How Bazaar!

No, not a throwback to the ‘90s OMC song, but rather a weekly occurrence here in Andur.  Every Thursday, is in fact bazaar (market) day.  On this day, vegetable, grain, clothing, and all other vendors come to Andur to hawk their wares amidst the residents of Andur and neighboring villagers.  You’d think in my 5 months here I would be a regular visitor at bazaar day.  But, this past week was my first time!  (Staff members go weekly because this is where we stock up on our stock of vegetables in the mess here at the campus).

So, I rode the bus down to the village with some other coworkers and became prepared for the onslaught.  Stepping down in Andur, I was greeted by rows and rows of vegetable and fruit sellers – anything from cauliflower to eggplant to tomatoes and bananas.  With lines and crowds of people milling through stocking up as well.  Seeing as Andur is a fairly small village (population around 10,000), and I’m the only American in a 50 km radius, I was bound to attract some attention and run into people I knew.  It was a really gratifying feeling to be able to walk the paths and greet friends and acquaintances I have made over the past few months.  It made me feel as if I have created a semblance of a community here.

Some coworkers "candidly" purchasing tomatoes from a
tomato vendor (the leftmost guy).  

But in fact, bazaar day is a true lesson in pure economics.  Hello Supply, meet Demand.  Here you have vendors selling identical products right next to each other, competing for rupees one buyer at a time.  It’s a bit of a game, as you step up to a vendor asking the price of spinach.  “6 rupees for 2 bunches” they say.  You give a quizzical look and prepare to banter back.  “Ok ok, 5 rupees.”  Your face softens ever so slightly as you prepare to walk away, knowing you won’t pay a rupee above 4.  “Fine fine, 4 rupees” the vendor surrenders.  You hand over your 4 rupees (approximately  $0.10 USD).  You have forced the vendor to lower their price to meet your highest willingness to pay: the ultimate lesson in economics.  Hopefully this doesn’t label me too much as an academic junkie, but it was fascinating to stand in the center of the market and watch this and similar transactions taking place all around me.  Maybe some of what they were telling me at Berkeley might have been right…that is if I had been awake during class to hear it…

A view of the Bazaar.  One woman protecting
herself from the sun. It was a scorcher this day.

Aside from Bazaar day, I took a great weekend trip to the caves of Ajanta and Ellora.   I met up with two other fellows, Sami and Seth, to do a little sightseeing of historic Hindu, Buddist, and Jain caves dating back to the 2^nd Century BC.  It was a great two days, exploring some beautiful architecture.  These caves were built by literally cutting into bare rock from top to bottom.  I’ll let my pictures do most of the talking here, only because it’s hard to express the wonder of these sites in words.

Kailasa Temple, the largest and grandest Hindu temple at Ellora,
built in the 5th Century AD.  This used to be complete mountain.
Then the builders started carving in from the top.
It is still a functioning temple.

Sami and Seth posing in front of some of the Buddist
temples at Ellora.

A group of Buddist monks and Japanese tourists were
also touring the Ajanta caves when we were there.
As we were in one Buddist cave, the monks began to
lead a prayer. It was surreal as the reverberations of 
their words bounced off the wall, making the 
whole ceremony
seem ethereal.  

Ajanta is a series of 30 Buddist caves.  Each one holds a large
sculpture of....you guess it, Buddha.  Here is Buddha in "peace"
pose surrounded by his followers.

Also, I finally made it out to my first wedding.  A coworker got hitched and had a double wedding with his brother.  Wedding ceremonies in India can last for days, and (un)fortunately I was only able to attend the last part: the official ceremony and reception.  Weddings are a village affair…thus guests number by the hundreds to wish congratulations and get their hand on a good meal.  The ceremony began in the center of the village at about 12:30 with a crowd of about…500.  Although I couldn’t understand/hear most of the ceremony, I could still watch the cultural and ceremonial parts.  

A part of the ceremony requires the bride and
groom to walk around a flame and place 7 stones
on the little table.  I'm unsure as to the
significance.  Here's my coworker and his bride.

However, I got myself into a bit of a jam.  During the ceremony, rice is handed out with the intention that it be thrown at the bride and groom during particular parts of the ceremony.  So, as the ceremony begins everyone begins to throw their rice.  Thinking I’m just another one of the crowd, I take my handful and chuck it towards the stage.  How wrong I was.  Not only two minutes later, it’s round 2 of rice throwing... And here I am, riceless.  So, I begin to frantically pick up grains of rice around me and throw the measly 20 or so pieces I can find.  Turns out, there are about 6 or 7 times when rice needs to be thrown.  You can imagine my stress level as I would frantically gather rice, throw it, and look for more rice again.  I was much better prepared for the second wedding (more rice was given out and I rationed it). 

The ceremony.  A sheet is held between the bride and groom
so they can't see each other. This was one of the 

rice-throwing points of the ceremony.

But the ceremony was quick.  And afterwards, food.  As soon as the ceremony was over, the men ran towards the dining hall to get a floor seat.  People were guarding the door, only letting in a handful of people.  Fortunately I was let in (it helps to be the foreigner sometimes).  The room was packed with over 100 men, and plates and food were quickly distributed to the hungry guests.  I sat to eat…and was told “louker louker” (fast fast in Marathi).  We were only round one.  It was a bit hectic as people hollered for more chappati or bajji (vegetable) to the servers from across the room.  

People sitting in the dining hall waiting to be fed.
At this point, plates were being handed out.  

The food was fantastic…a Karnatakan meal I was told (Karnataka is the Indian state directly south of me and has a huge cultural influence in the District I live in).  As we left the food hall, another crowd of people took our seats.  There were about 6 or 7 rounds of dining.  First the men, then the women. 

The crowd outside waiting to be fed.  This is probably round 3 or 4.

After the ceremony and food, most people began to trickle back to their homes.  There’s no big reception with music as is typical at “Western” weddings.  But overall, I was extremely happy for my coworker and glad to be a guest at an Indian wedding.

The happy bride and groom!  Congrats!

Little did I know that this wasn’t going to be my first wedding this week.  I actually was brought along to a second wedding.  While in Solapur for work with my boss, I was told that on our way home we were going to “stop by” the wedding reception of a former coworker.  So, we went to ritzy “reception lawn” and paid our respects to the bride and groom (For the reception, it’s traditional for the bride and groom to stand at the head of the reception, while all guests come and congratulate them and their parents.  They then stand for a formal picture.  Given the hundreds of guests and “stop by”s that come, the bride and groom end up standing there for hours with smiles plastered on their faces).  We grabbed some food and made our way out.  A quick 45-minute…wedding crash.

And that’s a wrap.  Today officially marks 6 months here in India.  5 more to go.  It’s been a good ride so far, and I can only hope the second half is just as exciting. 

Posing with 2 village health workers in the office.
This was after I had handed out See's lollipops to the staff.
You can see the happiness on their faces...smiles all around.

Andrew