Luxman Jhula, Rishikesh 5/4/08
I see a lot of Israeli women travelling all by themselves all over India, so I can say just the same: Ho Israeli Women!
Israeli women and men are second nature to tourism in India. Proudly all the good restaurants will add to their menu: Israeli Salad, Chumuse, Schnitzel etc. It means clean and fresh food.
Every Taxi driver will say with a big smile on his face: Israeli women are very beautiful!
But today I am writing about Indian Women.
The women In India wear the most colourful saris, also they wear lots of jewelery, hearings, bangles, fresh flowers on their hair, jewelery on their hair and feet etc – one big spectacle of expression of femininity!
Women in saris are extremely feminine, goddess like, I would say they look desirable and even sexy.
It’s not a matter if choice to wear sari, that’s the only possible alternative. The Indian men look a bit grey and dull compere to their women, but they have the choice – they can choose to wear traditional wear or ordinary.
Only in Bangalore I saw young women in trousers sitting by themselves in a coffee house! Woo!
Women will not sit in public places without their husbands, mother in low, or a member of the family.
One sincere Indian man said to me while waiting for the night train (after he questioned me about my journey): We won’t let a woman go on a journey all by herself! No way!
Of course it is impossible for an Indian woman to travel, as the position of the women is very different. All marriages are arranged marriages, some are arranged as young as the age of six (6)!
As young, the woman are under the rule of the father, but as soon as the woman-child gets to the ‘right’ age and her marriage is arranged, she passes to the husband’s family responsibly, and moves to live with the husbands family.
Saris are wonderful, rich, colourful, feminine, etc. – all that to the westerner’s eye, but to the Indian woman it’s not a choice. It’s the only choice! Women builders, women cleaners, women in politics, women in all kinds of professions will wear sari, it can just differ in the quality.
I was waiting for the night train in Bangalore train station. It’s the town of technology & highTec, it’s like the Silicone Valley of India. They are a lot of very poor people searching for money around all train stations, there is city within a city of the very poor.
I saw a couple – a husband and wife – both bar foot, looked very poor, walking around the station. The husband was walking pretty fast, up and down a long the platform station. His wife just hardly kept his fast steps and rhythm, she kept walking two steps behind him, to my western’s eyes it was out of fear, her face was bitter and painful. The platform was over crowded with hundred of passengers waiting, but he did not turn his face even once to see if she is behinds him.