Young Hindu boys and girls have a rich cultural heritage which they must try to understand as they prepare for life. In this article, an American friend who has lived and worked in Nepal´s hills and tarai plains for a very long time describes how modernisation has changed even rural lifestyles. He thinks that religion´s role in society has suffered. This Young SouthAsian column deals with Hindus, who make up a large proportion of South Asia´s population. In future, we plan to carry similar articles on other faiths such as Buddhism and Islam. Meanwhile, we encourage young readers to write in with your comments and suggestions, as Grishma Bista has done from Mussorie, in the hills of Garhwal, India (see the mail section at the front of the magazine).
WHEN, AS A PEACE Corps volunteer, I first came to Nepal, nearly 30 years ago, to work with young people in agricultural development, I was astonished to discover a living culture with roots so deep it seemed at times that I was participating in the living reenactment of events that had happened long ago. When a young village Brahmin friend would read and translate for me stories from the Ramayana, I could visualise the action taking place around me. Young people were so very sure of who they were, and of what they were born to do.
Every activity of daily life began and ended with symbolic acts of praise and thanksgiving; they poured water to quench the thirst of Surya the Sun before bathing, they circled their plates with drops of water and offered a pinch of rice to the gods before eating, they touched the feet of their parents before entering the house, and spoke to their elders and respected persons with honorific pronouns. They were careful to do nothing that would infringe on the rights of other occupational castes and even more careful to avoid eating or doing anything to lower their own ritual and social status. Arranged marriages were not only accepted but staunchly defended on the grounds that their parents would make the best choice for them.
The Hindi cinema was an occasional foray to the district centre, and a lassi at the local restaurant was the drink of choice. In the village, the young and the old entertained each other. A little boy would come many mornings to sit at the foot of my bed and play a small drum and sing for me. The students would spend weeks rehearsing and several days presenting the Ramayana at the time of Durga Puja. Our local blacksmith would recite for evenings on end the great heroic epic of North Bihar, Allah Rudal, with bells on his wrists and fantastic drumming on the dholak. Boys and men would circle dance with fighting sticks, girls would sing in groups at night around the wells with baskets filled with oil lamps and, at weddings, would harass the bridegroom with bawdy songs.