Just got back from North India for a visit with my old man and his brothers. They still there for a while longer tho.

Wuz a lil more fun than i anticipated. Lots of eating n drinking. We landed in Delhi n headed to Punjab further north to check out the ancestral village. Celebrated my birthday there too!

Funny thing is my dad n uncles (four brothers in total) still have some farmland there which they inherited form their dad (who got it from his dad, etc), which me n my bro are supposed to inherit, but they just gonna go ahead n sell it all.

Seeing as how i dont plan to hang around there, i have no objections.

Uncle no 1 + dad

The villages in Punjab are real cool. I luv d houses – they are quite closed n walled up from d outside, but once u enter, there’s always a nice center courtyard to chill at.

And they all have stairs that lead to the flat roofs that i luv, where they chill. And drink. Or sleep in summer. Mexican-style. Haha

Its basically farmlands as far as your eye can see. There’s usually not a cloud in d sky, not good if u get sunburnt easily.

Mostly grains, like wheat are grown in Punjab. It’s India’s richest state and is its wheat basket. Water for irrigation comes from the Himalayas.

Our pad, from d outside

Newly-planted crops, view from roof

D plan was to stay in a motel in d town nearby, but the guy who’s renting the farmland insisted that we stay in his village. Niice.

So we stayed in a spare house. Thank God there was hot water, coz it’s freezing at night, as winter is approaching.

Kids, billy goat and combined-harvester

Uncle chillin

The guy’s name is Hidayet, and the village is Chopkiti. He’s the sarpench in these parts (village head). They all farmboys here. Hidayet’s wife is an amazing cook!

Quite a cute village, with a lil lake in d middle. Took a walk immediately to check it out, and then realized i had a bodyguard following me everywhere. Felt like Michael Corleone in The Godfather when he headed back to his village in Sicily. Haha!

Spinach patch

Kiddies

The local bar

Came across whole lotta shitcakes. More details later

Some new friends

Small kid, big gun

D local Sikh temple

D local clinic. The doctor was in, all by himself, staring into space. Was probably high, cos it's right across the bar

In every courtyard, there'll be chairs and a traditional bed to hangout / warm-up / drink

A fave mode of transportation in these parts

The courtyard in our crib, and that's the morning warm-your-body spot

Our front door

Drinking water, etc, is from underground

Typical local food (restaurant) - baked bread, lentil + kidney bean curry and mashed spinach + cottage cheese cubes

Uncle no 3 havin a drink

The top local beer. On d left is a slow-cook stove, specially reserved for meats and mashed spinach, and the fuel source is wood and buffalo shit-cakes, which works like charcoal

Part 1 of 2 (Next: On da road)

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The top local brew. On d left is a slow-burn stove, used to specially cook meats and d local delicacy, mashed spinach. The fuel is wood and dried cow shit-cakes, which works like charcoal

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