Why do Indian’s marry their cousins ???

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Sucharitha

Writing started Feb 20th 2012

Its weird to many cultures Why Indian’s marry their cousins ?

Its wooed upon …ewww’ed upon and laughed upon !!!!Having lived in America myself for too long the concept of people marrying their cousins weirded me out until I came across this passage of scripture and it spoke to me and here are my thoughts about it.

Its very prominent in South India , I say this as I can speak for south Indians and its a significant part of the culture in the entire country and has been in practise for at least the last100 years.

Evidently Hindu culture seems to follow the Holy Bible (Old testament ) more closely that any other culture’s especially in this aspect.

From the Holy Bible Genesis 28:2 —

^{verse 2}Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughter’s of Laban thy mother’s brother.

Who is saying verse 2 —> Issac

Who is supposed to arise and go –> Jacob

Who is the mother –> Rebekah

What is House of Bethuel –> Rebekah’s father’s house

Who is mother’s brother –> Laban

Who should he take as wife —> Daughter’s of Laban

Who is Laban to Jacob –> Uncle

Who are Laban’s daughters to Jacob –> cousins

Who is Jacob to take as wife –> cousin—

Wallah !!!!!!!!!!!!

Clearly this is an arranged match not e-harmony or e-chemistry , arranged marriage concept also takes it root from this.This one verse addresses the concept of

1. Marring the cousins ( Mom’s brothers kids ) and 2. the concept of Arranged marriage.

Marrying the cousins follows a certain logic ——Mom’s daughters can marry her brothers sons , mothers sons can marry brother’s daughter.Doesnot apply to Mom’s sisters kids , Brother’s brother….why may be because Jacob didnt mention it as it had no relevant in Jacob’s situation.

seems confusing : here’s an example

Father has 2 daughters and 2 sons .

lets call the Daughtes — D1 and D2 and sons –S1 and S2 —Marriage between cousins can happen as established above.

now D1′s and D2′s daughters can marry S1 and S2′s sons

D1 and D2′s sons can marry S1 and S2′s daughter.

but S1′s daughters cannot marry S2′s sons and viceversa and D1′s sons cannot marry D2′s daughters and vice versa.

Part 2 :

A huge blessings follows verse 2. do the marriage and be blessed is part of the blessing …

verse ³And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;

In reality here in India ….millions of people have married their cousins , back in the day it was much more prevalent and the same blessing that Issac gave to Jacob is also relevant or applied here to these people…

a.make thee fruitful

b.Multiple thee

c.mayest be a multitude of people

a,b,c holds true for our culture with a population of 1.21 billion in 2011 .

come to think of it …it also happens in the southern regions of United States , may be because its the bible belt and they follow the word closely again in this concept than the rest of the country.

so before you feel its weird or laugh at it …think again its a deep rooted tradition back from the days of Issac !!!!!!!

—–Sucharitha

Group Pics at Cairo and Mount Nebo

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Sucharitha

More Pictures of my Group

Sahara Indian Resturant – Cario ; Egypt

Hanging out @ Mt.Nebo

Our Group heading to Chruch of Annunciation

Trying out Cool hats

Strangest Internet Cafés Around The World

Posted on July 6, 2009 by Sucharitha

An internet café or cybercafé is a place where one can use a computer with Internet access, most for a fee, usually per hour or minute; sometimes one can have unmetered access with a pass for a day or month, etc. It may serve as a regular café as well, with food and drinks being served.
Internet cafes are a cultural phenomenon. It can be found all over the world and it comes in a wide range of style, reflecting their location, main clientele, and sometimes, the social agenda of the proprietors.

Ever wonder what internet cafés looks like on the other side of the world?

With that, here’s a collection of the strangest, downright weirdest and poorest internet cafés from around the world.

Tech Commandments

Posted on July 6, 2009 by Sucharitha

MYSORE PALACE

Posted on July 1, 2009 by Sucharitha

The original palace in Mysore was of wooden construction and was burnt down by a disastrous fire in February 1897, said to have started at the closing function of the marriage of Princess Jayalakshmammanniyavaru

The Maharani, then Regent, decided to build a new palace on the model and on the foundations of the old one. This should reflect the grandeur of the old Mysore Palace.Henry Irwin, who had at that point in time recently retired as Consulting Architect of the Government of Madras received the contract and his plans were approved.

The speed with which he drew them up can be appreciated by the fact that construction was inaugurated in October 1897 by Her Highness, the Maharani – only eight months after the fire [9].The journal Indian Engineering in its issue of October, 1898 speaks of the Government’s directive regarding reconstruction of the palace: “…in the reconstruction, stone, brick and iron should be the chief materials used, and that the use of wood and other combustible materials should be avoided wherever possible”. The estimated expenditure at the planning stage was Rs. 25 lakhs (Rs. 2 500 000).

