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Published: March 18th 2012
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Our guide, Shagzil
My favourite Indian. Our guide keeps telling that the biggest problem in India isn’t political and it isn’t poverty: it is illiteracy. 40% of their population—that’s half a billion people are illiterate. It is why he tells us not to give money to street children—it only encourages them to stay out of school. Government schools are free, but the goal of many is to send their kids to private schools. The private schools conduct all their classes in English. By the way, that has not been a problem anywhere—most people speak English here.
An educational visit to India isn’t complete without learning about the caste system. It is complicated. The easy explanation is that there are four levels: Brahman, warriors, tradesmen, servants. The reality is that there are more than 3,000 castes: a weaver of silk is higher than a weaver of cotton, a toilet-cleaner in a five-star hotel is higher than a toilet-cleaner in a train station. One’s caste is known by one’s surname. In 1950, Mahatma Gandhi declared that the term “untouchable” be stopped. The words may be different, but they are still the downtrodden. 60% fall into this classification. The system is less rigid in the larger cities
than it is in villages. The biggest changes are within the illiterate groups through universal education. A form of affirmative action had the goal of giving the downtrodden the same educational advantages, so 30% of university seats were set aside for this group. Most of the seats simply went unfilled. It seems that attitudes take longer to change than legislation. For tradesmen, there is job security and skill levels are kept high. For example, if you are a wood carver, your father, grandfather, and beyond were also wood carvers. You grew up learning to be a wood carver and you knew that this is your future. It also means that wood carvers are skilled craftsmen—no beginner’s mistakes. As I said, it’s complicated.
Between 80 and 95% of the marriages in India are arranged. This doesn’t mean that the bride and groom don’t have a say and it doesn’t mean that they are total strangers until their wedding day. They can decide that this person isn’t the right one and the parents will keep on looking. It is important that partners are of the same social level or caste. Our guide told us that his parent’s along with
The Caste System
These four men are cousins and work as marble engravers. They are direct descendants of the marble engravers who worked on the Taj Mahal! his wife’s parents got together and decided on the match before the prospective bride and groom met. When the couple along with both sets of parents decided that a marriage would take place, it came together in one month. Eight hundred guests—in one month! Does this mean that couples don’t meet at work and decide to hook up? Of course they do, but our guide pointed out that usually these marriages fail. Here’s why: the bride, groom or even both may lose the contact and support they have with their families. They may be cut out completely—financially and emotionally and this is just too difficult for a young person with strong family ties.
Indians live for their festivals. They can last 7-8 days. They mostly happen between October and May and tend to follow the harvest cycle. It is a time when marriages are proposed, debts repaid, grievances forgiven and employment contracts renewed. The highlight of any festival is the arrival of the decorated elephants. They are often sponsored and can cost $2,000. for an appearance.
Now, here’s an employment opportunity—be a eunuch. I’m not kidding. It all started when boys were born
Making a Living
These three guys are street entertainers. with a genital defect making it impossible for them to father children. They became a great choice for guards—stronger than women, less dangerous than men. There weren’t enough of them, so they started recruiting young boys, castrating them and telling everyone that they were born that way. When they weren’t needed for guard duty anymore, a new custom started—a eunuch could bestow blessings at special events—births, weddings and so on. There are now around two million eunuchs in India and here’s that career opportunity. They make a tidy little sum of money in the blessings biz. These guys are feminine in appearance and speech and they wear skirts. They show up unannounced at weddings and shake down the bride and groom. If they don’t get the money they want—anywhere from $2.00 to $2,000.--they dance naked in the middle of the wedding reception until you pay up! Our guide told us that a eunuch showed up at his home after this baby was born. When he wouldn’t pay him, he danced naked in front of his house. It cost him $140. to get rid of him. Any takers?
25% of births are not recorded and 25% of deaths
Women of India
Carrying water bottle. Some walk long distances to get water. are not reported. I picked up a copy of
The Times of India, and right there on the last page are three display ads called, “Unidentified Dead Body.” It gives the location where the body was found, approximate age, height, clothing, and features a picture of the dead guy. Weird.
One person of India that I have to mention is our guide, Shagzil Khan, a good-looking guy in his mid-thirties. He’s funny and really good with this group of sixteen middle-aged travellers. He loves his country—warts and all. One practise that is great—his bus bazaars. We are plagued by street hawkers everywhere. Instead of wasting time while we haggle, etc., he waits until we are back on the bus and then brings the items on-board after negotiating the best price he can from the vendors. No pressure, but we have about three seconds to make a decision. We give him the money and he hands it to the vendor. It’s fun as well!
Thanks for following my adventure. After three weeks, it is time to go home. After my head clears, I’ll publish some final thoughts on my regular blog at: mid-ageisgreat.blogspot.com.
Women of India
Washing clothes in the river. Namaste!
Donna
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Gudrun klingelstein
non-member comment
I want to go to India.
thanks Donna for the blog. Now I want to go to India too.