My samdi, Sanjay

A samdi (in Hindi) is your son-in-law's father. Sanjay is my samdi, which means that my (unconceived) daughter is going to get married to his son. According to our plan. The plan has existed for 3 years so far and now Sanjay has done his part of the deal. His son Kesau is 7 months old and I met him for the first time today.

Sanjay's posing on the trail on our way to Sirasu.

Sanjay and his family lives in Sirasu, (I described the village when I visited it with Nifle). We began the visit with half an hour's walk along the river and then a climb up the the last part till we reached Sanjay's house at the very top of Sirasu. Almost at the top. His uncle lives at the top and we visited the uncle first and had a glass of water.

 Sanjay's first cousin (which means they are actually cousins) served us water - very very proud!

My son in law and my samdi. Cute and happy - and healthy indead (particular the son in law). All the kids in the mountains are equally healthy till they start walking (or rather running) up and down the mountain sides...

 Kesau, or Prince as I was also allowed to call him, with his grandmother and great grandmother in the background. I've visited the family at least twice before (Sanjay's older brother Jeetu is also a very dear friend) and usually the women have been too shy to talk to me. They must have gotten used to me as this time was different. When Sanjay got restless and went away to move around for a while, both granny and great granny came over to chat with me. I believe my rather broken Hindi made some sense. Anyways, great granny started cuttling me and both of them laughed, when I told that Sanjay is my samdi even though Im unmarried. Afterwords they told Sanjay that they think Im very beautiful (oh so sweet).

 Sirasu is jaw-dropping beautifully situated - I don't know many domestic animals with a view like this from their stables.

 Or like this.

 Kesau with Auntie. The black spot on his forehead is a black eye that protects against demons. Kesau will get it re-applied every morning for the first 2 years of his life. For the same reason, his hair won't get cut for the first 2 years either.

The family. It was the first time I met Sanjay's wife so she was still very shy, but Sanjay managed to convince her to have a picture taken.

 On the journey back we crossed the river by "ferry" from Sanjay's uncle's river camp - practical, very practical indeed...

 And then a cup of chai while waiting for a lift. When the chai-wallah found out that Sanjay's working for Aquaterra, he said "Ahh Kala-ji" (very respectful name for Vaibhav the owner of Aquaterra). Sanjay then explained to me that Kala-ji's reputation is the reason why all Aquaterra employees always keep their back straight...

 ...And never bent in shame.

 Finally we got a hitch back in a truck for 10 rupees (for both of us). Unfortunately, I forgot my hat (that Im wearing on the picture above) in the truck. I hope the driver will appreciate it...