A beautiful and colorful village came into view, as the bus passed the iron wrought gates  Straight ahead, there was a white building with blue trimming and a woman peering over the ledge, curious about newcomers.  As soon as the bus emptied, she yelled something in her native tongue, Gujarati.  It roughly translated to Did they come to bring us money? 

This particular Hindu village was receptive to heavy pockets, but did not welcome Muslims like many other villages in Ahmedabad.  According to one informant, when tourists and researchers began to visit these villages, they would often bring honorariums or gifts of some kind for a tour or for some information.  Thus, this woman asking if we brought money was based off of what she was used to when visitors came into the village.

This village was made up of high caste Hindus that were extremely exclusive and complete with many Dalits or “untouchables” that cleaned the streets and the facilities.  There was separation between the higher caste and the lower caste due to the “untouchability” of these Dalits and it was accepted.  We were told that even the high caste women and low caste women tied their saris differently, so they can distinguish the differences physically.  And then there was a division among Muslims and Hindus, when it came to living in the villages.  We were also told that some Muslims came to this village and asked to live among the Hindus and we aggressively turned away.

Moreover, the news that visitors were at the village traveled fast.  As we stood listening to our guide talk about the details of the village, we noticed 2 more women and their children walking toward us.  They were talking amongst themselves while we snapped photographs of them.  And then, another woman and her two children also approached the group, but kept their distance from us and the other two women and children.  In addition, we also had two women and their children standing in front of the gate to their house, curiously watching the interactions between us and the rest of the village.  It seemed that these villagers were waiting for something…

Unfortunately, that day this village did not receive any money or gifts from us.  And I wondered as we drove away and past the Muslim village, close to the village we visited, if this happened often, maybe even daily.  Did these villages wait for the gifts or money of researchers? Were they often disappointed or was it usual for them to receive money and presents? Did the Muslim villages get these same visitors?