This past Saturday was a holiday and it is the best holiday ever! It's called Raksha Bandhan, and it is celebrated by girls fixing amulets known as Rakhis to the wrists of brothers or close male friends to protect them in the coming year. Brothers reciprocate with gifts and money. So if my brothers are reading this, I'll bring a couple of Rakhis back and you'll have to give me lots of money! When I asked the male members of our staff, who were all wearing Rakhis, how long they wore them for, they said until they wear out and fall off.
The pictures are as follows:
- We had been taken to a gem shop in Jaipur, and while the other volunteers were buying gems, Annie and I got to know the neighbors next door. They invited us in, gave us each a Rakhis, put red dye on our foreheads, and fed us sweets. In return I gave them some bangles, and Annie gave them a key chain from Belarus. Here we are with the daughter of the family.
- Admiring our Rakhises
- The family in front of their house
- Daisy putting a Rakhis on a guy who had a stall outside of a great textile store. The Sikh next to her was our driver for our weekend in Jaipur and Agra.
- Our guide in Jaipur, showing us his Rakhis and the money he will give to his sisters for protection.
Hi Suzanne,
ReplyDeleteI am really enjoying this cultural experience through your eyes. You seem to be having a great time, which is good. I've always thought that the poverty would be overwhelming, but it seems like it is a mix...the good with the bad. Hope you keep blogging.
The poverty is bad but for some reason it's not affecting me. India is such a land of contrast and complexity, that I think it would takes years of living here to understand the people.
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