My sister asked me a long time ago to please post a video...And without further adieu, here is a very exciting video of me and Tamilarasi burning a piece of ciinikaaram (a sort of crystal usually found wrapped in a hair rope and hung in the doorway as a drishti prophylactic) to see if it would explode, or at the very least, snap crackle and pop as it is rumored to do upon the presence of the evil eye. In the end it did neither. But it did melt into a nice black blob on the front steps.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
things I think I'm not going to miss one bit but which i might actually kind of miss come to think about it
It's getting towards the time for me to head back to the US of A after more than a year living here in Madurai and attempting to do some decent fieldwork. There are a couple of things you can count on happening towards the end of a prolonged stay in India. One thing that will most certainly happen is the feeling of going mad mixed with the feeling that it is actually quite sad to be leaving. There are moments of joy when I realize the comforts of (my other) home are within reach, and there are moments of sadness when I comprehend just how much I am going to miss the very people who have been driving me bat **** crazy recently.
The other thing that is bound to happen when you are nearing your departure date is that you are going to be treated as a walking godown; my feelings regarding this are decidedly not mixed. I expect it every time but it never stops feeling bad. People here tend to approach the relationship between friendship and material gain quite differently than we do in the United States, or perhaps it is just that people here are much more explicit about it than we are, which can be disarming for the American. A month before departure you can expect both your closest friends and semi-strangers to begin demanding your possessions, especially the expensive ones. People will begin to circle your home and your person like vultures. Neighbors will send spies in to infiltrate your home when you have stepped out to buy some potatoes, and said spies will inspect your more expensive items and report back to others what they think they are worth. Some neighbors will try to buy your costly items, for dirt cheap, and others will expect items for free including jewelry, clothing, pots and pans, bureaus, mixies, fridge, tables, cot, mattresses, etc. You will have the feeling of wanting to just put everything out in the street and let people battle it out, or better yet to do a Solomon and cut the bureau and fridge right in half to satisfy the two individuals fighting over it.
I am perfectly happy to give away all my possessions here. In fact, that is exactly what I am trying to do. But it is incredibly difficult because everyone feels entitled to the same items and there is no way to satisfy everyone. I don't want my name to go bad, but no matter how good I try to be, some people are still going to be unhappy and talk trash. It's just the way it goes. One thing that I have learned the hard way (but which is still difficult to accept) is that no matter how much you try to satisfy and make people happy, it just isn't going to turn out the way you expect 9 times out of 10. It is in this respect that the Bhagavad Gita really hits the nail on the head; to paraphrase, one should do the right thing without being attached to the fruits of one's actions.
To give you an example, I recently celebrated my birthday here. In India the tradition is quite different than in the US in that the one celebrating the birthday is expected to treat others and give them gifts. So I ended up buying 60 pieces of cake at a big expense to give to all the neighbors who are actually my friends. This actually ended up making very few people happy. In fact, it was a disaster. People wanted me to give it to the entire neighborhood, including people that wouldn't mind if I got ran over by the mini-bus. Some folks complained that it was too dry or too little. And the giving of the cake prompted the neighbors to convene a conference on the front steps to assess my gift-giving over the past year. It was alleged that I had given the woman across the street laddu (a round sweet) on my sister's birthday last year but didn't give any to anyone else, and people were feeling very slighted. First of all, I've never given anyone here any laddu, and I sure as hell didn't give anyone any laddu on my sister's birthday. My sister is in Washington, D.C., for Pete's sake, and it isn't our habit to give strangers gifts on the birthday of a sister they have never even met. But yet these tall tales get woven and there's nothing you can do about it. I've tried my best to do for everyone equally while I've been here, and I've given some nice gifts to lots of folks. But at the end of the day, one shouldn't expect others to show satisfaction in the way that we as Americans are socialized to expect. I think that people here usually are quite happy when getting gifts, but because is considered acceptable to critique them or complain about them in relation to what others have received it doesn't always seem that way. In the US we certainly feel jealous and slighted at times, but it isn't usually considered acceptable to complain that the cake you've just been given sucks. In the States (or at least in the South) we say, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Here they actually have a similar saying, "Don't look a gift cow in the mouth." Well, here the saying should actually be "feel free to look a gift horse up, down, and all around and comment on how ugly it is and how other folks have been given a way prettier horse as a matter of fact."
Things I think I'm not going to miss one iota but which I probably will kind of miss come to think about it:
At least the cake that I bought for our private consumption was quite good.
Even better was my nonsense English words sari,
with words such as "eartl" and "nshine" and "loment" plastered all over it.
This sari was a big hit.
The other thing that is bound to happen when you are nearing your departure date is that you are going to be treated as a walking godown; my feelings regarding this are decidedly not mixed. I expect it every time but it never stops feeling bad. People here tend to approach the relationship between friendship and material gain quite differently than we do in the United States, or perhaps it is just that people here are much more explicit about it than we are, which can be disarming for the American. A month before departure you can expect both your closest friends and semi-strangers to begin demanding your possessions, especially the expensive ones. People will begin to circle your home and your person like vultures. Neighbors will send spies in to infiltrate your home when you have stepped out to buy some potatoes, and said spies will inspect your more expensive items and report back to others what they think they are worth. Some neighbors will try to buy your costly items, for dirt cheap, and others will expect items for free including jewelry, clothing, pots and pans, bureaus, mixies, fridge, tables, cot, mattresses, etc. You will have the feeling of wanting to just put everything out in the street and let people battle it out, or better yet to do a Solomon and cut the bureau and fridge right in half to satisfy the two individuals fighting over it.
