From Around the Web, Things you Didn’t Know before…
These things were probably not in your formal education but really useful stuff to know if you’re traveling to India!
Did you know the top ten phrases Mumbai cops use to ask for bribes?
Did you know bagpipe music is played at Indian weddings?
Did you know this luxury bathroom showroom existed in India where millions don’t have access to toilet facilities?
Did you know there’s a town where you can get training if your life’s ambition is to be a disco bouncer?
Read on for bits and pieces of wisdom from the web…
10 Top Phrases Mumbai Cops Use to Ask for bribes…
While every true-blue Mumbaikar already has it in his DNA, every migrant soon realises that there are three magic words that have a very good chance of getting you out of sticky situations with the traffic cops – jau dya saheb (please let me go/ let this one pass).
Those three words, preferably delivered in the right accent, can see you get off with a short lecture and a warning; or the offer to pay a bribe and avoid shelling out the actual, bigger fine.
Here are 10 Phrases Mumbai Cops Use to Demand Bribes
Bagpipe Music at Desi Weddings
If you think you’ve seen everything in an Indian wedding – here’s something you may not have even imagined! Bagpipers in the wedding band! The instrument was of course introduced to India by the British and was part of the military bands. Since many of the pipers were recruited from the Gariwal district, the instrument there is now used for a variety of purposes – including wedding celebrations.
The roots of folk bagpipers in the Garhwal hills are obscure largely because the region did not have a tradition of maintaining written or visual records. But the instrument appears to go a long way back. One piper Busniewski met had inherited his bagpipe from his family that was so old that he was unable to say which of his ancestors had first procured it. Whatever their Indian provenance, bagpipes remain popular today for purely practical reasons.
Read the fascinating report here
Also check out the videos, including this one which shows how this foreign instrument has been included in a very indigenous celebration – the desi wedding!
Internal Matters
Check out these fabulous bathrooms – hard to believe these top of the line fixtures exist in the same country where village women have to go to the fields because of the lack of bathrooms. Isn’t it time to level the playing field for all citizens?
The Village of Bouncers
Where would you find a whole community of muscle-men and would-be bouncers in a small village in India? The BBC takes you to this surprising space where all the men are into gym visits and a healthy diet. In fact, it is said that almost all of the men in the 3,500 strong town of Asola-Fatehpur Beri work out and 90 per cent are employed as bouncers or security guards in nearby New Delhi. Take a look at this video to see a lifestyle which generates jobs in the capital, gets the men into an active lifestyle – and keeps them out of trouble!
