Hindi school officially ended Dec 11th, but I continued private lessons until Dec 22 when I left for Mumbai. It snowed once before I left and reached about 4C, Mumbai/Bombay was probably about 22C....I have returned to very cold weather. It is even cold here in DehraDun. To wrap up some of my last thoughts and to start fresh with my experiences I thought I would summarize some random points. Over the past 3 months I have counted 150 times I have seen someone in the act of either peeing or pooping. (thought I would use a more adult word like defecate - but lets just call it what it is...) I realize it is a strange thing to keep track of, but honestly it was... easy?? Its just one of those things that you say to yourself, wow, Ive seen a lot of men on the side of the road or in the street taking a leak - oh look, theres another. And then all of a sudden its like Wow, Ive seen 10 people going to the bathroom today. Then it just turned into a competition with whomever I was out with to see how many we could see.
Another strange count is the amount of Albinos - yes Real albinos I have seen since coming to India. I saw a family of 4, plus 2 others AND a little boy who was dressed as Santa's helper (aka an elf). He was so cute! How about my count of eunuchs! Eunuch's in India are their own cast of people. I have only seen them in Bombay and OMG are they everywhere. Here's a little of what Wikipedia has to say:
Hijra, a Hindi term traditionally translated into English as "eunuch", actually refers male-to-female transgender people and effeminate homosexuals (although some of them reportedly identify as belonging to a third sex). Some of them undergo ritual castration, but the majority do not. They usually dress in saris (traditional Indian garb worn by women) and wear heavy make-up. They typically live in the margins of society, face discrimination and earn their living in various ways, e.g., by coming uninvited at weddings, births, new shop openings and other major family events and singing until they are paid or given gifts to go away. The ceremony is supposed to bring good luck and fertility, while the curse of an unappeased hijra is feared by many. Other sources of income for the hijra are begging and prostitution. The begging is accompanied by singing and dancing and the hijras usually get the money easily. Some Indian provincial officials have used the assistance of hijras to collect taxes in the same fashion; they knock on the doors of shopkeepers, while dancing and singing, and embarrass them into paying. Recently, hijras have started to found organizations to improve their social condition and fight discrimination. There has even been a wave of hijra entering politics and being elected to high political positions. Basically, from the looks of it - everyone is terrified that the Hijra will curse them so they pay them to go away. We had one approach our rickshaw and actually talk to us - WOW wish I had a video recorder or something cuz his/her voice was freaky. She was interesting looking. The little I know about them is facinating and I would like to learn more. You see, homosexuality in India is very taboo and still, these people have decided to even re-create the indian core home life and try to make a family in may ways. They are groomed and trained by a guru and take her sir name and pay her from their earnings.
Anther count has been midigets. I have seen at least 15 midigets since coming here. Is it bad that midigets are always fun to spot?
Ive also seen 3 Indians with blue or green eyes. They are GEORGOUS. Much like the little girl on the cover of Nat Geo that made news long time ago - it is very striking when you realize what it is about the person that keeps drawing your eyes to them.
Oh and while in Amritsar I came across 15 bearded women. Considering it is against the rules to cut or pluck your hair if you are a Sikh - this was a symbol of their faith. As I have mentioned before, Sikh's are the warrior class and they consider women equals. So, even the ladies are deadly with a sword. The lady in this photo is the one with the yellow outfit...
I am going to restart all of my counts from this point and see how I get along.
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