Post 2: On Rural Living

Every morning, I woke up to the oddly feline yowl of peacocks crowing and pigeons rustling in the nest they built on my AC unit. After checking the toilet for geckos, which seemed to really like the bowl for some reason, I would begin my morning routine and head to the cafeteria to eat.  We were served traditional Gujarati dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as the ever-popular masala tea.  Just as one's environment is a crucial building block for culture, so too are daily activities and habits, dining included.

Cooking implements found in a typical rural Gujarati
household (photo courtesy of Makenzie Vail).

Meals are almost always vegetarian.  This is an outgrowth of the large Muslim population found in the region that rejects all forms of meat.  The arid climate makes growth of leafy vegetables difficult, so most food is based on grain, beans, root vegetables, and milk.  The meals that we were served generally included curries and rice, along with wheat or rice bread that would be used as an edible utensil to scoop up a mixture of each.  Fruits (bananas and melons) and sweet dumplings were common deserts.

It makes perfect sense that a culture would create foods based on what was at hand, but this alone does not account for the flavor.  As most Westerners might agree, Indian and other Asian nations' foods have long been admired for the uniquely delicious tastes they harbor.  In an effort to better understand the cultural significance of the spices and herbs used to create our dishes' complex flavors, I did a bit of background research on them.  As it turns out, Northern Indian (including Gujarati) chefs incorporate an entirely different philosophy in creating dishes from their Western counterparts.  Whereas Western culture has always dictated a mixing of ingredients that have similar chemical signatures, Indian culture has fostered  the mixing of opposing tastes.  This trend has been found throughout traditional Indian cooking, making it very distinct from the flavors we tend to be exposed to in Ohio.  If you are interested in learning more about the differences in Western versus Eastern cuisine and how culture influenced it, NPR has a terrific article that you can access here.

A woman prepares tea on a biogas-powered stove (photo courtesy of Courtney Stanley).

To our experience, household meals are generally prepared by the females, although males make up the majority of hired cooks and kitchen staff.  This likely is the result of cultural gender roles that place family care in the hands of women, while men work most paying jobs.  It was certainly the case for the farming families we spoke to, the males of which would go the city for work in the off-season while women would stay home and care for the children.  While there were many women who we met that did hold positions of power and respect, notably as senior members of Sadguru and hospital staff as well as runners of water and milk cooperatives, much of the culture still seemed very stratified by gender.

Nehaben (left), Dakshaben (center), and Saralaben Rathod (right) pose for a picture with their new outhouse.  The adult women wear traditional female garb, while girls more often wear Western-inspired clothing (photo courtesy of Courtney Stanley).

Premsing Rathod (left) wearing a Western-style shirt and Babubhai Rathod (right) wearing a traditional kurta (photo courtesy of Courtney Stanley).

Another notable dichotomy in rural gender norms was the clothing style permitted for men and women.  The males seemed to wear both kurtas and shirts and pants styled after Western designs.  Women, however, wore sarees and shawls over their hair almost without exception.  Even in Dahod, which has been influenced by Western culture to a degree in music, advertising, and products, women still wore much more traditional garments than their male counterparts.  Children seemed to wear both traditional and Western clothing in equal measure.

A courtyard between houses in the hamlet of Lilya Amba (photo courtesy of Courtney Stanley).

Another important aspect of rural Gujarati culture is living structure, from village level to the individual household.  As farming communities, a Gujarati village is spread out over many miles of land.  The average farmer only owns a couple of acres, though, so cultivated "rural" land in Gujarat still has a high population density compared to its counterpart in America.  Groupings of houses within the general vicinity of one another are designated as "hamlets."  Furthermore, farmers will often group individual houses together with those of close relatives in villas or compounds, which share central courtyards and resources.  An extended family, such as the Rathod family, may be spread out over an entire village and beyond.

Babubhai Rathod, a spiritual leader for his family (photo courtesy of Courtney Stanley).

