Storytime in India : Wedding Songs, Victorian Tales, and the Ethnographic Experience

Stories are the backbone of ethnographic research. During fieldwork, subjects describe their lives through stories. Afterward ethnographers come home from their journeys with stories of their own about their experiences in the field. Storytime in India is an exploration of the stories that come out of ethnographic fieldwork. Helen Priscilla Myers and Umesh Chandra Pandey examine the ways in which their research collecting Bhojpuri wedding songs became interwoven with the stories of their lives, their work together, and their shared experience reading The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope. Moving through these intertwined stories, the reader learns about the complete Bhojpuri wedding tradition through songs sung by Gangajali and access to the original song recordings and their translations. In the interludes, Pandey reads and interprets The Eustace Diamonds , confronting the reader with the ever-present influence of colonialism, both in India and in ethnographic fieldwork. Interwoven throughout are stories of the everyday, highlighting the ups and downs of the ethnographic experience. Storytime in India combines the style of the Victorian novel with the structure of traditional Indian village tales, in which stories are told within stories. This book questions how we can and should present ethnography as well as what we really learn in the field. As Myers and Pandey ultimately conclude, writers of scholarly books are storytellers themselves and scholarly books are a form of art, just like the traditions they study. Dedications 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 26 List of Songs and Accessing the Audio Files 30 Prologue 40 Introduction: Umesh Explains Storytime 43 1. A Fulbright Grant to Banaras, India 45 2. Toast 47 Interlude I: Lizzie Greystock 51 3. Setting Up Our Apartment in Banaras, 2007 54 4. The Daily Routine 57 Interlude II: Sir Florian 58 5. Arranging an Indian Wedding 60 6. The Search for a Boy 63 7. Helen and Umesh Meet 68 8. Viewing the Bride 71 9. The Tilak Talk Begins 74 10. Gangajali 76 11. The Tilak, Explained by Umesh 79 12. Song Journey 81 13. Tilak Songs 84 14. “Dress Him in a Bra and Bodice”: Gali for the Tilak 96 15. The Songs Become Personal 109 16. “We Sell Dreams” 125 17. Saguni Songs: “This Night Is Ours” 127 Interlude III: Lady Eustace 144 18. Umesh Remembers Charlotte Wiser 147 19. Matikor: Sashi Interrupts, but We Do Not Hear “A Mare Has Pissed” 151 20. Helen’s Pounding Pot 166 21. Umesh Explains Gali 171 Interlude IV: Lucy Morris 173 22. The Kalas and the Harish 177 23. Arranging a Priest 182 24. Wedding Expenses 184 25. The Island Diaspora: My Introduction to Indian Culture from Far Away 186 Interlude V: Frank Greystock 193 26. Granny Music 197 27. Ethnomusicology 199 28. The Turmeric Is Pleasing 201 Interlude VI: The Eustace Necklace 208 29. Heat 212 30. Kissing 214 31. The Bride and Groom Go to the Kohabar 217 32. The Blue Blue Horse 220 33. Umesh Tells the Krishna Story 237 Interlude VII: Lady Linlithgow’s Mission, the Sawab of Mygawb 239 34. And Love 241 35. Kabir 243 36. Great Novels and Lesser Novels 247 37. Trapping the Family Gods 249 Interlude VIII: Mr. Burke’s Speeches 255 38. Helen Contracts Typhoid 258 39. Getting the Siri at the Home of the Potter 261 40. “My Husband Is the Inspector of Police” 269 Interlude IX: The Conquering Hero Comes 279 41. The Evil Eye 282 42. Umesh Gets Malaria 287 43. “The Elephant Is Adorned, the Horse Is Adorned” 289 44. Preparing for Winter 295 45. “Sexy Sweetheart Drinks Slowly Slowly” 298 46. The Jaluaa 304 47. The Story of Krishna and the Crocodile: A Song with Many Many Stories 322 48. Umesh Tells the Remainder of the Krishna Story 327 49. More Jaluaa Songs and Stories 329 Interlude X: Showing What the Miss Fawns Said and What Mrs. Hittaway Thought 335 50. Charlotte Wiser Leaves Karimganj 338 51. Wedding Night 340 52. Mona’s Nacchu Nahawan in Rasalpur 349 53. Protecting the Bride from the Evil Eye 352 Interlude XI: Lizzie and Her Lover 356 54. Arrival at the Janmassa 360 55. Gali for Barati People and Bridegroom 362 56. What about Clothes and Ornaments? 