India - Vyoos

14 followers

401 daily readers

rank of 36

No way I would ask my daughter to do this, but then I'm not a farmer in India experiencing drought. Still, it seems a bit extreme.

The monsoons are desperately late in the state of Bihar — India's 12th largest state by size and third largest by population — and the farmers have turned to trusted, ancient, weird measures.

Step 1: They ask their daughters to take off all their clothes.

Step 2: They ask their daughters to plough the fields.

Only unmarried daughters take part, and the ploughing takes place after dark, accompanied by the chanting of ancient hymns. The belief is that the weather gods will be embarrassed into sending the rains.

According to one village official, "This is the most trusted social custom in the area and the villagers have vowed to continue this practice until it rains very heavily."

India has this year suffered its worst monsoon delays for 80 years. But I'm not sending my daughter to help.

news.com.au

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: India, Odd Spot

Email this Post to a Friend

United in sport, divided by politicians

December 1st 2008 22:21

It's hard to find a more complex set of political and social issues than the Pakistan-India confrontation. The partition and creation of Pakistan in 1947 was politically driven and created more problems than it solved.

I learned a heartbreaking fact a couple of years ago. When the Indian cricket team plays a Test match anywhere in the world, every cricket fan in Pakistan follows the game just as avidly as if it was Pakistan playing. They still accept, indeed take, the Indian team as their own.

If this grassroots, instinctive evidence counts for anything, it says that, 61 years after political partition, culturally they remain one nation.

But since when did the honesty of grassroots instinct and passion sway opinion in the halls of political expediency?

Recommended background reading: Deep Pencil post

Vote

Comments (5)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: India, Politics

Email this Post to a Friend

Spend a penny

July 8th 2008 05:52

The great Asian clean-up is gathering pace. I blame the Brits, who started it by changing a deeply embedded cultural tradition a few decades ago when they stopped Hong Kongers spitting in the streets.

Then came the news last week that the authorities in China are aiming to make the same change in time for the Olympics.

And now, in the biggest relief of all, authorities in southern India have announced that they have successfully reversed the habit of centuries and stopped people urinating in the streets.

The method used to achieve this breakthough was as simple as it was effective - they started paying people to use public loos. A Times of India report at the weekend even spoke of queues outside public conveniences in Musiri, in Tamil Nadu state.

The newspaper quoted the authorities as explaining that the payment of close to a US dollar per month to use public toilets was to promote hygiene and research in rural areas. The research factor comes from collecting all that extra urine and testing for its efficacy as a crop fertiliser, an official of the state's agricultural university added.

Pennies well spent.

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Asia, China, Hong Kong, India

Email this Post to a Friend

[ Vyoos Home ] [ Create A New Post ]