Along the road: Learning about Indian customs

Our guide Shivani shared the following:

Clothing

The art of weaving existed before the art of stitching. Thus the sari came into being as one large piece of fabric. The woman wraps the sari around her body. One can tell the region a woman comes from by how she secures the sari, whether it is over the shoulder or tucked in to an under garment. And, even her profession may be obvious by how she wears the sari. The sari can be the most modest garment or it can be the sexiest. The sari is soft and feminine, important traits for an Indian woman to present. 

More practical attire is the Punjabi. Both are equally acceptable Indian attire. The Punjabi consists of a long tunic, pants with either a wide leg or tapered pant and a long scarf draped across the shoulders.

Work and School Routine

Living in Mumbai or Delhi is more expensive than living in Manhattan, New York. The typical work day, time leaving from home and returning to home, is 8:00 am to 9 pm. five to six days a week. Shivani’s daughter, a tenth grader at the school we visit, awakes at 5:30 am, gets the bus at 6:30, arrives at school before 7:30. If a student is late, he/she is locked out. The school day runs from 7:30 to 2:00. She attends the school we visit: Sanskriti School. No lunch is served at school. Students may eat a snack at school and eat lunch at home. She arrives home at 2:45.

Umang is the name of the high school program at the school where her daughter attends, where all 11^th graders must serve the community by teaching the slum children in the villages for one month. Umang means enthusiasm.

Extended Family

Three generations of family often live together. It is socially expected that children will care for their parents when they become older. The advantages are that it is more economical and family is close. Some disadvantages are that privacy is nonexistent and conflict can occur between the older folks and their grandchildren. The social pressure is so great that a family’s character could be marred and the daughter thought not worthy to marry.

An Indian saying goes like this. A father asks his son to move a boulder. He tries to move the boulder but can’t. His father says you have not used all your strength. He tries again and again he says he can’t do it. His father finally tells him, “I am your strength.” Together they are able to move the boulder.

Competition is strong among students, beginning as early as 2 years old. Students are expected to read and write in two languages by age 4. They do lots of memory drills and jigsaw puzzles. The students’ first college choice is often within India, but there is not nearly enough space for all the students to get in. Those who score in the 90s are privileged to attend. Those who score in the 80s percent range choose to apply to the United States to ivy league schools.

Marriages

Eighty percent of marriages are arranged. These are the most successful marriages with a divorce rate of 5%. More Indians are choosing a “love” marriage. The contrasting divorce rate is 40%.  What makes such a difference? Could it be the research the parents have done? Could it be destiny? Or do prearranged marriages have a stronger foundation because love grows as they years go by which may outlast marriage based on infatuation? Horoscopes play a large role in determining the right person to marry in an arranged marriage.

Widows

While on this trip I read a novel, Keeping Corner, by Rashmine Sheth. The main character was engaged at a very young age and married at 9 years old. She was to move in with her husband at the age of 13-14 years. Her husband died from a snake bite leaving her as a widow. In this rural setting, cornered meant the widow is confined to her home in mourning for a whole year with a shaved head, all jewelry removed and wearing a black or dark sari. They received no visitors during holidays. 

Caste System
The caste system is unique to Hindu society. There are four divisions and the darkness of the skin played a role. Brahmins are tall and fair-skinned and were the priests or teachers. Kshatriyas (warriors) kept law and order. Vaishyas were the traiders and had darker skin. They were given menial tasks. Shudras, a fourth class, was added. they performed cleaning and sanitation work. They did not live among the others, instead they lived on the boundaries of the villages. Today it is illegal, according to the Indian Constitution, to discriminate a person based on the caste. But, according to The Holy Cow by Tarun Chopra, the caste system still plays a significant role in rural Indian villages where 80 percent of the population exists.

Agra Fort and Marble Works

Agra Fort

Agra Fort was built by Akbar the Great in 1565 AD and was attacked multiple times but never fell.  It was surrounded by two moats—a west one filled with crocodiles and a dry one filled with elephants.  It was the residence of the king where he lived well.  Shah Jahan was imprisoned there when his third son, Arsunza, killed his two older brothers, took the throne, and ruled successfully for 50 years until the British took over.  According to our guide, “Kingship knows no kinship.”

The only entrance to the Agra Fort is through the Amar Singh Gate.

