The high point in any trip is meeting real people, as we did when we met Gurdip and Tani Singh, about three weeks ago. This time we were fortunate to meet two of the "Spice Girls"! Joy had noticed in the LP guide that MV Spices was the place to get spices in Jodhpur, but then decided that she didn't want spices. So it was good fortune that we were cruising the market and came upon the shop.
We met this lovely young woman, "Neelam", who was extremely pleasant and Joy bought quite a few spices there. It turned out that Neelam was one of seven daughters of a man, who had become famous as the man who had developed a business selling spices up by the entrance to the fort. When he died suddenly and had no son to take over, his wife decided that she and the seven daughters would run the business. The overcame resistence from their own extended family and from others (men) at the market (including one failed acid attack) to become a great success story.
Neelam and Joy.
Neelam.
Now, in addition to articles written about them, there is a Australian documentary entitled "The Spice Girls of India" which has just been produced and is starting to make the rounds of film festivals around the World. Hopefully we can get it to Halifax because it is a great story of a family of strong women!
Jim
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