First things first, Happy 100 posts to me! (You may only see 99, but there are actually 100, there is one I wrote a while back but haven't published for the world to see out of sensitivity to others.)
ANYWAY, here are some more things that scream India to me. Having almost hit my half way point, I am more “use” to them now, but when I stopped to really think about them--well they make the India According to Ashley Take 2 List.
1. Scarecrows—Umm this one is kind of creepy so it is fitting that it is number one, with it being the end of Halloween season and all. When people are building houses or offices or malls or anything really, they will make a scarecrow that “stands guard” during the process. The scarecrow usually has this mask or a slight variation of this mask on it. The mask is of a God who scares off evil spirits. Obviously, he does so by being freaking scary on his own-in my opinion anyway. There are some interesting thing about these masks though. One of the volunteers was going to buy one to take home but she was told that she couldn’t, the reason being that when the mask is in India, it scares off evil spirits, but when it is taken out of India, it welcomes evil spirits. But here is the creepiest part. Not to long ago (I don’t know exactly how long but I want to say it has only been in the last 30-50 years or so) these “scarecrows” use to not be scarecrows at all-they were actual dead people with the protecting God’s facemask on. Luckily, this practice is now outlawed—and to the best of my knowledge I have only seen actual scarecrows and not dead people made to look like scarecrows so that people don’t get in trouble but still. That's creepy huh! I don’t know how a body was selected to become a “scarecrow” but in a country drowning in people (many of them homeless) with no system in place to track them let alone notice if someone turns up missing, apparently it wasn’t all that hard. So there you go. Have nightmares about that real life scenario.
2. Death is pretty common here. I know that sounded like a genius comment, but really, it seems to happen a lot more often here, and even if it doesn't statistically happen more, it is more common place for sure. I guess that makes sense with their being more health problems, less health care, poor sanitation, crowding, crazy traffic etc. It has been interesting to see how the people deal with it. There have been several patients and students that have lost immediate family members since I have been here or shortly before I came. One of them just happened the beginning of this month. One of the two daughters from that family was talking to me during playtime the other day. There had been no mention of her dad until out of no where she blurted out, "Auntie, on Oct. 1st, my father expired". Needless to say I was a little taken back at the bluntness and matter of fact way she said it. Especially because who uses the word expired when talking about the death of a loved one. Apparently Indians do—or at least this little one did.
The traditions surrounding death are very interesting as well. Since most the population is Hindu, most dead are cremated. However if people are Christian or Muslim, they will not cremate the body so every once in a while---like literally every once in fairly great while--you will see a cemetery. They aren’t really landscaped or taken care of either so they almost look out of place in a way. As far as traditional Hindu death practices go, I am still learning a lot but have the basics down. Most the time, the body will be displayed surrounded by flowers and candles in the home of the deceases person. There are certain things the women do to/in the house to ensure this is done correctly and without sending their loved one on to the next life with an evil spirit in tow. When it comes time for the cremation ceremony, the men take the body out of the house and parade it to the designated cremation spot-where they are expected to watch the entire cremation. It is very important that only the men attend this part though. Women are seen as too tender to watch the actual cremation. Dr. Viji, who is the school psychologist, broke this rule when one of her family members died. After the men left the house, she snuck out and followed. She made it all the way to the crematorium without being caught, but once she was there, she had to ask the guard to let her in. He wouldn’t because of the Hindu customs so she snuck around a different way and climbed up on a wall that gave her the vantage point she needed. She didn’t see the whole thing, but caught some of it before she was caught herself. The guard ended up turning her in to her family members because he was feeling guilty knowing that she was there. I guess it caused a big to do in her family, among the women and men alike. She was accused of ruining the sacredness of the cremation ceremony and inviting evil spirits to join in the festivities. I have said it before, but warding off evil spirits seems to be at the root of most Indian customs. I read in a book that after the cremation the ashes of their loved one are taken to a body of water to be sprinkled over. If the family can afford to do so, the body of water is almost always the Ganges river. If the Ganges is out of the question, families will sometimes go to the ocean or some other sacred river.
I have seen a few funeral processions while I’ve been here and I've decided that my favorite part of them is how the body is surrounded--practically encased in flowers. In my opinion, hundreds of flowers are a lot more attractive then a box—no matter how dressed up the box may be. I haven’t been able to watch for too long though, mostly because we usually see them when we are out driving somewhere. Its probably for the better though, seeing as I have a little Dr. Viji spunk in me too. I’d probably be in trouble all the time.
3. Onto lighter and happier things-------pointing with the middle finger happens ALL the time, from children and adults alike. There is no such thing as flipping someone the bird in India, but when you get a bunch of American’s over here it is sometimes hard to stifle the laughter until later. No matter how many times you have seen it.
