Dahi rabri anyone?

This terrific signboard alerted us to the local delicacy of dahi rabri or rabdi. No, no, not another daughter of Laloo, but a cooling summer speciality that seemed to be the raison d'être for the existence of the eateries that we came across in Semadoh. Funnily, we didnt find it in Chikaldhara, just 26 kms away. I wonder why....

Ordering it with curiosity and enthusiasm, the group fell strangely silent when this was plonked down on the table at Mukund Rao's hotel. Err, what was it? Well, the white clumps are the dahi, and the brown goo it is residing in was the rabri.
It was not re-ordered shall we say.

This was the pet cow that inhabited the front of this dhaba. The first time I've seen a cow behave like a dog - beg for food - gently brining its snout near our plates. I'm sure if we hadn't shooed her away in time, she would have quite happily had the dahi rabri. (Why didnt I think of it then - could've magically and quickly finished it off that way!)

Anyway, near this dhaba was a women's toilet which was an enclosed-for-modesty open to the elements square. One day we found this cow in there, using the facility! Well trained isnt she?!

We settled for rotis and dal, which were really good.  Mrs Mukund Rao sat in front of this chulha, in the scorching summer heat and produced a pile of them.  The final baking was done by the proprietor himself, on another stove.

The locals did not seem to eat a roti-type lunch.  Rather the usual order seemed to be dahi rabri, jilebi and batata wada.

This here, is our trusted jalopy.  It was a Mahindra Maxx, which rattled and shook us around Chikaldhara, Semadoh and the Melghat sanctuary.  The amazing thing was that it did not break down - this particular vehicle - throughout our stay and travels.  

This was Sajid's vehicle.  Sajid was a commendable young man.  Every morning he would be at our dorm at 4:30, drive us through the day in the dust and heat - no power steering mind you - with a cheery grin all along.  he seemed to be the local champion carrom player, because he would report in the morning saying he won a game the previous night.  

A few days down the line, I discovered that Sajid was consuming 25 packets of Gutka in the course of a day.  I also discovered that those rows of colourful sachets hanging in the dhabas were all different brands of gutka, all very correctly carrying skull and bones and health warning messages.  Aren't these things banned?  In my broken Hindi I managed to convey to Sajid in gory a manner as possible the ill-effects of chewing tobacco... he promised to stop.... he shifted to chewing gum on the last day we we were there....I do wonder if he managed to kick the habit?

So, here's a whole generation getting addicted to chewing tobacco, while Anbumani Ramdoss talks about drinking and smoking in films.  Talk about missing the wood for the trees.

I do wonder what Sajid thought of us.  Mad Madrasis is my guess.  Since he was the better/safer/more sensible driver of the two, we women were assigned him, very chivalrously by the men.  We of course spent our time in the van giggling hysterically as the dust rose from the roads, and Raji covered her head, face and was soon just a vague bundle.  We found a lot to laugh about on that trip, everything recounted in the van, to further laughter.

At one point, Sajid decided he would drive the other vehicle, at which point Raji told him (in Hindi worse than mine) that she would only travel in his vehicle, whichever one it was!!  You have to agree, that he was a brave young man, twenty something at the most, facing these 40+ crazy women!

So, if any of you fellow travellers of mine remember what it is we laughed about, please do write in.   I remember a few -

#  The wild dog, which turned out to be a goatherds dog

# Wind rustling the roof in the night and Raji swearing it was an intruder tapping the door

# Deepika asking the forest guide nervously as to what to do if she came across a bear in the jungle (his suggestion that she lie down and play dead only made her more nervous!)

# Raji and me winning the laziness competitions hands down

# Mr Kadamkar, the forest officer suggesting cheerfully that we spend the night at Raipur ( a dusty village in the middle of nowhere), and Mr Ranjan saying that he would die if we did such things!