High Class Moi

Have reached the US safely, and no, I did not ride a bullock cart to get there ;-)

We were chatting recently about the practice of "Moy Ezhuthuradhu", which is the practice that Tamil families (mostly poor) have, wherein at every ceremony they attend (marriages, naming ceremonies, etc), they contribute some cash to the host, who in turn write down the amount of the contribution in a notebook.

When the hosts in turn attend a ceremony held by another family, they will have to contribute exactly the same amount of money that was given to them.

I have only seen this at one wedding I have attended, and I was turned off by what I saw as the cold-blooded conversion of a ceremony into a business transaction. However, I now recognize this as being a great way for the community to come together and help the host family stay out of the clutches of the money-lender, by offering, what is really a zero-interest loan. (Of course I dont understand the need for all these elaborate ceremonies, but that is another topic altogether).

And this practice is paralleled in high society as well - By Kitty Parties, which I will henceforth call "high class moi" !