Plot

Beginning of the journey in Jaipur: Sophie meets Sheela Lunkad on a terrace in front of the Palace of the Winds: then they walk in the streets here they see street temples (the coexistence of different religions ): later they taste a pastry and Sophie goes to the bazaar with Durgesh Joshi to buy a sari. After that Sophie is on a promenade in front of the Water Palace: she meets there Hameed Khan, the guide and musician.They travel to Hameed's house: there Ilyas (hameed's son) is playing tabla with his grandfather: Sophie meets also Parveen Khan (Hameed'd daughter) who sings: in the night there is a tabla concert.After that Sophie travels to the Dhamma Thali Vipassana Meditation center where she meets Sureh Khanna who explains about the Vipassana meditation technique (the noble silence).Later Sophie visits a "haveli", former merchant palace with a lot of painting of the god Krishna.Then Sophie arrives at Bikaner where she meets Natacha Gallisot, a French woman who takes care for 15 children (the Children's home of the A.F.E.V. Association): they have a walk through the old town and Natacha tells her the story of the Jain Temple.In the night they are on a terrace and enjoy the panorama.On the morning Sophie visits with Mahendra Depawat (Babout) the Temple of the Rats and they go for a camel riding tour to the village of Soa: there an untouchable women shows her her kitchen where she is preparing chai: later Natacha , Babou and Sophie eat a lentil soup and chapatis.After that Sophie is in Jodhpur where she meets Lalit Kumar Purdhit, a guide and Brahmin priest; he shows her the temple in his house where he prays and makes offerings before eating breakfast.Then they walk through the town (the blue houses) and look at the Fort of Mehrangahr).Later Sophie is at an artificial lake where the takhur Praduman Singh shows her the cormorants and the pelicans: then they travel to Chandelao where Praduman Singh has transformed the old fort into a hotel and is promoting development projects in the area. In the night Sophie meets the female Kalbelian dancers and she enjoys a nice dance spectacle. Besides we see zooms about the colors in Rajasthan ( the jeweler, the healer, the flowers seller and the priest explain the meanings of the colors), about the textile industry in Sanagner (old and new techniques), about the merchants palaces (haveli which are abandoned, Nadine Le Principe and the restoration of the palace), about the dromedaries festival in Bikaner , about the Bishnoi community ( farmers with a great respect to the nature) and about the Rajasthani cooking (the vegetarian meal with lentils, potatoes, cauliflowers, yogurt sauce, rice, bread and sweet flat-bread, the chef Gajendra Singh of the Spicy Restaurant and the street foods like the "kachori" or the massala omelet).—zutterjp48