After a hearty lunch, of some of the best food I’ve ever had, Bhanu, Keerthi, Jonathan and I took off to visit Shilparamam. We waited until about 4:00 so that it would be cool enough to wander around outside for a couple of hours. We didn’t want to repeat our Taj Mahal experience.
There are all kinds of artists’ stalls, selling everything wood, reed, clay, and textile.
You’ll need plenty of time here to properly see everything on offer. We did a quick tour around the stalls first, and then went to get mahindi (henna “tattoo” on my hand).
I’d mentioned that this was something I wanted to do when I was in India, and Jonathan told Keerthi, and Keerthi made sure I got it. Thanks Keerthi!
I drew quite the crowd while getting it done.
And the woman who did it, was super quick. Both sides of my hand were finished in less than 15 minutes. I think it took me longer to choose a design than it took her to make it.
From there it was on to the museum. Shilparamam also has life-size village life museums. You can wander through a reconstructed village to see what life is like.
The village life exhibits seemed pretty spot-on, at least from our Bilaspur experience.
We also stopped to see a traditional puppet show.
The puppeteer was great, and really pulled the kids in to the show…Jonathan especially.
We also go to see some traditional dances.
Keerthi danced these dances when she was younger. She told us that it takes 2-4 years to learn them, and that’s if the only thing you do is study dance.
Super Impressive (with a capital “I”).
Everything is important in the dance. Especially the facial expressions. Each line of the song is expressed through the dances face.
From there we all went to a really great restaurant called Our Place for dinner. It was Keerthi and her husband’s, Rahul, 7th wedding anniversary. They went to Our Place for dinner on their 1st anniversary, and thought it would be fun to go again.
Thank you for including us in your anniversary plans!
We had a wonderful day.
There you go Keerthi…I said yet another “thank you”. I don’t think I can say it enough to convey how much I appreciate you.