I'll bet the Culligan™ man really makes out around there.
Posted on 05/31/2003 7:10:05 PM PDT by D. Brian Carter
NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- Men in a remote village in the desert of western India are struggling to find wives as women flee the community because of an acute water shortage, a newspaper report said Thursday.
Would-be brides are reluctant to marry into families in the village of Saderi, 300 miles southwest of New Delhi, because they would have to walk long distances every day to fetch water, Hindustan Times said.
More than 10 wives that tired of the hardship have walked out on their husbands, as taps and wells in the village run dry in the blazing summer months, according to one abandoned husband, Jagat Chadar.
"My wife kept saying she will not fetch water. One day when her father came to meet her, she left with him and never returned," Chadar said.
The newspaper said there were about 80 young men in Saderi who were looking for brides.
In a reversal of Indian tradition, whereby brides pay hefty sums for the hand of a groom, the men in Saderi are offering to pay dowry in a desperate attempt to woo women to their village, the report said.
One villager, Nanhe Bhai Dangi, 35, said he has offered $1,060 to any woman willing to marry him and settle in Saderi, but has had no takers so far.
There are no sources of water in the village, which depends on three hand-operated pumps and two wells located one mile downhill from the community, the newspaper reported.
Carrying water from wells is viewed as women's responsibility in Indian society where men and women have traditionally defined roles. Men work in the fields while women are responsible for the home.
At Saderi, the women face a grueling uphill climb balancing pots of water on their heads in Rajasthan's searing heat where temperatures can touch 111.2 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer months.
One villager, Nanhe Bhai Dangi, 35, said he has offered $1,060 to any woman willing to marry him and settle in Saderi, but has had no takers so far.
Any single Freeper women interested in living an exotic locale with a doting husband ready to dole out the cash?
I don't suppose they'd want to throw in a donkey or another beast besides the wife to carry the water.
My thought, too. Thinking must not be a respected trait in that part of the world. Of course, they would have to feed the little beggar. Maybe that is the problem.
As far as the men working in the fields, with no water what do they grow? Dust clouds?
Or some sort of bicycle-powered cart as part of the dowry...
LQ
I'll bet the Culligan™ man really makes out around there.
And this is the country of such world-class advanced engineering.
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Coming from the broadest conceivable techincal education and experience, it is my opinion that India has never been advanced in engineering and the sciences. The Indians I have worked with in this country have nearly all had nearly photographic memories, but have been uncreative in putting what they have memorized into concrete practice.
Much of indian discover has been the result of a few people in the highest classes dabbling with ideas and accidentally coming up with something.
On another note, India has a difficult geographic problem. There is a series of mountains in the Eastern part that rob the air of moisture and produce semi-desert on the other side. Remedy is possible, but with some difficulty. Such remedy seems beyond the character or aggressiveness of the Indian people.
It seems if the third world countries would set about developing their own infrastructure, they would be too busy with their own successful economies to target the U.S. wealth.
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