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| This week I have completely altered my sleeping patterns and it seems to have made
some difference in coping with the heat and still getting work done. I sat in on
the aftermath of a jirga held in Taxila this week. I learned more about Pathan preferences
for number of children as well as what's considered ideal parenting. I was told
about a bit of contentious land which must make the world record for absurdly small.
I continued to watch people gathering wheat in the kilara. I recorded more
of my favourite story teller Baba Saftar in fine form singing and joking as usual. Without criticizing my neighbours in any way I have found it sometimes difficult to write up notes (and things like this for the website) during the hours when other people are awake. I have benefited enormously from having a 'public' room, so I'm not complaining. During the winter I generally did all this after everyone else went to sleep. I then slept at 2 or 3 in the morning and woke up at 9. With this heat waking up at 9 isn't a good idea. It means I miss the most pleasant part of the day (by 9 it's already starting to be like a tandoor oven). So now I go to sleep at 2 or 3 and wake up at 7 but I catch up in the afternoon with a 3 hour siesta. Even to me this sounds decadent and an idle man's activity. It has allowed me to enjoy the best part of the day, get my work done and get enough sleep. Early in the week several Maliks and other villagers went off to Taxila for a jirga that has been going on for several months now. This is a child custody case involving a baby whose mother has died. It is a very sad case and the Maliks and other respectable men selected for the jirga are trying to be very careful not to add to the pain of the father or the deceased woman's family. The case is not completely finished but from the way the men were talking over tea in the village afterwards I think it is approaching resolution. I have not attended any of the actual meetings because they are in Taxila and always seem to clash with other things going on but I have been following it closely from reports and rumours. One of my Pathan friends came by my room and wanted to know why a 33 year old man has not children. I joked with him and told him they were too expensive. He then explained to me that he wanted 8-10 children with his current wife. By that point she would be too old to have more children so he might take a second wife and have 8-10 more children. We were both laughing at this point but he went on to insist that then he would have a third wife and get 8-10 more children out of her. Prolific man. He already has five and he says they are never a bother-- he loves them all very much and looks forward to doubling the number. When I asked him where all the children slept (I suggested putting them in the courtyard or on the roof) he was quite stunned and asked if we didn't share bedrooms with our children in Europe. I told him we shared as little as possible in Europe. He then explained his sleeping arrangements (charpai in a row with the whole family scattered across). He's a good man and I have a lot of respect for him but I wouldn't trade places with him for all the money in the world. I came across a little patch of land less than 4 square metres which has caused some tension between two cousins. One cousin has built something on this land belonging to the other cousin. There is now a small structure and a pile of sand sitting on this tiny patch of land. The aggreived party readily acknowledges that he cannot do anything about this because even in Bhalot someone who bickered over such a small patch of land would be ridiculed (and they can bicker over some very small patches of land). However there are long faces when he walks by this patch of land. When I confronted the perpetrator of this land kidnapping he laughed and was amazed that his cousin was unhappy. No doubt they will continue along as they have and eventually they will find some other way to express this dispute which does not involve arguing over less than 4 square metres of land. Baba Saftar has been busy working on the wheat harvest but he has found the time to come by and sing me some songs and tell me more stories in the evenings. He can't last quite as long as during other seasons (long days in the Punjabi sun are hard on anybody but Baba Saftar is over 60 and they have been a hard 60+ years). He tried to teach me a Punajbi love Maya that I can use back in Europe to attract women. He and I joke about him going back to Europe with me and going on tour. If I were a millionare I would take him back and do it. The way he tells the stories you don't really need to understand much to enjoy the acting and the timing. I must admit that I have a hard time with his Punjabi-- the recordings are invaluable to me. I play them back in the company of people who can help me translate them. When we are just speaking he is easier to understand but his stories have a particular way to be told and he gives me the real thing. I won't complain about the heat again since everyone tells me it's not even close to the peak (I'm convinced this is a just a cruel fib to tease me but I'll know in another six weeks). The wheat gathering is finished and some people have begun threshing the wheat so I will be spending time using me chaddar to keep wheat straw and dust out of my nose and mouth. In another week the harvest should be all finished and then everyone will be rich and have lots of leisure time. I'm expecting big fun soon. |
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