part deux:
in delhi yve and i met up with our driver and new friend, BABA, who was to drive us through jim corbett park (where we went on safari), and into the HIMALAYA!! we visited several HILL STATIONS in the mountains: quaint little towns where the british would seek refuge during the hot hot indian summers. even the british government would literally pack up their offices in kolkata and delhi and govern from the himalaya. our first hill station to visit was NAINATAL, a quaint, picturesque town nessled between the mountains and along the shores of a pristine lake. today, nainatal serves as a vacation destination for middle class indians. in nainital we made many indian friends: from drinking chai with members of the "high court" to smoking hasheeshi with local tibetan mountain people. i was unable to upload my photos from nainatal... so just use your imagination. from nainatal we drove higher into the mountains into RAINIKET, baba's home village, and KAUSANI, the hill station with the highest elevation. Baba's sister, BHIMA, was to be married on the 8th of may in rainiket. yve and i were absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to experience such a purely cultural and ritualistic event. attending this ceremony was one of the most profound experiences of my trip, if not my life.
driving in the himalaya. this man declared the tree in the background a "sacred" tree. he established a temple here, on the side of the road, where passers by are to be blessed for a few rupees in exchange.
the roads were insane! like a rolla costa. actually, it was pretty serious. i saw two dead men on the side of the road. they must have driven off the side just hours before we passed. very heavy. in the himalaya you have to accept the realities of death... everyone is pretty much at ease with it... their philosophy is basically- if it's your time, it's your time.
if you look closely...you can see the snowy peaks of the himalaya. during the dry season it is so smoggy, that you have to wake up at dawn just to get a glimpse of these majestic mountain tops. during the monsoon, however, the himalayan sky is a clarion blue and the snowy peaks are a constant beauty... never interrupted by the smog.
chapati harvest time. this is the wheat used to make nan, papad, all types of chapati.
i helped this woman harvest some chapati flour in return for a little photo shoot. she actually made fun of me because it took me ages to harvest a patch that takes her 10 seconds or so.
beautiful beautiful terracing
irrigation
road trip chai break
driving in the car was literally one of the highlights of the trip. i saw some of the most unbelievable landscapes... most from a birds eye view.
in the town of rainiket yve and i befriended these incredible indian women. they invited us into their homes and we all had a little dance party. so wonderful.
this is one of the views from baba's home. i took this upon arrival to bhima's marriage. he lives in a remote little village; a ten minutes walk from any sort of road, an hours drive from the nearest town. his home is made from stone, dirt, and manure and is equipped with two rooms and no electricity.
the ceremony was to be held outside on the patio
some of the attendees
all of the men patiently await the ceremony to begin
they have set up bhima's dowry on the porch: a bed, a couch, and various household items
baba's father and two daughters (from left: suna and cubby) welcoming guests
some friends and family close to the bride wait at the entrance to welcome the groom and his guests with an offering.
the groom finally arrives with his "posse." drunk, dancing and singing, the grooms friends carry him on this chair contraption up the mountain while playing ceremonial music.
only his friends are present, the grooms family members stay in their village and await their son to return with his new bride.
the band consists of a keyboard, a drum, a couple of wind instruments, some marakas and a guy rigged up to a loud speaker to project the music.
everyone lines up to be blessed before entering the ceremony
red and yellow pigment along with white grain (maybe salt) are applied right between the eyes and some leaves are placed on the head
while the grooms friends are wildly dancing off to the side, the brahman performs a series of blessings with the mother, the father, and the groom while the bride is inside the dwelling with the photographer enduring an intense photo session. during her photo shoot, bhima, is constantly urged to look sullen; it would reflect badly on her family if she were to seem happy. a himalayan marriage marks the day in which the bride will leave her family for the rest of her life, condemned, basically, to virtual slavery. she is taken away from her home, her family, and her support system and is forced to do the hardest work on the farm. her sole duties become manual labor and bearing children. the women in himalaya are denied education and therefore spend their entire lives working on their family's farm. when marriage time arises (ages 14-25) the oldest male family member (in this case baba) choses a husband for marriage.
all of the women and children sit together
once the bride is finally presented to her new husband they sit in these throne like chairs while friends and family members (including yve and i) stand behind the chairs and touch the couple's heads with small flowers in each hand and one hand on each head. this ritual is supposed to instill the couple with good luck. bhima and her new husband then perform several rituals with the brahman, one including feeding each other some sort of grain. this was so interesting to watch because while bhima gently and affectionatly fed her new husband the grain, he basically shoved it in her mouth and i watched her then spit it out. throughout the entire ceremony the bride and groom did not utter a single word to each other. i think they had only met once prior to the ceremony. when it was nearing time for the bhima to leave, her family and close friends literally broke down in tears. at this point i completely lost it. the whole situation just absolutely broke me. bhima had been sobbing throughout most of the ceremony. i couldn't imagine living the life that she was about to lead. her mother, father, brothers, and baba's wife could not bear to let her go. they knew they were losing their daughter, their sister, their friend forever. before leaving, bhima went around and placed her hands on her loved ones' feet as a sign of respect followed by a tearful hug to say goodbye. i had been sobbing throughout the whole ritual, but when she came to me we looked each other directly in the eyes and i just completely broke down. hysterics. i felt such a strong connection with her. i will never forget the way she looked at me with her sad, scared eyes and the compassion that she felt when she looked into my eyes. once bhima had said her good byes, the grooms friends carried her down the mountain in the same chair like contraption to the car that transported her to her new family, her new life.
i actually just got an email from baba saying that bhima is quite happy in her new situation.
this makes me happy. :)
