The Kalbelyia are a very friendly caste (known to Westerners as gypsies, and us to them as “Tourist Caste”), and the women refreshingly strong, unafraid to look strangers straight in the eye (normally never done by Indian women), and have a good joke and laugh at the expense of everyone, including the men (and themselves) around them. It was great for me to connect with Indian women on this level, and to see a community where the women appear to have as much involvement in the decision making as the men, which so far I have not seen in this vast, beautiful country. It was fascinating to see their customs, their homes and how they live. They also tried to teach me how to make chapattis, the Indian version of a tortilla. Needless to say, mine came out like a hockey puk, but Peter kindly ate that one so no-one could tell!

And for me, what was especially interesting was their adornment: loads of jewelry that never gets taken off, the expensive pieces the women wear are usually dowry gifts given to them by their families and the only insurance they will ever have; lots of tattooing on the little exposed skin they show, for both the men and the women, often their names or symbols of good luck; and several of them have their front teeth drilled with a triangle of dots, filled in with bright colors such as pink, green, blue, yellow, red and gold.

Although all the women I am friendly with are completely illiterate (I once made a fool of myself when I insisted the waiter at a restaurant give them menus too, only to have them all fall about laughing because they would find them absolutely useless), they can all have passable conversation in at least 5 different languages and all are very intelligent. This comes down to India having no basic state schooling, something that even if it was available, would have been impossible for these girls to attend, as up until only a decade ago they were completely nomadic, camping down in a different village every other day. Now that they have settled and have put down some roots, an Italian lady has paid for a Indian teacher to come and give the younger children basic education, which is great, and something they all seem to love.

The Kalbelyia are desert people, known for their ability in handling the much revered, mystical cobra. This was how they survived, traveling from place to place showing the cobra to the villagers, catching any unwanted serpents who had invited himself into a home or treating snake bites, all in exchange for some chapatti floor and a few vegetables. They still do snake charming, but the snake dancing has been replaced by the girls, whose wonderful movements have been inspired by the cobra, and they still do it accompanied by the distinctive sounds of the pungi, a raucous instrument fashioned out of a dried gourd that sort of sounds simular to the bagpipes, along with several drums and the older women's howling voices.

Now they make money dancing for tourists and at weddings, doing henna painting on hands, making and selling jewelery and playing their wonderful, desert music.

Here we have Karmella and her family (well, almost all of it, there was a 12 year old daughter and another 2 children running around somewhere so seven kids in all and I think she's only about 35 - we have a lot of catching up to do!), Raki with her gorgeous hair untied and exposed, which is something they rarely show, Anita multi-tasking, a shot of Naturi with her baby and Sunita hanging out with us at our hotel.

For both of us, meeting them has been one of the highlights of being in India.

HMM 5.12.07