welll another week in naggar. the school is as per usual. buttt i did learn a lot this week about culture in india. first of all marriagess. we went to another wedding on mondy but this one was a little different. it was quite large (200 ppl) and the true implications of the caste system came into play. so we went to the third day of the marriage which is the big celebration day, where all the people come and theres music and dancing and singing and lots of food.. as in like 5 courses! the second day of the marriage is where the grooom comes from whereever he lived and takes the bride. then a lot of rituals take place like sitting around a fire witht the two families and singing and prayers. the second dya is when the actual wedding ceremeony takes place. teh first day is the groom and his associated friends and family of the area sit around with him and the bride sits with her associated friends and damily and also gets lots of mehndi (the brown stuff you see on indian womesn skin) al over her hands feet and someimtes stomach.

the caste system: well at teh wedding we (the family + elyse and i) had to stand in a certain area and werent allowed to talk to people in other areas. we also had to sit in a cornered off area in a little dirty hovel to eat our dinner. i thought of this as a little odd but assumed it must be a cutom. it wasnt until elyse explained to me that the family im with are of the lowest caste. not THE lowest (this being the untouchables who are not regareded as part of proper society) but the lowest socially acceptable caste. so this was the reason at the wedding we had to sit below everyone else in a seperate area and werent allowed onto the higher ground to talk to the majority of the wedding guests. it also explains why at school the teachers never accept food at lunch time from us. we accept food from them but because we have food prpeared by a lower caste they cant accept it from us. ashish (the 4 yr old son) is the only child in the school of the low caste so although it doesn't directly affect him it affects the way the family is treated at school.

i never understood that the caste systme played such a large part of indian society,and although it doesnt apply directly to elyse and i because we are foreigners we still feel its appropriate if we form a part of the familys caste.

these are teh 4 main thigns in india that annoy me:

1. Indian Men: 90% of indian men are seedy and perverted. im not joking! (mum you were a whitness to this when the man in the car gave me that awful smile!) at any given oppurtunyi they will 1. call out something revolting to you 2. whistle and stare at you 3. attempt to shake your hand or touch you 4. tell you how beautiful and pretty you are 5. ask to take your picture 6. this is the worst... attempt to hug you or put there arms around your body e.g. when standing on a bus they hold onto somthing around you so that they can touch you. these are the reasons i hate indian men.

2. cars: to be precise cars horns. the horn is seen as a vital part of everyday use. whether trying to attract the attention of a friend or to tell a vehicle to move out of the way. it seems it is vital that the driver blasts the horn so that their is partial hearing loss of the people around and the person who the driver is trying to get the attention of. even if a vehicleis trying to get out of a position without hitting anything another driver will come along and sit behind the vehicle and blast the hornfor at least 10 mins non stop, just in case the driver wasnt aware he was a nusiance on the road.

3. spitting and snorting: whether a posh lady walking down the street in her glistening sari or a 4 year old child on his way to school they all are revolting. we wake up to the sound of the uncle in the morning clearing his sinuses. we walk along the street to school and wil pass 10 men (who stare and call out) and spit and gag all over the road. in fcat just as i was typing this i could hear a man outside gagging ands snorting ans spitting. mum and dad you thought my sniffing was bad but never complain. the poeple here are revloting.

4. rubbish: the state of himachal pradesh does not seem to understand the concept of waste disposal. when we first filleda bag with rubbish we asked where the bin was. the mother replied anywhere you want. we simply throw our bags ofrubbish into streams, on the street into the forrest. when i first was told i had to throw my rubbish down on the ground i was appaled. i felt terribly guilty that i was contributing to the waste mounting all around us. now i dont feel as guiilty ecuase it is a part of life but i still feel bad becuase within a few years the people are going to realise what a large scale problem theyv created and by then it may be too late to fix.

so that is my 4 hates about india. other than that i lvoe the place.

ill put phtos up as soon as i can find ainternet cafe that doesnt take 4 hrs to uplaod pics

miss you all

xxxx