Home Stay in Orchha
Let me set the scene for you. First of all, there are 2 brahma cows outside my bedroom door - one pregnant cow and one calf. That is where they live.
I have a simple room with cement walls painted in cheerful colours. A gecko lives under the sarees on my ceiling. There are two woven beds and some fairly comfy rattan furniture. There is no ensuite, in fact there is no running water at all. When I want to wash my face or hands I have to use water from the bucket outside (don't mind the dead flies) and, if I want a shower, the lady of the household will fetch a bucket from the pump and warm it so I can have a bucket shower in the new tiled "shower room." There is also a relatively new compost toilet for us to use. This one separates wet from dry material. There's a pee porch on the front, a covered hole in the middle, and a wash spot in the back. You pee in the front, remove the cover to poo in the middle and wash your butt in the back. Then put some ashes (provided) down the middle hole and cover it back up. Pretty good system, actually.
The Yadav family are very friendly and welcoming. This is a guest room in their home. They live in a poor part of Orchha in a generally low caste community and a group called Friends of Orchha Home Stay helped them renovate 2 rooms for guests. They pay the organization back for the renovations through the guestroom rentals and meal payments and also increase their income. The whole village benefits from the increased need for foodstuffs and services, such as laundry and mehindi.
The other goal of the organization is to expose local people to foreigners in a non-commercial way. They want local Indians to get to know foreigners as people, as opposed to objects that carry cash, and to hear about foreign lives. In Orchha there are only 933 girls to every 1000 boys due to gender inspired abortion and this is one way to have families hear about some of the options for women around the world. They are hoping families will be inspired to keep their girls and educate them, instead of aborting them or marrying them off early.
India overall is offering girl incentives. One guide told us that under a government program, parents of a newborn girl will receive 15,000 R. Starting at age 5, the family is given 5,000 R per year for her books, uniform, etc. if she stays in school. At age 18 she receives 100,000 R directly for either higher education or marriage.
The mother of my household is a modern woman chafing against the village ways. She wishes she could wear the salwar kameez instead of the saree expected of the married woman. She must cover her head as a sign of respect when in the presence of an older or relatively powerful man, which she believes is outdated. She is very proud of her daughters and does not wish they were sons. She has her husband's agreement that the girls can have a love marriage and they can join her home and run the Home Stay. Normally Indian brides join their husband's family home and rarely, if ever, see their birth families again. I'm not sure how modern minded her girls are as they told I'm only a girl until I get married, then I become a woman. Both her girls are beautiful and outgoing. Mini is 11, likes nail polish and fashion and is wise beyond her years. She doesn't miss a thing. Khushy is 8 and slinky like a cat with an artistic ability far above her age. If she was in Canada she would be in an enriched art program by now. Their mother has taught them very good English. The whole family is generous and loving with each other and with their guests.
All the women in the family are now wearing my Chiffon Twirl nail polish. I've started a fashion trend!