During Diwali (festival of lights) it's customary to give gifts (often sweets) and customary for employers to give bonuses (to their Hindu employees--the others get bonuses on their major religious holidays).
We gave our driver, Raju, a big bonus (more than his monthly salary) to thank him for his excellent work for us. He showed us the next day that he'd spent it (and more) on a gold ring with some small diamonds for himself. This is interesting to us... jewelry is definitely a status symbol here. Gold, especially. I guess we were hoping that he would save some (seems to be a pretty foreign concept among working class folks), thinking of his daughter's future, etc. On the other hand, gold is often sold back or exchanged for other things. At times like this, we feel the depth of our cultural differences.
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