My day started like usual, biked to my yoga class, came home, ate breakfast (the fruit here is yummy), and went to school. Fridays are pretty easy days at school, so I often spend part of the time I am there with the school's cooks. I really like spending time with the cooks and I am learning to make some really delicious meals (everyone is welcome over for a dinner feast when I return to the US). Below is a picture of me and the cooks. Gita-ji is the lady in the lower left of the picture. She is the head cook and a really patient and nice woman. Her super awesome and funny assistant's name is Anita-ji. The three of us have spent many a morning laughing and laughing.
After a very delicious lunch of salad, choli (chickpeas), roti (bread), aloo-goobi (potato and cauliflower), and dal (lentils), I went to Gita-ji's house for an afternoon visit. I love visiting her house as her family is so friendly - although I often feel at a complete loss as to who is related and how they are related. Hindi/Urdu is really interesting in that each family relation has a special name. So your mom's sister is called something different than your dad's sister and that name is different than your dad's brother's wife. This is confusing at the aunt/uncle level and almost impossible for me at the cousin level - I just can't remember all the words. But it is fun to try to puzzle out. At Gita-ji's house, I we chatted and drank some chai (tea). It was lovely.
Later that evening, another good friend of mine in Lucknow stopped by my house for a nice chat. I call her "amma", which means mother, but her real name is Seela. Calling older people or people in relations of authority over oneself by family names is very common. For example, I call the cooks "aunti" and my yoga teachers "didi", which means older sister, even though I think they are younger than me. I've put a picture of amma and I below. We are at my house.
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