The other night we were invited over to one of the doctor's houses, and when we arrived, the place was swarming with children. It was a birthday party, much like a suburban American birthday party. Children from the neighborhood ran around, ate cake and drank soda, while the parents stayed in their part of the house.
The biggest differences were that they clapped during "Happy Birthday" and added another verse ("May god bless you") and that the food included idli sambhar and dahi. This is, of course, an upper-middle class community and so they have adopted certain Western customs, especially ones that appeal to the younger generation. (They have the Disney Channel in Hindi here, so you can see High School Musical and Zach and Cody dubbed, with certain English phrases, especially slang, still intact)
The day before, we had walked down to the Ganiyari market, and as we were hopping the fence by the gate (this gate is always locked, and it is much quicker just to climb over than to go all the way to the other gate) we were joined by a young boy who is the son of one of the farm workers. He didn't know his age, but we guessed about 6. He had said that he was going to look for other small children to play with (he specifically said "small"). He followed us around the market for a little bit, and we bought him an apple, then sent him on his way to find his friends.
It was initially surprising that such a young person would be allowed to wander so far unsupervised, but there's really no dangers for him. He won't get lost, and he probably knows and is known by 80% of the people he passes. This is a small rural community, so children are more independent and the environment is safer. The biggest danger is probably older bullies.
The other thing about the children here is that they are naked a substantial amount of time. The littlest don't wear diapers, and always have their little baby bottoms hanging out. I would be very wary to hold one. They are also naked in the mornings, when we drive into work. They are somewhere in the process of bathing, which will usually require a trip to the communal water source. I imagine that like children everywhere bath time is a process that involves them running around and trying to not to actually bathe, and so in the morning times there are little naked children running everywhere
The biggest differences were that they clapped during "Happy Birthday" and added another verse ("May god bless you") and that the food included idli sambhar and dahi. This is, of course, an upper-middle class community and so they have adopted certain Western customs, especially ones that appeal to the younger generation. (They have the Disney Channel in Hindi here, so you can see High School Musical and Zach and Cody dubbed, with certain English phrases, especially slang, still intact)
The day before, we had walked down to the Ganiyari market, and as we were hopping the fence by the gate (this gate is always locked, and it is much quicker just to climb over than to go all the way to the other gate) we were joined by a young boy who is the son of one of the farm workers. He didn't know his age, but we guessed about 6. He had said that he was going to look for other small children to play with (he specifically said "small"). He followed us around the market for a little bit, and we bought him an apple, then sent him on his way to find his friends.
It was initially surprising that such a young person would be allowed to wander so far unsupervised, but there's really no dangers for him. He won't get lost, and he probably knows and is known by 80% of the people he passes. This is a small rural community, so children are more independent and the environment is safer. The biggest danger is probably older bullies.
The other thing about the children here is that they are naked a substantial amount of time. The littlest don't wear diapers, and always have their little baby bottoms hanging out. I would be very wary to hold one. They are also naked in the mornings, when we drive into work. They are somewhere in the process of bathing, which will usually require a trip to the communal water source. I imagine that like children everywhere bath time is a process that involves them running around and trying to not to actually bathe, and so in the morning times there are little naked children running everywhere
cute just cute