Am back in the UK now doing the family thing. Fed went back to the US last week and I'll head home this weekend.... despite all kinds of craziness I am safe and relatively unmarried.
Our last day in India was insane. Rakesh drove us back to Delhi after a couple days in Jaipur. His car had been hit by a tuk-tuk whacking one of the rear wheels out of alignment before starting the trip with Federico and me. Not sure why he didn’t get it fixed, but for the entire trip we listened to it thump awkwardly. Finally, as we entered Jaipur it went flat, but because of the holiday/festival Rakesh couldn’t get the problem fixed or buy a new tire. So, here we are, about to return to Delhi, a 250km trip on a bum wheel – should take four hours.....
Eight hours and five, yes FIVE flat tires later, we arrive. Basically we’d go 40kms, the inner tube would pop, we’d put on the second tire. We’d then take the first tire to a ramshackle roadside hut, where some guy would take out what looked like a bicycle repair kit and patch the tube. Never mind the tire itself has a giant cartoon style jagged edge hole in it. We’d then go for another 30 mins, it would explode again and we’d repeat the process. For someone who complained it their last blog about getting a watered down sterilized India experience this was comically absurd and I was loving every second. We also get invited to Rakesh's for dinner that night. Fed declined because he had work to do, but I agreed.
It ends up being one of the most bizarre nights of my life, culminating in Rakesh offering an arranged marriage between me and his 24 year old son. Honest. I can just imagine my father getting a crackling phone call at 3.15am from a distance Indian man offering to take me off my father's hands for the price of a cow. Apparently when Rakesh's other son married he got a bunch of furniture and a ceiling fan with the new daughter-in-law. No joke. But the daughter-in-law can't speak in front of Rakesh or show her face. I made the faux pas of trying to speak to her when Rakesh was present and was told to stop.
The whole set up of 'dinner with my family' was really weird - it ended up being just the two of us eating while his family served us (mainly his wife). Weirder still, we sat at a makeshift table in the bedroom Rakesh shares with his wife.
I'm still trying to process, but did decline the marriage proposal.... If you want the full story you're going to have to ask - I swear I couldn't make this stuff up...
I did learn that 90% of marriages in India are arranged and found the following comparison which I though was interesting. It's from an Indian speaking to a BBC correspondent:
“In your country you marry the woman you love. Here, we love the woman we marry. You fall in love and then get married. We get married then fall in love.”
I think I'll stick to the bar scene.
Our last day in India was insane. Rakesh drove us back to Delhi after a couple days in Jaipur. His car had been hit by a tuk-tuk whacking one of the rear wheels out of alignment before starting the trip with Federico and me. Not sure why he didn’t get it fixed, but for the entire trip we listened to it thump awkwardly. Finally, as we entered Jaipur it went flat, but because of the holiday/festival Rakesh couldn’t get the problem fixed or buy a new tire. So, here we are, about to return to Delhi, a 250km trip on a bum wheel – should take four hours.....
Eight hours and five, yes FIVE flat tires later, we arrive. Basically we’d go 40kms, the inner tube would pop, we’d put on the second tire. We’d then take the first tire to a ramshackle roadside hut, where some guy would take out what looked like a bicycle repair kit and patch the tube. Never mind the tire itself has a giant cartoon style jagged edge hole in it. We’d then go for another 30 mins, it would explode again and we’d repeat the process. For someone who complained it their last blog about getting a watered down sterilized India experience this was comically absurd and I was loving every second. We also get invited to Rakesh's for dinner that night. Fed declined because he had work to do, but I agreed.
It ends up being one of the most bizarre nights of my life, culminating in Rakesh offering an arranged marriage between me and his 24 year old son. Honest. I can just imagine my father getting a crackling phone call at 3.15am from a distance Indian man offering to take me off my father's hands for the price of a cow. Apparently when Rakesh's other son married he got a bunch of furniture and a ceiling fan with the new daughter-in-law. No joke. But the daughter-in-law can't speak in front of Rakesh or show her face. I made the faux pas of trying to speak to her when Rakesh was present and was told to stop.
The whole set up of 'dinner with my family' was really weird - it ended up being just the two of us eating while his family served us (mainly his wife). Weirder still, we sat at a makeshift table in the bedroom Rakesh shares with his wife.
I'm still trying to process, but did decline the marriage proposal.... If you want the full story you're going to have to ask - I swear I couldn't make this stuff up...
I did learn that 90% of marriages in India are arranged and found the following comparison which I though was interesting. It's from an Indian speaking to a BBC correspondent:
“In your country you marry the woman you love. Here, we love the woman we marry. You fall in love and then get married. We get married then fall in love.”
I think I'll stick to the bar scene.
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