What the...? Strange questions for India experts

machadinha

Yes, the method is exactly the same. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreadlocks

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Aishah

Excellent link, Mach - explains all to Amyl's question.

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AvidTrekker

I don't know anything about Rastafarians.

The saadhuus in India use a kind of tree-gum exudation to make the hair-ropes. I don't know which tree.

Lord Raama did the same when he left for 14 years vana-vaasa [forest-exile]. He also put on tree-bark clothes called valkal as per the custom prevailing then.
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Nick-H

Perhaps there was a nearby branch of FabIndia?

Natural fibres... vegetable dies... err, dyes





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IndiaMike Mod Team (The Grumpy One)

Nattusbs

I remember as a kid I had jaundice and my Mom applied turmeric paste all over my body. Yes, medicinal properties, but also, it appears that one feels like scratching the skin and this prevents that desire as it is soothing.

Cheers

Nattusbs

Aishah

vegetable dies - dyes ? Nick?? You can make dyes from dead veggies!

amyl

Thanks Aishah for that word and Macha for that link. Now I have a proper word than 'rope-y hair'. And yes they look dreadful

Yup. I thought you would know it. Thanks! I also had thought it must be some natural thing they use.

Let me read the Wiki now to find out the reason for having the dreadlocks. Religious? Style(these days)?

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machadinha

Given your religious interests, you should. It's an interesting religion, like most of them are (albeit often hopelessly conservative, ditto), and an interesting case of syncretism at that. Linked to from the above page, but I'm sure there are much better portals on it, perhaps linked to from there, or search the web some: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafari

Er, yours truly used to wear them, and proudly so, as I'm sure many here do (e.g., Aishah's daughter, apparently). Just watch your language, will ya In India, this would cause no few queries as to my religious affiliation, of course, which I happen not to have, but it never mattered, giving rise to interesting conversations instead.

(And yes, of course they can be and are usually washed, just not with shampoo or soap, which tends to untangle them.) The Jamaican name btw does indeed derive from the term "to dread," of course, that is to say they would look ominous to non-insiders. Dread lion!

amyl

That wiki page was an interesting read about locks/ jattas. Lord Shiva controlling the Ganges water using his 'locks'.

I think it gives a cool look, be the motivation be religious/spiritual or sheer principles. A big fan of Bob Marley; reggae, I like his looks.Different from the crowd. Even I have stopped using a comb for many years now but did not let it form locks. Seeing those locks my Mom would indeed lock me in a room until I undo them . Not quite common in India outside the Sadhus circles I see.


Whoa! They have a 'ritual' too. Interesting!

And of course, Punk....yeah... "We rebel" they say!

Whatever the reason, for me it looks very catchy.

kristinm

They're a bit smelly though I must say - they look great, but if you do them properly, or if you are a Rasta you are not supposed to actually wash your hair or ever cut it. You can have them 'put' in like many do these days, or you can just leave your hair uncut, unbrushed and unwashed until they form naturally... works better with Jamaican or African or Islander hair though - not so good with fine European hair. We used to know some older Jamaican men in London who had never cut their hair & if they took their dreadlocks out from under the big 'tea cosy' hat they actually dragged behind them on the ground when they walked... can't imagine how heavy they would be.

Aishah

Amyl - Mr K never uses a comb either - he just wets her hair and pushes it around when it's sticking up in the morning!! If your hair is cut short you hardly need to comb it!
btw my daughter changed her 'image' a few years back, got them cut, combed out (which I did - a very tedious procedure I might add) and hasn't gone back to that look since.

MrsC_772

A few odd India questions that struck me while over there:

- how come Old Delhi hasn't burned down, given the close proximity of dreadful electrical wiring, shooting flames and boiling oil from the various snack-wallahs, flammable goods, and so many people?
- red carrots - why are all the carrots I saw in India red, and all those elsewhere orange?
- why are there no dead dogs in the road, given the appalling driving and the large number of stray dogs?
- how the small kids sit so still when being held by their mum, riding sidesaddle in a sari on the back of a small motorcycle - think of British parents' struggles to strap small kids into car seats at home?
- how the mums' saris don't get snarled up around the chains and back wheels of the motorbikes?
- why (when goats appear to outnumber sheep 100:1) there is so much mutton on non-veg menus - is the term "mutton" used to describe goat meat?
- are fancy patterns in the coats of camels around Ranthambhore painted, dyed, branded or tattooed (those which aren't simply cut into the camels' fur)?

Nick-H

These two I can answer:

- how the mums' saris don't get snarled up around the chains and back wheels of the motorbikes?

They do sometimes, and so do duppattas. The results can be lethal. Same applies to duppattas streaming out of autos.

- why (when goats appear to outnumber sheep 100:1) there is so much mutton on non-veg menus - is the term "mutton" used to describe goat meat?

Yes, at least in this part of India, "mutton" means goat.

Aishah

Some answers - mutton is most often goat. Lamb is usually old sheep and tough.
children are far more carried here by mother or father - no pushchairs used much etc. They are used to sitting still, hence they become accustomed to sitting still, on motorbikes and scooters, in arms of an adult.
Saris and chains etc. - it's all tightly hitched about and not flapping in the wind. Also the women sit sideways in a sari, not astride, and then get it tightly tucked about themselves. Just a habit.
Old Delhi burning? I think they do have fires from time to time unfortunately - you read about them in the newspapers, or see it on TV. Yes it's a hazard, the wonder is that there are not more fires.
Red carrots - yes and full of flavour, unlike some of those pale coloured, tasteless yet very large carrots I see in the supermarkets back in Oz and NZ. I think grown more naturally here, and perhaps the seed isn't some genetically engineered variety?

Cross-posted with Nick because I took so long to write this:-
Dupatta is the Isadora Duncan effect by the sound of it! We don't seem to hear much of this sort of thing out here, but then far less traffic.
Dead dogs - frequently seen when you drive out on country roads.In the cities, less often - I think they just know to get out of the way!
Camel decorations - I only know the cut variety. Maybe the pattern is by using a paint on dye?

Nick-H

I love the fact that dogs get out of the way when you honk at them.

Unlike cows, who just carry on doing whatever they were doing before. Cows do respond to being shouted at. I think they are still trying to work out what these new and very fast things on the road are!