What did you just call me?

Spotted Owlet. Seen while visiting
in Rajasthan

In South Asia, the owl (Hindi word, "ooloo") is considered about as dumb as a donkey. Or at least the insult is about the same. Our wise nocturnal hunter is thought to be stupid for not even knowing when its time to sleep. Come on owls, get with the program.

So when it comes to haggling over a price and the vendor throws out an insulting price you can always say, "I am not an owl, brother".

Sap Season

Firstly, that's a whole quart of CT maple syrup that arrived with my parents last week. Yehaw.

As I explained maple syrup to a national I realized the process might sound similar to that of village moonshine. A plastic jug is hidden in the fronds of a palm tree just below a slit in a leaf stem. The jug collects juice that ferments in the hot sun. When a buyer shows up a boy shimmies up and brings down the hooch.

Caagage Wallah (The Paper One)

This is the youngest in a family of paper bag makers I have been spending time with. He is doing some of the finer work of making small white bags used in administering medicine. I am amazed that he can paste, fold, and press a stack of 50 in about 2 minutes. So many of the tradesmen here do their work with a flair of personality that wouldn't be there if they simply operated a machine.


One hand moves the stack like a flip-book while the other
 hand pokes precisely in between each sheet to fold a tab

I am also a welcomed guest to the boy's great-uncle. He only has two teeth and is pretty hard to understand, but a warmth comes through in our exchanges. I had already finished the chai served to me by the nephew one day when the elder showed up and asked if I had been served. Everyone present truthfully said, "Yes", but he insisted, "That's not true, get more chai!". Here, Uncle Ji's word is the last word. It's no wonder that I might sip 8 shots of chai in a day.


This is a new type of crowd I am learning from. There is little understanding of English in the labor class. So when my Hindi runs out, so does the conversation for the day. This forces me to push harder in building communication skills.

Cycle Repair

Not only are they great at what they do, but I think
they really enjoy their jobs. 

If there's anything South Asia knows how to fix, its motorcycles. That's most fitting since it sure knows how to damage them.

With a broken microwave, AC, fridge or washing machine you can either fix it yourself or count on a week or two of calling a repair man, being stood up, making a new date, getting stood up again, etc. But with motorcycles, that wallah immediately picks up your bike, does some great work, and gets it right back. And inexpensively!

Theoretically, one can have a bike taken apart, frame checked, engine case seal redone, handle bar unbent, forks and fender straightened, side-saddle foot rack pulled away from the suspension, break cable adjusted, and get a new rear shocker and rod for only $47.21. But that's just a rough guess based on a hypothetical mishap for which only South Asian cows could be held responsible.

The Maila Pilgrimage

My city is built on a peninsula between the confluence of two rivers. Every year millions of pilgrims come to wash at the holy spot where the rivers mix. Every twelve years comes a "Khumb Maila" with some added importance. The last Khumb Maila was 2 years ago and 70 Million people came!! So the Maila this year was relatively tiny.

I was still overwhelmed by how many people were there. To piece together the mythical history from multiple accounts is difficult as well as heart-breaking. I can't get into the whole story here, but it highlights why the common worshiper doesn't have a moral expectation of their gods, let alone other people mistreating them on earth. So they beg to a god who doesn't bless out of love, but out of being hasty and loosing a drop of nectar from heaven after stealing it from humans on earth.

Wedding Season Pt. 2

After 10 months in country, I was at last distantly acquainted enough to a family to be invited to a wedding celebration.

There are just too many details to cover here, and from just one first experience, but here are some interesting insights.

-The bride and groom arrive separately with their parties, and endure having their photo taken with every guest. 400 people at this wedding. At this point they are only 25% through the rituals of marriage. Almost all guests will leave after eating and before the marriage rituals get any further.

-In some families the bride will try to not smile in photos to show a sadness for leaving her family.

-The oath-taking rituals start around midnight and last up to two hours. But no honey moon yet, the bride stays two more days with her family to mourn her leaving.

-During the rituals,  both families sang satirical songs joking about the other family. Things along the lines of, "He'll eat so much bread and she'll have to make it every time"

-It was explained that a Hindu marriage is more of a joyous occasion for the parents, who are entering the last phase of life in a Hindu tradition. The bride and groom have the understanding, culturally, that marriage comes first, out of duty to family, then you work on being happy.


 

Shoddi Wallah- Wedding Season pt. 1

During the months deemed auspicious by Hindu astrologer priests, weddings are in full swing. Huge fireworks and loud drumming beats of passing wedding processions become the city's soundtrack from 7pm to 11 or so. For months...
It can get annoying, but a Hindu wedding is so involved once your participation gets beyond being serenaded by roaming noise parades.


This particular parade described in order of appearance:
-1 painted elephant with 3 riders
-A ten-year-old pyro-technician firing full mortar fireworks
- 1 decorated truck loaded with a wall of speakers. Pointing backwards
-A pile of groomsmen and friends dancing in styles I can not describe in terms of American dancing. Dancers are corralled by two columns of 7-foot-tall rolling chandeliers, strung together by electrical wires.
-Deceptively strong and persistent cousins who drag on-lookers in to the dancing. (I wouldn't know anything about that.)
-A full brass marching band, periodically tooting along with the dance music.
-The Groom, riding on a white horse, traditionally accompanied by a young boy.
-Photographers, everywhere.
-The "Caboose", a generator that powers the whole column of crazy. Picture a 500 pound generator mounted on a utility tricycle, pushed/pedaled by, as always, an 80 pound man.
**all the while, traffic continues to compete for the road.