Week Two - 19/12/98-26/12/98 Steve's updates

The second week was a busy one. I was lucky enough to be able to sit in on numerous occasions of zamindar arbitration or intervention in villagers' problems. Christmas somehow became an important occasion in my circle of friends in the village and we celebrated in force with good food and lots of people and Punjabi folk songs and jokes. Some of the zamindar 'court' cases or interventions were: A young man came to one of the zamindar to request land near a tubewell. The land has been occupied by two tenants in recent years-- both of whom failed to produce good crops and consequently left. The young man had come with an older man who is a friend of the Malik family in Bhalot to make the request on his behalf. An old man came to request one of the zamindars to fill out his son's national identity card papers and take care of the application process. I have learned that for the illiterate villagers this is a common request. They cannot fill out the forms and are intimidated by the Pakistan beaurocracy (some things are universal). A musician who has been down on his luck came and spent several days in the village trying to persuade a zamindar togive him clothes and money so he could get his life back together. He was given some money and clothes and was fed and housed during his stay. He promised to come back for Eid ul Fitr to give a grand show. Two Pathans who have no direct connection to the village came through a fellow 'tribesman' who is the driver of a frequent visitor to the village to request intervention in a dispute with a zamindar in a neighbouring village. This matter requires the consent of the most important zamindars in the village (it is they who will either make negotiate or send a junior zamindar to negotiate on their behalf). An imam arrived one night to use the telephone to phone his nephew to tell him to come hom and take his wife to the hospital. An inter-village money dispute was negotiated by a high level zamindar and an older relative of one of the parties to prevent violence. I'm not sure why Christmas became such an important event but people became very excited about it and were extremely curious about European traditions. I bought Christmas presents for several of the children and presents for the man who has been bringing me my food and cleaning my room (the hardest working man I've ever personally known). We celebrated on Christmas day after the nightly 6:00-8:00 loadshedding electricity cut. During the evening one older Punjabi man sang many beautiful songs a capella for us. He also told several jokes-- most of which I was unable to understand even a single phrase. I fell for one particularly juvenile joke: How does a man with no tongue ask for water? (the questionee then makes a motion of drinking) followed by, How does a man with no eyes ask for scissors? (stupid questionees like me close their eyes and make a scissor motion with their hand). Of course a man with no eyes is perfectly capable of making the request verbally. We all enjoyed the joke-- even more so because it took me a minute to figure out why they all thought this was funny. Thinking about why they made a big deal out of Christmas I came up with two possible answers: they did it simply for me, Ramazan and drought are stressful occasions and they appreciate an opportunity to throw a party. My hosts were very conscious that I was not with my family on the most important holiday in Europe (for them I imagine being away from family for Eid al Hazr would be quite unimaginable). So they surrounded me with company and affection all week. Added to this is the current dire position of the crops in the field. No chance of rain before January 15th and they've not had rain in this region for about three months. They are facing major crop loss. We spoke about dhék this week-- communal rice days they have. A family will produce enough rice for any passerby to have his or her fill. They do this at the drop of a hat (the birth of a child, a wish fulfilled, a friend's visit) but during the month of Ramazan this is impractical because it would have to be after iftaree (around 5:07 pm in December). Besides the month of Ramazan is meant to be a Holy month in which people concentrate their energies on the Koran and holy works. The occasion of Christmas and my presence allowed them the opportunity to relax a bit and enjoy a feast/party without violating the rules for Ramazan. A rich week for data entry. I look forward to fifty more weeks as eventful as this one.

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