Say Cheese!

A weird little tidbit about Indians - Everyone wants to take your photograph. With the recent growth of an Indian middle-class, many families can now afford to travel, and they do. Especially during the monsoon season (now), the drier, cooler North is flooded with families on holiday or pilgrimage. When in a popular destination, not a day goes by without at least one person asking for a "snap". Still haven't quite figured out "why" because westerner's aren't THAT much of a novelty. When we were in Kashmir with a HUGE military presence, even soldiers had no hesitation about forcibly shaking our hands and asking to pose with us, even without cameras of their own.

Out on a day walk in the hills of Pahalgam, we came across these soldiers who first asked us the typical drill of 20 questions (What's your name? What is your country? Job? Salary? Marital Status? Children?), and upon hearing that we aren't married, the commanding officer of the unit gave us an impromptu wedding in Hindu and then staged a series of photos with us - They adjusted their uniforms, posed, and one guy even tried on D's shades. All very strange + unexpected. Darin was quite jealous that "I" got to hold the gun! Those things are HEAVY!