372 57. Bhajan Interlude 374 Interlude XII: Lord Fawn at His Office 376 58. Umesh Recalls His Wedding 379 59. Feeding the Wedding Party 381 60. Dwar Puja—the New System 383 61. The Animal Party 385 62. Departure of the Barat 388 Interlude XIII: I Only Thought of It 389 63. The Bridegroom Enters the Courtyard 390 64. The Bride Enters the Courtyard 397 65. Donation of the Virgin Daughter 401 66. Ceremony of the Puffed Rice 405 67. The Sindur Ritual 410 68. The Kohabar Ritual 415 69. Ceremony at the Ganges 422 Interlude XIV: Showing What Frank Greystock Did 426 70. Arrival of the Bride in her Sasural, the Gauna 427 71. Love Marriages 428 72. Five Days 431 73. Just One More Song 433 74. Gangajali’s Story 438 Interlude XV: “Doan’t Thou Marry for Munny” 447 75. One Last Song 449 Interlude XVI: I’ll Give You a Hundred-Guinea Broach 451 76. Preparing for China 453 77. Leaving Banaras in 2008 456 78. Conclusion 460 Interlude XVII: The Eustace Diamonds 462 79. Umesh Tells a Story from Karimganj 465 80. A Passage to India 468 81. Bangles in Ballia 472 82. Across the Seven Seas 480 83. Umesh Arranges for the Swan’s Quill 495 84. The Religion of Humanity 497 85. Storytime 499 Appendix: Rituals of the Hindu Wedding in Ballia 504 Glossary 508 Bibliography 518 Index 526 An American ethnomusicologist and her Indian collaborator recount their experiences researching Bhojpuri wedding songs in India.Stories are the backbone of ethnographic research. During fieldwork, subjects describe their lives through stories. Afterward ethnographers come home from their journeys with stories of their own about their experiences in the field.Storytime in India is an exploration of the stories that come out of ethnographic fieldwork. Helen Priscilla Myers and Umesh Chandra Pandey examine the ways in which their research collecting Bhojpuri wedding songs became interwoven with the stories of their lives, their work together, and their shared experience reading The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope. Moving through these intertwined stories, the reader learns about the complete Bhojpuri wedding tradition through songs sung by Gangajali and access to the original song recordings and their translations. In the interludes, Pandey reads and interprets The Eustace Diamonds, confronting the reader with the ever-present influence of colonialism, both in India and in ethnographic fieldwork. Interwoven throughout are stories of the everyday, highlighting the ups and downs of the ethnographic experience.Storytime in India combines the style of the Victorian novel with the structure of traditional Indian village tales, in which stories are told within stories. This book questions how we can and should present ethnography as well as what we really learn in the field. As Myers and Pandey ultimately conclude, writers of scholarly books are storytellers themselves and scholarly books are a form of art, just like the traditions they study. Présentation de l'éditeur : "Storytime in India is an exploration of the stories that come out of ethnographic fieldwork. Helen Priscilla Myers and Umesh Chandra Pandey examine the ways in which their research collecting Bhojpuri wedding songs became interwoven with the stories of their lives, their work together, and their shared experience reading The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope. Moving through these intertwined stories, the reader learns about the complete Bhojpuri wedding tradition through songs sung by Gangajali and access to the original song recordings and their translations. In the interludes, Pandey reads and interprets The Eustace Diamonds, confronting the reader with the ever-present influence of colonialism, both in India and in ethnographic fieldwork. Interwoven throughout are stories of the everyday, highlighting the ups and downs of the ethnographic experience. Storytime in India combines the style of the Victorian novel with the structure of traditional Indian village tales, in which stories are told within stories. This book questions how we can and should present ethnography as well as what we really learn in the field. As Myers and Pandey ultimately conclude, writers of scholarly books are storytellers themselves and scholarly books are a form of art, just like the traditions they study."