RAJASTHANI FAMILY
August 2017
02
On my last day in Ladakh I roamed the streets of Leh to find out where all the local had their daily life. When I reached the edge of the city I bumped into a young girl, Sanjaina, who I talked to while we walked back towards the city centre. Suddently she stops and asks me if I want to come and see her home. I said yes and we walked back towards a hill with a few tents on. When we reached her home, a big tent made of sticks, old linens and blankets, I was welcomed by her mom and siblings. They served me chai and leftovers from their lunch without expecting anything in return. They just seemed to be interested in having a foreign visitor in their home. Sanjaina is 10 years old and lives with her mom, dad and 5 siblings that are all between 6 and 16 years old. They all live off the dads income from repairing shoes which gives him 200-300 Rupees(3-5 USD) per day! This is 25-38 INR per person!
Even though they obviously have a tough life, I was pleased to know that all of the kids went to school and did not have to work like in many other poor families. I felt really bad about eating their food, and I also suspected that they invited me in, so I would give them some money, but I was surprised. When I pulled out 500 INR(50 kr) and handed it to the mom telling her thank you for the food and for sending her children to school, she just shook her head and said "no no no". I had to force her to take the money and the smile on her face was priceless. Now the entire family went crazy with gifts they wanted to give me. I got bangles on my wrist, the eldest daughter gave me one of her ankle chains and made a beautiful henna tattoo on my hand and then all the girls brushed and braided my hair. They asked me to please come back the next day and say goodbye before I left for the airport.
I showed them on my iPhone-map where Denmark is, and how small it is compared to India. The interest in the iPhone was big but I am not sure they understood what I was trying to explain.
This girl was a bit shy the first day I visited and did not want to take the scarf off and show her hair because it was all messy. The next day, her scarf was off and she was wore a beautiful dress and was all about posing in front of the camera. She is so beautiful!
The next day it was Rakshabandhan, which is a national brother-sister-day celebrated all over South Asia where sisters give their blessing to their brothers. I bought bananas and mangoes, which for them is expensive and a rare treat, so they had something special for the celebration. I also got them coloring books, school books, and colored pencils. When I got to their home they were all getting ready and dressed up in nice clothes, soon headed to the temple for the brother-sister-ceremony. We exchanged WhattsApp numbers, they tried my camera and then we played around with my snapchat. They love all the funny face-filters! They asked me when I would be coming back to Leh. I am not sure I will ever come back but this family and their amazing hospitality I will always remember!