Though we received a warm welcome at his home, it was only after a quick conversation in Dogri with my source to confirm our caste-appropriateness that Bhaskar could serve us the delicious paneer pakodas* his wife and sister-in-law had made. He would later explain the curse of the kuldevta that was conjured if milk from the house was served or sold to castes any lower than theirs. Once, a servant had eaten a ghee roti from the house, and it had caused their cow to die.
