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For centuries, Hindu women have worn a dot (Bindi) on their foreheads. Most of us have naively thought this was connected with tradition or religion, but the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C. has recently revealed the story.




When a Hindu woman gets married, she brings a dowry into the union. On her wedding night, the husband scratches off the dot to see whether he's won a convenience store, a gas station, a donut shop, a taxi cab or a motel in America. If nothing is there, he must remain in India to answer telephones and provide us with technical support.