Learning about Indian Culture

DRIVING
The only way to overtake a vehicle on the road (if there is a road) is to hoot like crazy, then the person in fron will move out of the way, quite willingly. In England, we would consider this to be aggressive and a huge Road Rage ordeal would be had. Here hooting insanely is completely rational. In fact it is encouraged by the Indians, as most trucks and buses have written on their behinds, BLOW HORN!!!!

WORKING
In most cases it is the women who are doing all the hard work here (minus the higher classes). They do the farming harvesting, cooking, cleaning, childrearing etc etc. It is not a rare occurance to see women here carrying HUGE amounts of wheat or wood on their backs double bent while the men sit on corners smoking. Ahh this brings me to a memory I forgot to mention in Pulga! Mayanne and I met a local Village lady with baby on back and she was delighted to show us her field of beans and marjaurana(shocking I know to the European reader, but completely and totally normal here). After a long trek in the hills on some very narrow footpaths where on missed foot could lead to flying in the air off the mountains, we asked her if she smoked it and she said no, only the men smoked it, she harvested it(uhhuu)! Anyway, we ended up sharing the holding of her baby and helping her picking beans(though with less expertise and speed than she demonstrated). Quite therapeutic work I must say, but we had the choice to walk away if we wanted.

NB: I don't like to generalise-its not ALL men who do nought, I have seen the occasional bloke earning an honest keep.

Eating and toileting
Always shake hands and eat with the right hand and wash your bum after pooing with water and the left hand. That is unless you haven't got over the fact that you are a westerner and pay ridiculous amounts of money for toilet paper (in indian financial relativity).

Entertainment in the Himalaya
If you are a child, get a plank of wood, attach wheels to it and hey presto, you have a ready made vehicle to try and end your life on. The kids love it here. Wish I could join them, but am a bit too scared. Oh yeah, and don't forget about cricket and Kite flying.