4. Burping is also totally acceptable here. Men and women, adults and children burp openly and freely everyday. I don’t think I have ever heard an excuse me afterwords either because its not rude or offensive, people just burp.
5. The trees that line the sides of the roads (or the medians in the larger cities) are often painted with white and black strips. The strips serve two purposes. One is to serve as something somewhat reflective while driving at night. The second being a declaration that these trees belong to the government of India and therefore may not be cut down to make a fire, a house or build whatever else wood can be used for. Oh and I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before but it is common for people to hang off the sides of buses--making things all lopsided like so. Also, I am in awe over the amount of people/stuff that can fit on a motorcycle. I have seen this is all third world countries I have been too, But is still makes me smile. This obviously is not the best picture but it serves as a good example and I promise there is a motorcycle and driver underneath all those pots and pans.
7. The local housing ranges from tent made from tarps off the side of the road to brightly colored concrete buildings. If I remember
right, I have already posted pictures of the mud huts with thatched roofs that
make up the majority of the village that is just down the road from us. To me,
the most intriguing thing about housing here is that you can see one extreme example
of a shelter right next to the other extreme example. This is considered
normal. What is also considered normal are the satellite dishes that can be
found on nearly any kind of establishment. I also love that if
a house can be painted, it is almost always painted one (or several) bright and
bold colors. The bright pops of colors against the green landscape makes me think of
Easter. Well Easter and Lisa Frank.
ANYWAY, here are some more things that scream India to me. Having almost hit my half way point, I am more “use” to them now, but when I stopped to really think about them--well they make the India According to Ashley Take 2 List.
1. Scarecrows—Umm this one is kind of creepy so it is fitting that it is number one, with it being the end of Halloween season and all. When people are building houses or offices or malls or anything really, they will make a scarecrow that “stands guard” during the process. The scarecrow usually has this mask or a slight variation of this mask on it. The mask is of a God who scares off evil spirits. Obviously, he does so by being freaking scary on his own-in my opinion anyway. There are some interesting thing about these masks though. One of the volunteers was going to buy one to take home but she was told that she couldn’t, the reason being that when the mask is in India, it scares off evil spirits, but when it is taken out of India, it welcomes evil spirits. But here is the creepiest part. Not to long ago (I don’t know exactly how long but I want to say it has only been in the last 30-50 years or so) these “scarecrows” use to not be scarecrows at all-they were actual dead people with the protecting God’s facemask on. Luckily, this practice is now outlawed—and to the best of my knowledge I have only seen actual scarecrows and not dead people made to look like scarecrows so that people don’t get in trouble but still. That's creepy huh! I don’t know how a body was selected to become a “scarecrow” but in a country drowning in people (many of them homeless) with no system in place to track them let alone notice if someone turns up missing, apparently it wasn’t all that hard. So there you go. Have nightmares about that real life scenario.
2. Death is pretty common here. I know that sounded like a genius comment, but really, it seems to happen a lot more often here, and even if it doesn't statistically happen more, it is more common place for sure. I guess that makes sense with their being more health problems, less health care, poor sanitation, crowding, crazy traffic etc. It has been interesting to see how the people deal with it. There have been several patients and students that have lost immediate family members since I have been here or shortly before I came. One of them just happened the beginning of this month. One of the two daughters from that family was talking to me during playtime the other day. There had been no mention of her dad until out of no where she blurted out, "Auntie, on Oct. 1st, my father expired". Needless to say I was a little taken back at the bluntness and matter of fact way she said it. Especially because who uses the word expired when talking about the death of a loved one. Apparently Indians do—or at least this little one did.
The traditions surrounding death are very interesting as well. Since most the population is Hindu, most dead are cremated. However if people are Christian or Muslim, they will not cremate the body so every once in a while---like literally every once in fairly great while--you will see a cemetery. They aren’t really landscaped or taken care of either so they almost look out of place in a way. As far as traditional Hindu death practices go, I am still learning a lot but have the basics down. Most the time, the body will be displayed surrounded by flowers and candles in the home of the deceases person. There are certain things the women do to/in the house to ensure this is done correctly and without sending their loved one on to the next life with an evil spirit in tow. When it comes time for the cremation ceremony, the men take the body out of the house and parade it to the designated cremation spot-where they are expected to watch the entire cremation. It is very important that only the men attend this part though. Women are seen as too tender to watch the actual cremation. Dr. Viji, who is the school psychologist, broke this rule when one of her family members died. After the men left the house, she snuck out and followed. She made it all the way to the crematorium without being caught, but once she was there, she had to ask the guard to let her in. He wouldn’t because of the Hindu customs so she snuck around a different way and climbed up on a wall that gave her the vantage point she needed. She didn’t see the whole thing, but caught some of it before she was caught herself. The guard ended up turning her in to her family members because he was feeling guilty knowing that she was there. I guess it caused a big to do in her family, among the women and men alike. She was accused of ruining the sacredness of the cremation ceremony and inviting evil spirits to join in the festivities. I have said it before, but warding off evil spirits seems to be at the root of most Indian customs. I read in a book that after the cremation the ashes of their loved one are taken to a body of water to be sprinkled over. If the family can afford to do so, the body of water is almost always the Ganges river. If the Ganges is out of the question, families will sometimes go to the ocean or some other sacred river.
