As a mouse scurried across the stone floor of his shop, Wazid the banglemaker pushed a steel plate of food my way. I was in Samode, a 500-year-old village in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, and it was lunchtime. I could have gone up the hill to a tourist hotel where choices included "country fried chicken," "cheese 'n cheese" and "Mr. Chips." But Wazid had something else in store -- a Rajasthani specialty called papad mangodi .
         I'd come to Rajasthan for a two-week journey through rural India -- a world that Gandhi called the heart and soul of the country, and where most of India still lives. On arrival, I'd sworn not to let my Western inhibitions -- or a few mice -- scare me off.