When I was in college and all of 19 years of age, 37 years ago, one of my batchmates invited me to spend a week at his home in Chaibasa. I jumped at the opportunity. His cousin sister was getting married. The process was fascinating. Here are some interesting points:
- A girl is considered precious by them.
- A ‘dowry’ is given to the girl’s parents as compensation for taking away a working person from the house.
- The first approach compulsorily has to be from the boy’s side.
- After the initial acceptance, the elders from the girl’s village will walk down to the boy’s village – it may take the whole day. Whilst on the way, they will note down any occurrences – they believe that nature will give them directions whether the marriage should go ahead or not.
- On reaching the boy’s village, elders from both villages will meet and discuss whatever happened along the way. There will be positives and negatives which will cancel each other out. However, there are some serious incidents which will lead to the cancellation of the match!
- Once it is determined that nature is not against the match, the dowry is discussed – in the presence of the entire village! I vaguely remember at that time, the dowry consisted of several cows, goats, chicken and around Rs.17,000.
- It is not a family affair – rather the whole village and also, the neighbouring villages are involved. This makes it a really grand affair.
Why am I writing this after so many years? I, along with my wife, just attended his younger daughter’s wedding and came back totally thrilled. More in my next letter.
Niranjan Bangera
36 Properties Pvt Ltd
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PS:
It was autumn, and members of a Native American tribe asked their new Chief if the coming winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was a new Chief in a modern society and had never been taught the old secrets of Nature, he looked up at the sky and had no clue what to do. To play it safe, he replied to his tribe that the winter could definitely be cold and that they should collect firewood early, just to be prepared. So, the members began gathering wood.
Being a practical leader, he figured he should also use the resources available to the modern society. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, “Will this winter be cold?”
“As of now, it looks like this winter is going to be quite cold,” the forecaster said.
So the Chief went back to his tribe and told them to collect even more wood. A week later he called the National Weather Service again and asked for an update.
“Yes,” the man at National Weather Service again replied, “based on incoming data, this winter is looking to be colder than we expected.” The Chief was surprised, but again went back to his tribe, told them that this might be a very cold winter, and asked them to collect every scrap of wood they could find.
One week later, the Chief called the National Weather Service yet again, hoping for a new answer. “Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?”
“Positive,” the man replied. “It’s going to be one of the coldest winters ever.”
“Really?” the shocked Chief exclaimed. “How can you be so sure?”
The forecaster replied, “The Indians are collecting firewood like crazy.”
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