Pradesh we started at our friends' house in Sidhbari.  From their upper floor is a "not-too-shabby" view, at least on days when the mountains are not hiding behind clouds.

Their house, like many in Kangra, is of mud-brick and slate construction and was designed by their neighbor and architect (Didi Contractor) mentioned yesterday.  The detail in Didi's houses is amazing including the special display areas and fireplaces

 and the wonderful alcoves just made for your own Ganesha or other purposes.

Didi in her younger days lived in Taos and I think you can see the influence, although it is entirely compatible with traditional Kangra houses.

Our friend Kim's expertise in Himachal Pardesh is the single women's movement and the political power and organizing of single women.  We had earlier learned on our tour about the difficult role for single women in India, and were aware of these issues before leaving on our trip.  And, based on our experience in the United States, these issues are likely to be more difficult in the more-traditional, rural area of a country.  This, obviously, is a immensely complex issue and, frankly, beyond the scope of what is really just a travel blog.  If you'd like to hear a talk of Kim's on a piece of this issue, you can find it here  http://humboldt-dspace.calstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/2148/613/Berry_Kim_sustainable_futures_html_audio.html?sequence=4

One of the signs of the effect of this movement is the Nishtha Rural Health, Education and Enviornment Centre (http://www.nishtha-hp.org/english/index.htm).  The building housing this center was also designed by Didi Contractor.

The medical head of the center is an amazing woman known locally as Dr. Barbara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Nath-Wiser)  She took us on a tour of the center.
After visiting the center, we went further up the hill to a Hindu temple.

In the Hindu tradition, many of the gods come from and live in the north so we were in the homes of the gods.  If you followed a steep staircase down to the creek flowing outside this temple, you would come to a cave which you have to enter on your belly under a large boulder.  Shiva is said to have lived in this cave.

In the early evening we went to Joginder's home.  Among the functions he serves is as the mill operator for the area, a function that has been in his family for a long time.  We were greeted by his family (except for his wife who was upstairs cooking).

 The mill is in a small building who door is too small to enter standing up.  There is a creek running underneath in the center.

The creek carries away the water that enters the mill from the back where it is used to drive the grinding wheel.

 If you creep inside to look at the mill you can see the mechanism although I do not claim to begin to understand how it works. I do know that it is finely enough controlled that only a small amount of grain drops in at any time so that it is ground quite fine.

Joginder and his family invited us to dinner and we were told that it was considered a great honor to have us there.  While I understand this, I also felt tremendously honored to be asked to their house.

Dinner was had on the upper floor of their house, in the room that functioned as a kitchen and dining room as well as probably other functions.  Food was cooked over the open fire and the hearth.  Joginder's wife honored us by making a cornmeal roti, a special form of the Indian flatbread that is given to special guests.  We also all ate rice and dahl from steel plates using roti and our (right) hands, sitting on mat on the floor.  And after all of the rest of us (including Joginder) were fed, he and his wife literally traded places and then he served her.  We were informed that this was not necessarily typical of Indian households, but it does seem a good custom.  The food was a wonderful and special as the occasion.