Page 24 - CafeSocial-July-2021

any Indian places remind you of anywhere family but their spirit of hospitality, which is
else?” their answer was “Our favourite place ingrained in every Indian, helped them set
was definitely the Spiti Valley and aside their apprehension and soon they
Meghalaya. It was extremely wonderful and started helping the family settle down,
breath-taking. We loved the natural bringing tea and snacks along with meals.
landscapes, and it was a perfect camping
site. A lot of Indian places are quite similar to Virginie and Ophelie Pallares told Adv.
other countries such as deserts of Morocco, Nalini that the villagers have been extremely
Wadis of Oman, beaches of Thailand, generous and kind to them as they bring the
Mountains of Nepal and definitely, the little family fresh buffalo milk and vegetables
Switzerland of India, Himachal Pradesh.” wherein the villagers refuse to take a single
They also stated that if possible, they would rupee for the same. When Tom Pallares had a
like to revisit Sikkim and ladakh. 40-degree fever, the villagers took turns to
help despite the fear of COVID-19. In return,
But as they become restricted in India, the Pallares family help the villagers in daily
in the beginning they were puzzled how to chores and odd jobs. In evening's leisure time,
deal and cope with such a situation. They they join the local priest in performing
found the remote village of Kolhua Dala, in religious ceremonies. Heart-warmingly, the
the far eastern side of Uttar Pradesh, their local priest nicknamed Virginie Pallares as
safe haven. They set-up a tent in the forest “Yashoda” (foster mother of Lord Krishna) as
area near the Ram Janki temple (dedicated he had difficulty in pronouncing her name.
to God Ram and Goddess Sita) and socially
distanced with the help of ropes tied to the “After living for 1 year in India, we have
trees around their tent. Soon after, Haridas learnt a lot of Hindi words a n d c a n a l s o
Baba, a local priest residing in Ram Janki speak Bhojpuri, though it is a little broken.
Temple, allowed them to stay on the temple The most memorable meal was Chawal Dal
ground. Initially, the villagers were overcome and Sabji cooked with the love of Sanjay
with their curiosity which drew them to the Yadav's mother in lockdown and by Haridas

24 JULY 2021