Perhaps the reader will wonder what connection cave houses and Flamenco have with Indian kathak dance. I too would not have believed until I visited Andalucia region of Spain. When one reads on, he will know how Indian culture has a foothold in Spain. When we were driving from Malaga to Granada in Spain, I saw chimneys popping out of hills and it astonished me. My German friend Elke exclaimed “ ye look, they are the famous cave houses of Spain.†I was not aware of it. She went on to say that such houses one could find in Andalucia region of Spain Andalucia is in the south eastern part of Spain. There are several houses which have been carved out of the hills or are they Andalucian mountains?. In Spanish they are known as casas cueva.
In the pre historic period it was said that the inhabitants of that period were dwelling in caves. These caves served as dwellings or as places of worship. One could see many paintings in the walls of these caves. It is said that such cave dwellings were in vogue even as far back as about 80,000 years ago.
I was told that in Andalucia region there have been cave dwellers since at least as early as the 8th century and the Arab invasion of Spain. In more recent times and up to the 1950’s it was the native farming communities who used caves for shelter, both for their families and their livestock. With the advent of tourism to Spain in the 1950’s and 1960’s, however, there was a mass exodus from rural to the coastal areas with populations falling drastically and caves 
abandoned. The following decades saw the bohemian, or gypsy like people or can be called as hippy types, have taken over many of the caves to live a simple life and set themselves apart from main stream of the society.
While some of these ancient structures are still standing, people today are experimenting with the benefits of modern cave living. I could not believe my own eyes that even to this day people take special attraction to stay in cave houses. It was at that time, I saw for the first time this practice of dwelling in cave houses These are not such cave houses which are shown to us in movies where pre historic inhabitants move around in rags carrying a club in their hands. And what may surprise one is that many of these cave houses are with modern conveniences and good ventilation. Their primary structure is all-natural material, and it’s as locally sourced as possible. No construction materials are used for the same . The material from which the caves have been made is arcilla. (Special clay). The arcilla is a very compact but soft soil enables one to easily dig a hole. Also it is an impermeable soil, which stops the rain from entering the cave. The houses are only painted with white chalk. Chalk is a natural paint which is porous and the air can circulate preventing humidity in the cave. In the inside of the cave it is not possible to put doors, because the air needs to circulate. That is why they have curtains to separate the rooms. There are also chimneys through which the air enter and can circulate. Natural light is provided not only from doors and/or windows facing the outside, but also by light ducts through holes that are, I am told, created by modern well-drilling rigs. Such light traps usually have convex Plexiglas covers and reflective ducting that capture and transmit the maximum amount of natural light deep into a cave house. The ceilings are dome-shaped which have structural strength to avoid the collapse and also to distribute the weight towards the outer side of the walls. These are very thick so they can support the great pressure of the hill. Inside the cave, it lets one enjoy a constant pleasant temperature of about l8 C, resulting in cool in summers and warm in winters. . Cave houses have all the facilities that one expects from a family home – mains electricity, water, sewerage, broadband and satellite tv. There are shopping malls inside the caves. There are cave theaters, cave hotels, cave restaurants, cave spas etc.
We wanted to see a cave house and believe me when we slowed down our car, quite a few young boys swarmed on us inviting us to their houses and we were told that they could demonstrate a flamenco dance number. Ladies who were sitting in the court yard of the house beckoned us to visit the house and experience the flamenco dance. . They were found doing some handiwork. Since we had seen flamenco dance already, we did not show much interest to see it but we wanted to see the inside of cave houses. When we agreed to have a look at the cave houses, ( of course for a price ) we were escorted into the house. We found that the houses were well maintained and clean and tidy. Of course it smelt differently. A lady was sitting dressed in which there were lot of frills, at the entrance to the house.. The old lady pointed out to us that she was sitting there to demonstrate to us flamenco dance. A man was also there with a guitar and he had already dressed for the said occasion. The Flamenco is the music and dance of southern Spain’s Andalucia. . When I told the escort or the guide that I was from India, an old lady who was there told us in her broken English, French and German languages that flamenco has its historical roots in India .including with Greek, Roman, Persian and Jewish cultures. She said that it’s roots could be traced to the Indian sub-continent; that is north west India. The arm movements and especially the hand and finger movements typical of flamenco dance are akin to that of Indian dance in which the hands are used to illustrate stories. She said that these Indian characteristics were brought to Spain by her ancestors ( gypsies) who had spread over to Indian continent and arriving about 500 or 600 years ago to Europe. She further added that today the movements in flamenco are purely aesthetic and after centuries and great distances have lost their original meaning. It is interesting to note that these gypsies practice herbal healing, metalworking, horse trading, and fortunetelling which perhaps they learnt in India. What a connection to India!! One can easily compare the Indian Kathak dance to the flamenco dance. The hand movements, facial expressions, even body movement and the music which is rendered for such dance all give an impression that when she talked about Indian connection to flamenco dance, one cannot but conclude that it must be Kathak dance. Sometimes I wonder whether they referred to the dance of Indian Gypsies who it is said had come from Kandahar, Afghanistan. For a quick comparison, three pictures of dancers are given above ( Flamenco – Kathak and Indian Gypsy ) and the readers may compare and draw their own conclusions.