Our trip to Ranthambhore thus far has been somewhat disappointing. Not only did we not get to see any tigers on our three hour safari, but my "Delhi belly" also decided to kick in a little today. I was wondering when it would hit.
Our tour guide on the jeep told us that the jungle was rife with hyenas, leopards, tigers and jackals. The only thing we saw were deer and peacocks. Brian and I realized that the tigers weren't always going to be in plain sight, but we did wonder if it was some sort of tourist scam. However, at breakfast this negative thought was squashed when one of the Indian boys sitting across from us told us that his jeep had seen one. We were disappointed that we hadn't jumped onto his tour, but decided that we had just been unlucky.
When we returned to the hotel we discovered that Sanjay had a whole night of activities planned for us. According to his driver friends he is an excellent cook and he planned to cook us a dinner of mutton.
Yesterday when talking with Sanjay he told us that he was an anomaly compared to other Hindus. He chicken, mutton, tobacco and whiskey whereas most Hindus are vegetarians (the cow is considered "Mother" and they roam the streets like kings here) and drink mainly tea.
Brian and I didn't know what mutton was having never tried it before. We noticed on our hotel menu that it said if you wanted to order mutton you had to place the order 4 hours in advance. When we asked Sanjay why this was he informed us it was because they slaughtered the goat literally right before they cooked it. "Very fresh!" he said with a smile. I wondered if he was going to do the same thing for us before he cooked our meal.
Our other activity for the day was to get a hot shave. Not for me, of course, but for Brian. They have little shops all over the place for this. Brian will finally be cutting off his long mutton chops. We noticed that a lot of Indian men sport the "handlebar" mustache so Brian decided to go for this look. He tells me he wants to be able to curl up the edges like Salvador Dali. I was just hoping that the straight blade wouldn't cut his throat! But they did an excellent job and Brian said it felt really good.
Our tour guide on the jeep told us that the jungle was rife with hyenas, leopards, tigers and jackals. The only thing we saw were deer and peacocks. Brian and I realized that the tigers weren't always going to be in plain sight, but we did wonder if it was some sort of tourist scam. However, at breakfast this negative thought was squashed when one of the Indian boys sitting across from us told us that his jeep had seen one. We were disappointed that we hadn't jumped onto his tour, but decided that we had just been unlucky.
When we returned to the hotel we discovered that Sanjay had a whole night of activities planned for us. According to his driver friends he is an excellent cook and he planned to cook us a dinner of mutton.
Yesterday when talking with Sanjay he told us that he was an anomaly compared to other Hindus. He chicken, mutton, tobacco and whiskey whereas most Hindus are vegetarians (the cow is considered "Mother" and they roam the streets like kings here) and drink mainly tea.
Brian and I didn't know what mutton was having never tried it before. We noticed on our hotel menu that it said if you wanted to order mutton you had to place the order 4 hours in advance. When we asked Sanjay why this was he informed us it was because they slaughtered the goat literally right before they cooked it. "Very fresh!" he said with a smile. I wondered if he was going to do the same thing for us before he cooked our meal.
Our other activity for the day was to get a hot shave. Not for me, of course, but for Brian. They have little shops all over the place for this. Brian will finally be cutting off his long mutton chops. We noticed that a lot of Indian men sport the "handlebar" mustache so Brian decided to go for this look. He tells me he wants to be able to curl up the edges like Salvador Dali. I was just hoping that the straight blade wouldn't cut his throat! But they did an excellent job and Brian said it felt really good.
Oh Brian, that is so sad about the mutton chops! I was getting used to them!! Nice to experience a good old fashion hot shave.
ReplyDeleteMutton is not goat. it is lamb.
ReplyDeleteGood to know. We thought he kept pointing at goats.
DeleteI'm pretty sure we were eating goat because the cook kept pointing at live goats on the side of the road and they called it mutton, so who knows.
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