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Published: December 28th 2023
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On Christmas Eve, Grace and Hattie went with Giagi to her temple and prayed with her to the different gods. She got the driver to take photos of us three, stood slightly behind each-other like prom photos, beside each shrine. She proudly told everyone that Grace was her granddaughter from England and we namaste’d our way around the temple to her friends. We were given orange painted forehead dots (like a painted bindi) and took our shoes off before entry. Bananas were scattered as offerings underneath Hanuman (the monkey god) but Giagi took it up a notch and ordered 15kg of sweets, telling us that the next day she would be ordering 20kg and the day after that 25kg! She does not mess around!
Returning to the house, Hattie fell asleep (in dire need of a break after non stop travel) whilst Grace went with Pinky and Dimple to the local market to look at the shoes Abohar is famous for. They’re like leather pumps with beautiful embroidery. Then they organised for the fourteen year old cousin of one of the housekeepers to come and give Grace henna. Nishu’s English was very good and she also spoke and could write
some basic Korean - all learnt online from her love of K-Pop! She asked where Hattie was as they wanted a photo - word had spread quickly in the town of the white lady’s arrival! Abohar probably hadn’t seen one since Helen’s visit! But she was unconscious in the other room so it had to wait. They returned that evening wearing their best outfits to meet her, and followed us on instagram - Nishu’s consisting mainly of BTS fan edits. She drew out the henna with deft precision, covering the front and back of Grace and Hattie’s hands in curling doily-esque shapes. It has since gone very dark which means Grace’s husband and her mother in law will love her a lot. Hattie’s is only dark in certain places - sorry Hatts!! Gabe has some explaining to do xx
We also looked through Pinky and Dimple’s wedding albums which had some INCREDIBLE collages of Dimple in her sari and huge nose jewellery, looking up demurely into the camera - the most beautiful bride we had ever seen! We spied all of the relatives we had met thus far, 30 years ago in their best dress, fussing over the bride
and groom as they placed flower garlands on eachother and fed eachother cake. This tradition was repeated in present day as Giagi brought out a big chocolate cake for Sunil’s birthday and fed it to Grace! They laughed as she fed her every last bit - like a more wholesome Indian version of a skinny English female Bruce Bogtrotter xx
Grace also explored the top floors of the house, going up to the roof which is Dad’s favourite spot. He estimated he had spent around two years of his life in this house and FaceTimed Grace with a longing in his eyes to be there! We will be returning in the new year as a family! It looks like a version of The Exotic Marigold Hotel - despite it being largely unused. There are lots of rooms up there where everyone used to sleep in the summer months. Now, most of the rooms are locked and not in use, apart from Pinky’s makeshift gym and lots of drying washing. Grace suggested they turn it into a Homestay - people should enjoy this gem! We have since discovered Miriam Margolyes has actually started a tv show with this idea of
a real life Marigold Hotel in Jaipur - she beat us to it 🫠 Grace stood on the roof, looking over the busy streets and imagined her dad, grandfather and great grandfather doing the same.
Then the funniest moment of the trip occurred. Dimple had been dropping hints that Giagi had been looking for suitors for Grace and Hattie to go on a date with in India since she learned of our visit. Hattie assured her that she was happy with Gabe (which Giagi said she could find a better Indian match - sorry Hubbard!) but Grace wasn’t opposed to going on a date - When in Rome! As the night drew to a close, Giagi asked what her criteria would be for a husband. Half-jokingly Grace listed off: funny, liberal, rich and the women giggled away. Dimple explained how Giagi had two men in mind that she’d like us to meet and we laughed - not fully believing what was about to happen. That was when Pinky led in two overweight 50 year old men who would not look us in the eye, sitting them in the far corner of the room. Grace grasped Hattie’s hand with shock as everyone asked ‘don’t you want to go say hello?’ Vehemently shaking her head, she insisted THEY ARE TOO OLD!!! That’s when Hattie looked down at their henna-ed palms - a wedding day tradition - looking up at Grace with realisation as they imagined their lives married to these Punjabi men in the family village. Then exploding into laughter, everyone revealed that they were just the cleaning men and Grace’s dad had orchestrated this prank from Wiltshire. It even had a code name! The initial plan had been to get an old man from the village to introduce himself to Hattie as ‘Gabriel’ - but they couldn’t find anyone on such short notice. Giagi, Iksha, Pinky and Dimple rolled about laughing at our shocked and now relieved faces as they insisted that they were liberal people who weren’t interested in pushing marriage on anyone. Quite the experience! They FaceTimed Grace’s dad and he roared with laughter at their relief saying this was the funniest moment of his year. To be fair, it was a very well executed prank and a Christmas Eve we will NEVER forget. So now Grace is going to have to get him back somehow… stay tuned for an even better prank.
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