Will I be tattooed???

November 6, 2010

We've slept in town last night and only made it back to Tekulodu this afternoon. The kids were waiting for us already. On the way there we bought a mat for Suresh, one of our neighbors kids to sleep on. We realized the other night when he was staying at our house (their roof leaked even worse than ours) that he didn't have his own mat. He slept on the stone floor with just a very thin piece of clothes underneath. No complaints, not even a blink. He seemed to be used to it.

And still it bothered me. I felt like buying a mat for this kid but obviously we can't buy everything that villagers need. Word surely would go around like a fireball and we might be expected to buy things for others as well. Nevertheless, I was glad to hear that Kalyan felt bothered also and had thought about a solution. We decided to get one despite all hesitations as it was a very basic need. We could let him simply use it as he stays here anyway and we could then leave it with him when we leave for our trip. He has earned it anyway, his family is providing us with food and cow milk (which I am not drinking but apparently it's very nice). What's certain is that I find it extremely hard to figure out what's right in situations like this. And I wonder how this will affect me once we're in a different cluster of villages every few days. We'll see a lot of inadequacy and suffering, that I'm sure of unfortunately.

Well, well, well. In the meantime I'm surrounded by quite a few people again. The only thing changing is the who. It's not just the kids anymore. The elder women are joining and surrounding me as well. They checked my whole body for suitable places for tattoos. They seem to think I definitely should have tattoos as it would come out so nicely on my white skin. Yeah, sure it would… One lady already got her needle out as well. Gee, I really thought that's it… I pleadingly looked towards Kalyan but he was busy preparing his meeting to finalize the water solution for the village.  The women all the while had it figured out completely: my name on my right arm, some sort of flower on my inner hand, a bindi-like dot on my forehead and then they got on to my cheek. That's were I went into very obvious disobedience at last.

Next  object of inspection were my bangles, which I had finally brought along with me because they already wanted to gift me theirs thinking I didn't have any. To prove the opposite I put them on today, two on each arm. They were approved of, only I should wear three or four of them on each arm, I was advised. It would look even better... They are very particular with their jewelry and everyone seems to have some  no matter how poor they are. They might not have shoes or a mat to sleep on but jewelry is a must. Well, I guess that's for girls and women only. I wonder if men have an equivalent, I have seen only some wearing a necklace.

But seriously speaking, on my way here I always notice how the majority of people go barefoot - in town and in the villages - no matter how rough the ground on which walk. Their feet and hands are incredibly toughened, some of them look like leather aged over the decades. As far as clothing goes, most women here still were sari and the men lungi held with a simple knot across their hips. A few youngsters start  wearing western dresses but it's not yet common. I'm wearing my kameez, a long shirt or tunic usually accompanied by shalwar or paijama pants (not to be confused with what we Westerners made of this word for sleeping dress). I combine them with my jeans or other trousers, as a foreigner I get away with pretty much anything. Only when my shirt slides off my shoulder or the straps of my bra show, the girls signal me giggling away to adjust accordingly.

More about that as I learn (or when I start wearing sari myself).