I met a bunch of people on the train to Pune, the most interesting of whom was a sixteen year old whose dad wanted him to practice English with me. The conversation was pretty boring and generic until I asked him if he had a girlfriend. His father was right there so he said no, nobody dates in India. Marriages are arranged by the parents once a man has 22 years and is earning good money. Most people use matrimony sites, which are basically dating sites but they take into consideration caste and astrological compatibility (which explains the plethora of matrimony site popup ads on public computers here).
I asked if there was ever any premarital sex once his dad had gone and he said yes, and there is dating, but you can't talk about it in front of parents. I got the feeling his father was particularly strict though. The whole conversation made me really want to get to Pune where I can run into some college kids and find out what life is like here for people my own age.
4 comments:
how was his english?
isn't the indian accent wonderful and happiness-inducing?
I understand there is no touching between opposite sexes - public displays of affection are prohibited both by custom and by law - recently the American actor Richard Gere was charged with a crime for having kissed an actress very briefly in front of an audience during filming of a TV show - and he cannot go back to India now or else be arrested - which is a problem for Richard Gerem I guess, since he has a house there.
-I was travelling one day to Baroda in a crowded second-class carriage. Indians, my luggage, their luggage, myself and a number of loose oranges were piled up together in confusion, and the Indians were arguing. Their language was Gujarati, but they used so many English words that I followed what they were saying. They were arguing about religion and free-thought. I intervened and was welcomed into the conversation, which was now carried on entirely in English out of courtesy to me. I did not follow it the better for that, but they peeled me an orange and we parted friends. Indeed, it is difficult to conclude an Indian railway journey on any other note. Their response to ordinary civility is immediate. I don't think they are particularly friendly in the street--if you ask them the way they are suspicious. But squashed in a railway carriage they seem to expand.--
E.M. Forster, 1946
(from my readings)
ad: his english was passable and the indian accent is only happiness inducing when you can understand it.
df: kids have special places they can go to escape who they call 'the morality police,' especially public parks. they can touch and kiss there but they're very shy about it and tone it down if someone's coming.
sd: i like that quote a lot. although i would imagine things were much different a year before indian independence, people are definitely way friendlier on the train than in the street.
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