Really Rural

I've left Delhi and am now staying in the rural state of Chhattisgarh in eastern India. We're staying at the Kawardha Palace (www.palacekawardha.com), an estate owned by a local Maharaja & Maharani. They're nice--about 40, with a beautiful 3-year-old son. They seem like absolutely normal people--except they have houses all over eastern India, he's a state legislator, her parents were both members of Parliament, and they're hereditary royalty.

Chhattisgarh is the Rice Bowl of India, and is 80% rural. And around here, rural means VERY rural. About 1/3 of the adults are still not literate. Much of the agriculture is done by hand, or with rudimentary implements. At least in this part of the state, ox-carts are as common as tractors, and people typically plant, plow, and harvest barefoot. We saw rice, millet, and sugar cane being grown in large swaths, as well as vegetables in smaller patches. Adults and children chewed on the cane--a dentist's paradise (or nightmare).

Their hands are first lubricated...somehow the bracelets slip on.

We went to a few villages today. People stared at us--in many cases, the first white people they'd ever seen. Our guide interpreted between us and the villagers, but there few words spoken on either side. Smiles and bows were mostly the shared language. I photographed many children--their parents were typically pleased that I was interested, and it was also a way to get pictures of them. These being Hindu rather than Muslim people, photos are generally not considered dangerous.

We went inside a few houses. Parents and children sleep in the same room, of course. Parents sleep together, apparently fully clothed. I asked if they undressed for sex (many people around the world don't--including millions of Americans, by the way), and was told it depends on the couple. Contraception? Hardly. Children are a gift from the gods, and for most families are an extra pair of hands to haul water, tend the goats, find firewood, and care for the even younger children.

We went to an enormous weekly market. The crowds, the dust, and the noise (animals, babies, buying & selling) were overwhelming. We saw many women having thin colored glass bangles put on their forearms. It's quite a project. The bracelets are just barely bigger than the women's wrists, and so their hands are first lubricated, then squeezed, and somehow the bracelets finally slip on (not without pain, I could see). Many women wear a dozen, others more. They keep them on for a year or so, then change to a different set.

While at the market, unrelated men and women see each other more casually than in many other daily environments. The gender segregation isn't nearly as strict as in Islam, and somehow seems less punitive. Perhaps because it's a matter of custom rather than law. The more I learn about Hinduism, the more laid back it seems. These people do a lot of things each day to either appease or appeal to the gods, but they don't walk around knowing they're sinners, or trying to avoid hell. Amidst the dust and dung, there's a heavenly quality to that.