THE YAKHA: CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN ...

a circle with two which were wider apart joined by a lintel making an
entrance. Another day I saw a paternal aunt entertaining her two-year
old orphaned nephew by gathering dust into little piles on the ground in
the yard, putting a finger in the top and pouring in water from a brass
pitcher (loTB) to make little pots, When we returned from a day
accompanying our family to prepare rice fields for planting (see next
chapter), we found the children had been occupying themselves round
about by catching frogs whose legs were tied together to prevent their
escape. Often, however, play was more abstract. I was one day struck
by the sight of a little girl sitting in a doorway, holding and
obviously fascinated by two bent bamboo strips, As they got older
children, particularly girls, were expected to help with domestic chores
such as carrying small pitchers or plastic cartons of water from the
dhBr6. We were struck by how rarely Yakha children would beg for things
from us, and if they did so, how shyly. Brahmin and Chetri children, by
contrast, were often most vocal in their requests for things. Such
differences in demeanour between their own and Brahmin and Chetri
children were also commented on by adult Yakha in their conversations
with us.
Household Cycles and Demography
Unlike caste Hindus, amongst whom joint family structures were the
expected norm, the major1 ty of Tamaphok Yakha lived in elementary
families with father, mother and children. Often, as we shall see in
Chapter Seven, the father was away, and in some cases a woman would take
her children to live either with an affinal relative or at her natal
home maiti prhar. Thus where a 'joint' family was apparent, the