Hamachal Grandmother and Cooking Stove
Location:
Faglod, District Hamir Pur
Hamachal Pradesh, India
December 2004

Photographer:
E.K. Schafhauser

Warmth surrounds the Grandmother from sources seen and unseen. The smoke rises from the dung and wood fire. It heats the round metal pots as dinner simmers with smells of mutton, lentils, and rice. For thousands of years flames have cooked meals over an earthen three burner cooking stove throughout the Indian countryside.

The Grandmother of four sons now sits at the fire that feeds the extended family a hot meal. Food is carefully prepared by her daughter-in-laws that tend the details of the meal. The hardened and designed dung floor warns the bare feet almost as much as the fire. She watches and listens. The sounds of grandchildren can be heard playing in the village field outside the only window that gives light into the cooking area. There is an unseen but felt warmth of the heart that comes from living a life in one small village, and being surrounded by her extended family that have come through her sons.

I was given the privilege of being a guest for a week of a family in the village of Faglod. This Grandmother sits beside the traditional cooking area of the house. Her dress is typical from the Hamachal Pradesh region. The grace with which she has lived her entire life in this village surrounded by her husband and extended family is a testament to the family life of the village and rural India.