One of the most charming accessories to this experience was the gathering of daughters of the people whose home we were visiting. My guesses of their ages: 12, 8, 6 and 3. Bronwen quickly made their acquaintance and joined them on the steps of their home. The smallest one was a scamp and blocked the door when Thampi tried to go in to his friend’s home for a drink of water.
You also see in the photo, a real live spice grinder, and every household has one in this land where all our spices come from and where the “spice trade” that we have all heard about in our history classes (if we were lucky enough to have history classes about something other than the wars America has engaged in). The history of this area is fascinating, but more on that later; much of it derives from the fact that many spices are endemic to this area. Smitta was knowledgeable about the spice grinder and gave us a short demonstration of how the thing works – basically a huge mortar and pestle with the pestle in the prone position.
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