The Indian Kitchen

Jaipur, India 1986

In the remotest village Anthony ever visited, he stayed in a house that amused him greatly, especially for its kitchen, which was full of holes! He painted various aspects of it, including even a study of just the door which was the house's most eccentric detail. This door and the surrounding wall were full of cracks so large that a person could easily pass through them into the house....and yet the owners still proudly locked their door at night, shoving great bolts across it, turning keys..and then proceeding to walk right through it! The hole in the roof (in fact half of the roof was missing!) pleased him too , as did the cowpats, which in India are intelligently used for fuel. In any Indian house, from the richest to the poorest, there is always water on the boil , for interminable cups of "char" (very strong tea with vast quantities of sugar). Anthony was delighted when, whilst he was painting, one of the inhabitants happened to throw off her shawl and leave it lying there where we see it, adding a beautiful splash of colour to the work. Such magical events make what might be a more ordinary picture into a sparkling interpretation of a way of life.