This is the wet moat that borders the fort on one side.

Frisky monkeys

Water Gate at Agra Fort

The Darshani Gate

The Diwan-i-am in Agra was built in Shah Jahan's characteristic style.

Symmetrical gardens

 

Marble works

We learned about the process by which marble is carved and jewels are inlaid in the same manner as was used on the Taj Mahal.  The precious stones (lapis, malachite, coral, jasper, onyx, abalone, turquoise, and carnelian) are filed and smoothed on wheels by hand to create the designs.  Sometimes pieces are as small as slivers of fingernail! The art is passed down through families as in the secret recipe for the glue that permanently holds the jewels in place in the marble. The marble is translucent and strong. 

The raw gems used for inlaid designs

The work is exceptionally delicate. The cost of one of these art works is based on how many inlaid pieces there are, not the amount of marble.

Taj Mahal

We are waiting to go into the Taj Mahal while the sun is rising. Women and men wait in separate lines for security purposes.

Our last day in India began early with a sunrise visit to the Taj Mahal. According to our guide Navneet, it is the “teardrop on the face of the world.” Built by Shah Jahan as a tomb for his beloved wife and queen with the finest white marble and inlaid jewels, the project took 20,000 workers 22 years. His wife Mumtaz Mahal died during childbirth with her fourteenth child at the age of 29. On her deathbed, she requested three things of her husband. Two of those requests were to care for the children and build a mausoleum to honor  her. He built this amazing structure to memorialize their eternal love for each other. The structure and gardens are perfectly symmetrical with one exception: Shah Jahan’s tomb was placed to the left of his wife’s. In fact, there is a mosque to the left and a building to the right that is exactly the same.

The marble came from near Jaipur,in the state of Rajasthan, carried by elephants. The sandstone came from Fatehpur Sikri and precious gems and metals such as gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires were obtained from China, Burma, Persia Baghdad and Europe.

The entrance to Taj Mahal is through this red sandstone gateway that is beautifully inlaid with black and white marble  calligraphy and motifs in floral and geometric designs. The calligraphy is scaled larger at the top so that the perception is that it is the same size throughout. Notice the floral motifs and calligraphy below.

Sunrise

Patty and I pinch ourselves to know that we are really here.

If you think the minaret is leaning, you are right. It was designed this way so that if it fell, it would not hit the Taj Mahal.

Reflection of Taj Mahal in the pool of water. This picture was taken as the sun was rising.

An hour later the sky manifested as clear blue and the Taj Mahal is more defined in the picture.

Side view

The artwork is outstanding, to say the least, and the inlaid colors have not changed over the years. 

Marble

Geometric designs abound.

This is the mosque to the left of the Taj Mahal. They built an identical building to the right to maintain symmetry, its only purpose.

Exiting the Taj Mahal - Inside are rooms where the sun shines in magnificently; these rooms do not have a purpose except to add to the grandiosity of the building.

Traveling from Jaipur to Agra

A beautiful sunrise greeted us the morning we left Jaipur to go to Agra.

The hotel outsmarted the pigeons by putting these porcupine-like wires on the awnings to discourage them form hanging out there. 

 We ate lunch at The Bagh, meaning the garden. The quaint restaurant reminded us of earlier times.

We followed this beautiful path to get to the restaurant.

I never tired of the Indian cuisine. Instead I grew to love it. The buffet boasted vegetables grown on the 10-acres property with gardens that produce the food they serve.

The dishes have the Hindi alphabet and leaves are used to identify the foods.

I think this is a sweet lime tree. I drank freshly squeezed sweet lime juice each morning for breakfast. Indians use it to help upset stomachs, nausea and sore throats. I didn't realize that at the time!

Click on this picture to see the owl and its nest in the tree.

 Some of the natural beauty at The Bagh - flowers

Fatehpur Sikri

The Diwan-I-Khas at Fatehpur appears to be two stories, but is only one floor.

Fatehpur Sikri is a spacious red sandstone city built in the 16th century by Mughal Emperor Akbar to serve as the capital of the Moghuls. The architecture is influenced by both Hindu and Moslem styles because Akbar wanted to bring these two cultures together. This served as the capital for 12-20 years, depending on data source. Lack of water compelled them to relocate.

The Panch Mahal is a five-storied structure with open pavilions.

Exquisitely carved sandstone pillar