238 EVERYDAY LIFE ON A 



The wedding feast is to extend over three 

 days and it is to cost him ioo rupees {£7) part 

 of which has to be borrowed at high interest, 

 but it is thought de rigeur, and he prefers to 

 start in life crippled by debt rather than to do 

 without the customary great Tamasha. The 

 present to his bride is to be an English 

 sovereign (15 rupees in value) with which to 

 make some small article of jewellery. The 

 servants when married have a room or rooms 

 allotted to them in the nearest Lines to the 

 Bungalow, where the wife lives, and the 

 husband retires to, when the day's work is over. 



An amusing incident has just occurred. 

 Tamil men rejoice in very long hair, which 

 often reaches to their waist : this they let down 

 after bathing and often when travelling, but 

 Bungalow servants and horsekeepers are 

 supposed to have short hair, as looking smarter, 

 and being more cleanly. Rob has long been 

 trying to persuade his young horsekeeper 

 to be cropped, but hitherto without avail. He 

 is a sensitive kind of boy, and fears being a 

 laughing stock. However, to-day the barber 

 appeared on one of his periodical visits. Rob 

 happened to be at home, and insisted upon the 

 deed being done. Poor Marimutu has lost all 

 his beautiful hair, but looks all the smarter in 

 consequence. 



Sometimes coolies have their long hair cut 