Families are arranged around patriarchal elders, some of whom acted as spiritual leaders for the family.  This is the case for Babubhai Rathod, whom we briefly spoke to about the use of toilets in his hamlet, named Sindri.  The faiths held by most of the rural farmers we spoke to were various sects of Islam, although census information indicates most people living in Gujarat are Hindu.  This is very different from the Catholicism and various sects of Protestantism found in Ohio, where pastors and ministers choose to be spiritual leaders for all who follow their specific faith.  In many ways, the structuring of living space and religion along family lines in Gujarat illustrates an emphasis on blood ties that is not as central in Ohio's culture.

Members of the Rathod family make tea while we learn about their biogas-fueled stoves (photo courtesy of Courtney Stanley).

The taking of tea is another cultural phenomenon which bears great significance in Gujarat.  Whenever we visited a household, tea (masala, with buffalo milk and sugar) was always offered by our hosts.  When taken, it was customary for the family to join us in drinking.  Although offering refreshments to guests is considered normal in Ohio's culture, Gujarat's (and many other regions') emphasis on tea is particularly interesting.  Of course, in this matter, America seems to be the outlier as most cultures with European and Asian influence emphasize consumption of tea more than we do!  Perhaps the most peculiar part about it from the perspective of someone as unfamiliar with the culture as myself is its ubiquity.  Tea-drinking was pretty much a given course of action, both when receiving guests and in the afternoon.  Of course, sharing of meals and refreshments with guests across all cultures is considered common courtesy and a means of establishing finding common ground, so  having a drink with one's guests makes perfect sense.

Sadguru employees Ragesh Meht (front left) and B. C. Manna (front right) explain the workings of a ground water pump while members of the Rathod family watch (photo courtesy of Courtney Stanley).

Aside from tea, most rural families owned very little that might be considered "luxury goods" in Ohio.  For that matter, things that would even be considered basic necessities here, like clean water, proper sanitation, and heating were difficult to afford.  Fortunately, Sadguru and government programs have been able to help families like the Rathods install them, but there certainly is not a focus on excessive consumption, like we see in America (I will weigh in further on this next time).

Ramsing Rathod's daughter (21, left) was just married in a three day celebration (photo courtesy of Courtney Stanley).

A parade of wedding celebrants dances behind a truck
rigged with speakers (photo courtesy of Makenzie Vail).

What was emphasized, however, were celebrations.  Weddings in particular were a tremendous occasion complete with thunderously loud amplified music, parades, and multi-day parties.  Farming families often spent more than 150,000 rupees (about 2,400 U.S. dollars) on them--a very large sum of money.  Out visit happened to align with the "wedding season," which I am told lasts for around a month in springtime, so the hills echoed with parties most every night.  Couples in America may opt for extravagant weddings, but they have absolutely nothing on Gujarat's.

Finally, we were given the honor of being featured guests at the graduation ceremony for first year nursing students at the S. R. Kadakia School of Nursing in Dahod.  The ceremony was similar to many American graduation events, complete with speeches from instructors, accolades for top students, and thank-yous for those who supported the students.  What followed took me by surprise: dance performances by all of the nursing students wearing traditional Gujarati clothing.  We are told that all the dances they performed were folk dances common to the region, even though the accompanying music was a mixture of traditional and pop.  Perhaps what struck me most of all was that the women we spoke to about dancing and singing said no one ever engages in it outside of weddings and festivals.  Clearly, these graduations merited a special exception for the students!  While the "ceremony" section seemed very similar to American graduation ceremonies, the position of dancing as a formal affair reserved for important events is entirely foreign to us.  I am told that this view of dancing is a product of the region's theological background, where dancing traditionally accompanies religious events.

First year nursing students are presented with ceremonial candles by instructors and acknowledged for their work (photo courtesy of Courtney Stanley).

Nursing students dancing to a mixture of Gujarati folk music and modern pop while wearing traditional garments.

This just about wraps up post 2 of this cultural blog.  In my next installment, I will discuss the town of Dahod, Westernization, and other things.