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The Vibrant Bazaar Of Dhenuki

Balancing The Scale of Life

As we reached Dhenuki, even the shadows were swallowed by the encroaching night, still the stars shone brighter and the soft warm glow of the fireflies, was lighting up the dark sky, at the moment there was only one thought running rampant in my mind, how would we appreciate the shining stars and the glimmer of the fireflies without the dark night sky.

The day we reached Dhenuki we were as clueless as we could have been. Our first night in Dhenuki was an example of how our days ahead might be, that is equally awe-inspiring, strenuous, torpid, enlightening, and to an extent, amusing. Our first day in Dhenuki that was the 21st of June, was spent just exploring around the home we were living in and the village. Talking and learning more about people we came across and the village itself.

"The real voyage of discovery is not in seeking new places, but in seeing with new eyes."

                                                        -  Marcel Proust

The Cards At Play

We visited the Dhenuki market, it was a sight to behold. The colors and the aromas of the local bazaar of Dhenuki were like an elixir. The bazaar of Dhenuki was more like a festival in itself which made people come together. It was a place for recreation. The fresh powdered spices lay in dusty yellow, bright green, and rust red piles. The salty smell of sweat mixing with the nose tingling aroma of the fresh spices made the atmosphere even more titillating. As we entered the market, it was a little awkward at first as the people kept staring at us, but soon enough we felt comfortable as a large crowd formed around us. People were curious as to the reason for our visit, our residence and the purpose of our visit. We were bombarded with a lot of questions. One of the shopkeepers took us to his shop and discussed things like, what our plans are and how long were we going to stay in Dhenuki. He offered us toffees and chocolates, but wouldn’t accept money for it. He said you are like our own kids. It was really heartwarming to see such acceptance. We made a few purchases from the market. We bought candles as last night there was no electricity and I don’t relish the idea of sleeping in the dark. We also bought pakodas of pyaz and palak (onion and spinach). Though we were informed that these pakodas are not healthy as the besan (gram flour) is mixed with flour which is not good for health. Even though the people were aware of the harmful effects of the food item being sold, yet they were being bought. We came to a conclusion that maybe they thought that we might get ill as we might have weak immune systems or not all people were aware of the harmful effects of the food item.

Spicy Rainbow

This is only a part of our first-day experience. The slow paced life of the village had an impact on the clocks too I guess. The time seemed to have slowed down to a trickle. One reason for our visit to the village is to understand the dynamics that are at play in the village and for that, we need to forego any previous ideas we have about things being a certain way. Sometimes, we, ourselves are so opinionated that we don't want to listen to what others have to say, but that is no way to gain insights into a new place.