Weird traditions
I lived in Southall when I was little. For those not in the know, Southall is a little suburb of West London populated almost entirely by Indians and Pakistanis. We were the only white family down our street and I was completely fluent in Hindi until we moved elsewhere. In fact, one of my earliest memories is of singing "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" in Hindi to a bunch of amazed elderly ladies. Anyway, it was a really friendly little community, we were totally welcome, and I was completely in love with all things Asian - the food, the clothes, everything was so much more fun than English culture. That is, except the funeral arrangements.

A Hindu boy in my class told me about how, at his grandfather's funeral, he had had to place a coin in the corpse's mouth. This was to facilitate his entry into heaven. Apparently, the keeper of the pearly gates won't let Hindus in unless they hand over some moolah. Can you imagine anything more traumatising for a five-year-old boy than to be told that if they don't stick their fingers in a dead body's mouth, Grandad won't be able to get into heaven?
(grandmasterfluffles Come to my Armageddon party on, Thu 11 May 2006, 13:45, Reply)