The report goes on to record: “Mr. Irwin, of Madras, was given the work of preparing a suitable design, which, it should be said in fairness to him, he did most creditably. The design was adopted, Mr. Irwin paid a fee of Rs. 12 000 and the work was put in hand in August 1897. But in an evil hour the Durbar determined that the work should be carried on departmentally…”. A mistake was made, comments the editorial, in ordering manufacture of the bricks locally instead of getting them from Madras, as there was nothing wrong with bricks used for the new High Court building at Madras [also a Henry Irwin building]. As it turned out, the experiment proved a failure – according to the journal – both regards the quality of the bricks produced and the expenditure involved

Irwin’s fee amounted to just under 0,5% of the estimated total expenditure, modest also by modern standards. The construction of the palace was completed in 1912 at an aggregate outlay of Rs. 4 147 913, a cost overrun of about 66% compared with the original estimates. Considering the length of time of the construction period, also not bad.

COOL ROAD ARTS

Posted on June 30, 2009 by Sucharitha

This cool road art is the work of P Gibson, (aka Roadsworth).

From his BIO:
Roadsworth began painting the streets of Montreal in the fall of 2001. Initially motivated by a desire for more bike paths in the city and a questioning of “car culture” in general, he continued to develop a language around street markings and other elements of the urban landscape using a primarily stencil based technique. In the fall of 2004, Roadsworth was arrested for his nocturnal activities and charged with 53 counts of mischief. Despite the threat of heavy fines and a criminal record he received a relatively lenient sentence which he attributes in part to the public support he received subsequent to his arrest. Since that time, Roadsworth has received various commissions for his work and continues to be active in both visual art and music.

WEIRD ,FUNNY ANIMALS

Posted on June 29, 2009 by Sucharitha

Frogs Raja (left) and Rani are married with full Hindu rituals in a ceremony to usher in the delayed monsoon rains, near Futala Basti in the city of Nagpur, some 860 kilometres (530 miles) east of the Maharashtra state capital Mumbai. Tradition dictates that if frogs are married off with full Vedic or Hindu rituals, the rain god is pleased and the heavens will open within days.

Cheeky rhino : A baby Black Rhinoceros sticks out its tounge as it walks in its enclosure at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo.

Glastonbury Festival 2009 – Pictures

Posted on June 29, 2009 by Sucharitha

Glastonbury Festival 2009 is held from 26th june to 28th june, 2009 in south-eastern England. Glastonbury is a festival of Contemporary Performing Arts. And the some musical entertainment started on 25th June. Heavy rain and thunderstorms have welcomed the 137,000 music fans who are expected on site for what has become one of Europe’s largest festivals.

KATRINA KAIF – SAREE 33 BEST PICTURES

Posted on June 21, 2009 by Sucharitha

Below is an insane collection of Katrina Kaif in Saree.

This girl can wear anything ….cant she ???

Seems like she was really young in this picture.

Date of Birth : 16 July 1984, London, England, UK
Nickname : Kat
Height5′ 8½” (1.74 m)

Born on July 16, 1984 Katrina Kaif is one of eight siblings, all girls, from a mother who is a Caucasian of British Nationality, and a father who was formerly from Kashmir, India, but who has since acquired British citizenship.

Katrina grew up in Hawaii, but was brought up in London, UK. She started modeling accidentally when she was in Hawaii at the tender age of 14, when she was approached for a jewelery campaign. Thereafter she continued modeling in London.

Continuing to model was the reason she got her break in a Bollywood movie “Boom” offered by none other than film-maker Kaizad Gustad.

She was flooded with modeling assignments the minute she set her foot on Indian soil, especially with her innocent expressive face, hour-glass figure, and drop-dead gorgeous looks.

Is half British and half Indian.
Indian supermodel
Has 7 sisters.

Unlike other artistes from foreign lands, Katrina did not experience any difficulties in getting a visa nor of getting it extended in India.

She was discovered at age 14 as a model for a jewelry campaign.
When moving to India, she worked for photographer Atul Kasbekar and did commercials for Fevicol, Lakme and Veet among others.

She is very particular about her clothes which she wears a bold outfit on screen or for ads, but she feels more comfortable in not-so-revealing clothes in personal life. And the one thing she hates is make up.

She refuses to speak about her personal life in the media.
Besides walking the ramp for several top designers and being on magazine covers, Katrina has also been the stunning face of Estelle jewelery, Lakme, Pantene, Veet, Kodak cameras, L’Oreal, Samsung, LG etc.

She doesn’t do ramp shows anymore.
She was chosen as the face of the year for the Lakme India Fashion Week (2005).

Her favorite Indian designers are Rina Dhaka, Tarun Tahiliani, Rocky S.
Her favorite international designers are Armani, Miu Miu, Prada, Versace.

Favorite actor is Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan. Favorite actresses are Kajol and Madhuri Dixit.
Favorite cricketer is Irfan Pathan.

Favorite Indian food is dahi and rice.
Favorite movies are Umrao Jaan (1981), Casablanca (1942), and Gone with the Wind (1939).

Favorite perfume is Gucci Rush.
Prefers acting over modeling.
She enjoys modeling, acting, dancing, playing chess, watching movies, painting, resting, cooking, going to spas, going to the gym, meeting new people, and getting together with friends.