Not Just Money

I saw this commercial on television recently and liked it a lot. Its ING’s first corporate campaign and the commercial shows one of the aspects of Brand India.

Mere desh me paisa sirf paisa nahi hai (Money is much more than just money in my country)…..Nice song and music.The video is having subtitles too. Have a look.

The few monetary Indian traditions that have been shown and which I know of are:-

# In Bengali tradition, a ceremony called “Mukhebaat” i.e. rice in mouth is held after the baby is 6 months old. A part of the ceremony comprises of  predicting the child’s future profession. A silver plate is placed in front of the child  containing 5 elements like soil for property, money for wealth, pen for learning, the Gita for religious minded and grain for agriculture. There can be other things too. Whatever the child picks, shows his future interests.

# Its a tradition to throw a coin into a river if one happens to cross it. A reason one of my professors had explained was that in earlier times coins used to be made of copper, bronze etc which did purification of water by acting as antibacterial chemicals. Hence the tradition was developed. Many people living on the shores of such rivers have the profession of diving and collecting coins.

# When the relatives from the groom side see the newly wedded bride for the first time, they give her money as her “munhdikhai”.

# While giving cash as gift at any occasion, its a tradition to give one rupee in addition to the cash. Nowadays gift envelopes are available which have one rupee coin already stuck on them so that one doesn’t have to worry about finding coins.

# In Muslim tradition, money is given as “Eidi” to children of the family on the festival of Eid.

# In some tribal people, its a tradition to wear currency coins as ornaments like necklaces.

# In some cultures, the groom is adorned with a garland of money. A garland of money is a symbol of devotion or admiration too. Actors, politicians etc are gifted garlands of money by their fans.

# Its a tradition for the brother to give money to his sister when she ties him a rakhi on the occasion of RakshaBandhan.

# Another famous tradition is to extort money from the groom by the bride’s sisters by hiding his shoes in some cultures or by some games on the wedding night in other cultures. In Bengali tradition, the groom’s sisters also get money from their brother on the morning after the the bride’s first night at her new home.

These are the few traditions I know. Do you know any more? Do add to my knowledge by sharing.

The commercial rightly says that in Indian culture, money is just not money; its a relationship builder.