I have seen a few funeral processions while I’ve been here and I've decided that my favorite part of them is how the body is surrounded--practically encased in flowers. In my opinion, hundreds of flowers are a lot more attractive then a box—no matter how dressed up the box may be. I haven’t been able to watch for too long though, mostly because we usually see them when we are out driving somewhere. Its probably for the better though, seeing as I have a little Dr. Viji spunk in me too. I’d probably be in trouble all the time.
3. Onto lighter and happier things-------pointing with the middle finger happens ALL the time, from children and adults alike. There is no such thing as flipping someone the bird in India, but when you get a bunch of American’s over here it is sometimes hard to stifle the laughter until later. No matter how many times you have seen it.
4. Burping is also totally acceptable here. Men and women, adults and children burp openly and freely everyday. I don’t think I have ever heard an excuse me afterwords either because its not rude or offensive, people just burp.
5. The trees that line the sides of the roads (or the medians in the larger cities) are often painted with white and black strips. The strips serve two purposes. One is to serve as something somewhat reflective while driving at night. The second being a declaration that these trees belong to the government of India and therefore may not be cut down to make a fire, a house or build whatever else wood can be used for. Oh and I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before but it is common for people to hang off the sides of buses--making things all lopsided like so. Also, I am in awe over the amount of people/stuff that can fit on a motorcycle. I have seen this is all third world countries I have been too, But is still makes me smile. This obviously is not the best picture but it serves as a good example and I promise there is a motorcycle and driver underneath all those pots and pans.
6. Americans like to decorate their cars with
tassels or beads hung over the mirror and sometimes an occasional bumper
sticker here or there, but Indians take car decorating to a whole new level. They paint
things on them--like paint artwork, put Gods up on the dashboard and have tassels hanging inside
and outside the vehicles. Sometimes the tassels are compliment with flowers or
plant garlands and it is not uncommon to see what can only be described as multi-colored
clubbing/rave lights inside the cars and/or buses. My personal favorites are the tassels
that look like braided human hair. When I first came I thought they were real hair, but come to find out they are mostly just fake hair. Car decorations that include foliage are usually carrying a bride and groom, and painting your car with sayings is pretty
common as well, with one of the most frequent sayings being, “We are 2, Ours is
1”. The Indian government marketed this slogan through out the country in order
to help control population growth. Obviously, not everyone follows it exactly.
8. Often times women wear a yellow powder on
their face. I have heard it has a couple of different meanings. One of them is
that they are married, the other is that they are a devotee of a certain God and lastly, there is a popular acne medicine that is a yellow powder too. One night, I was in the
hostel and an older girl had it caked on thick! I will admit that I
really wanted to blow a quick puff of air on her face, but I exercised some
serious self control and resisted. But back to the point, for all I know it really does mean all
these things, but the explanation I most often hear is that it means a women is
married. They have some interesting ways
to label a women as married here. Besides the yellow face, married women wear gold
chains. The gold chain usually has special charms their husband gives them, but they don’t purposely show the charms to others, you can only see the chain part
around the neck. Single girls wear silver chains. Married women also wear a dot in the middle of their forehead at the hairline and wear a toe
ring on their second toes. I have told more then a few people that I really want
to buy toe rings while I’m here, so I may just have to pretend I have a husband
at home. Whatever. A girl has got to do what a girls got to do.
9. ROUS’S: (Rodent Of Unusual Size for those of you who are unfortunate enough to never have watched Princess Bride) are seen more
often then I would like. And even though they are gross, I still
feel bad when people bat them across the street like this little man. I had a
pet rat when I was little you know, and he was a smart little sucker! Although these ones are much larger and a lot more gross. Ewe.
10. Healing
happens everywhere. I have been stopped on the street several different times
and been offered a free energy clearing or healing ritual. I guess people can
really see it in my eyes? That what they all claim anyway. I do try to take them up on it anytime I can though because
I find it rather interesting and appreciate their concern. Of course it doesn’t
exactly fill my need for priesthood blessings but it’s always a nice gesture. Below is a chakra alignment if I remember
right. Usually the healing rituals have something to do with chakras.
