My friend Peggy Markel, who designs unique food and culture adventures, recently went on a scouting trip in Rajasthan India. She traveled from luxurious palaces to rustic countryside, taking in its monumental contrasts.

For Peggy, food is always about context, and this little film shows a fragment of the culture she was exploring, as revealing as its food, and as essential to understanding it.

Here is the story Peggy told me of how she stumbled on these street musicians and their improvised instrument made of bowls of water.(Listen to the video while you read the rest…the music’s great charm outweighs the video’s poor-but-worth-it quality.)

“While in Udaipur, I went by boat across Lake Pichola to the dreamlike Lake Palace, which appears to float on the water…

I visited a place for tea and drinks where I was served something minty green and refreshing…

I could hear the sound of nearby music. Following it’s melody, I came upon these drummers, one with a proper drum and one playing various bowls with different levels of water, with what looked like chop sticks. It was ordinary/extraordinary India, improvised and impressive.”

Following melodies is exactly what Peggy does as she divines her way to the finding the best a place has to offer, as she has in Tuscany, Sicily, Amalfi, and Morocco. Her little video reminds us that right on our kitchen shelves we’ve got the makings of an instrument, and our own music!