I am perfectly happy to give away all my possessions here. In fact, that is exactly what I am trying to do. But it is incredibly difficult because everyone feels entitled to the same items and there is no way to satisfy everyone. I don't want my name to go bad, but no matter how good I try to be, some people are still going to be unhappy and talk trash. It's just the way it goes. One thing that I have learned the hard way (but which is still difficult to accept) is that no matter how much you try to satisfy and make people happy, it just isn't going to turn out the way you expect 9 times out of 10. It is in this respect that the Bhagavad Gita really hits the nail on the head; to paraphrase, one should do the right thing without being attached to the fruits of one's actions.
To give you an example, I recently celebrated my birthday here. In India the tradition is quite different than in the US in that the one celebrating the birthday is expected to treat others and give them gifts. So I ended up buying 60 pieces of cake at a big expense to give to all the neighbors who are actually my friends. This actually ended up making very few people happy. In fact, it was a disaster. People wanted me to give it to the entire neighborhood, including people that wouldn't mind if I got ran over by the mini-bus. Some folks complained that it was too dry or too little. And the giving of the cake prompted the neighbors to convene a conference on the front steps to assess my gift-giving over the past year. It was alleged that I had given the woman across the street laddu (a round sweet) on my sister's birthday last year but didn't give any to anyone else, and people were feeling very slighted. First of all, I've never given anyone here any laddu, and I sure as hell didn't give anyone any laddu on my sister's birthday. My sister is in Washington, D.C., for Pete's sake, and it isn't our habit to give strangers gifts on the birthday of a sister they have never even met. But yet these tall tales get woven and there's nothing you can do about it. I've tried my best to do for everyone equally while I've been here, and I've given some nice gifts to lots of folks. But at the end of the day, one shouldn't expect others to show satisfaction in the way that we as Americans are socialized to expect. I think that people here usually are quite happy when getting gifts, but because is considered acceptable to critique them or complain about them in relation to what others have received it doesn't always seem that way. In the US we certainly feel jealous and slighted at times, but it isn't usually considered acceptable to complain that the cake you've just been given sucks. In the States (or at least in the South) we say, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Here they actually have a similar saying, "Don't look a gift cow in the mouth." Well, here the saying should actually be "feel free to look a gift horse up, down, and all around and comment on how ugly it is and how other folks have been given a way prettier horse as a matter of fact."
Things I think I'm not going to miss one iota but which I probably will kind of miss come to think about it:
- the non-stop attention (but not the incessant objectification)
- kids going wild on sight of me (but not the shouts of "white rat" and "girl-with-no-skin"!)
- the heat (but not the power cuts!)
- figuring out out how to trick the bore well motor (but not the water shortage!)
- the constant surveillance on the part of concerned neighbors (but not their domestic disturbances!)
- having to wear only saris and chudidhar (but not the dupatta!)
- my friends and neighbors (but not their property and financial disputes and knock-down drag-out brawls)
- parotta (but not the inability to make anything besides tomato chutney and plain dosa)
- music (but not the loudspeakers)
- the cows across the street (but not their stinky turds)
- the roving astrologers (but not their cheating parrots!)
- speaking only Tamil (but not the occasional feeling of my brain nearly exploding as I struggle to express subtle psychological states/emotions, convince someone of the existence of viruses [post to come on this one], and correctly produce adjectival participles at the drop of a hat)
- temples (there is no caveat here whatsoever; I'll miss everything about them: the crowds on special days, the smell of camphor and flowers, the earthy black granite deities smeared with ghee. Then again I WON'T miss being rejected from the inner sanctum for being white, but I'll let that one slide for now!)
- any many, many more....
At least the cake that I bought for our private consumption was quite good.Even better was my nonsense English words sari,
with words such as "eartl" and "nshine" and "loment" plastered all over it.
This sari was a big hit.
A highly successful gift-giving experience:
Here's me with the local Mariamman temple priest, who's
wearing the veshti and tundu (towel) I gave him.
He was thrilled and wore it for a special puja last week.
Here's me with the local Mariamman temple priest, who's
wearing the veshti and tundu (towel) I gave him.
He was thrilled and wore it for a special puja last week.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
requesting help for a good cause
I apologize to devoted readers (hope y'all are still out there!) for the posts being so lacking lately. I do have a lot of things I want to share with you, and I promise more updates soon. In the meantime, I want to solicit help for a good cause and I hope you don't mind if I use this forum to do so. Today I found out that a good friend of mine here in Madurai, and mother of three girls, has leukemia. She had been working for me for the past few months and suddenly fell ill recently. She is very poor and needless to say it is going to be very difficult for them to pay for such treatments. It remains to be seen what the outcome will be. In the meantime they need to pay school fees for two of their daughters, aged 14 and 16. School here in India isn't free; you have to pay fees and buy uniforms and books -- all very difficult (and often impossible) if you are poor. They are also trying to get their oldest daughter into a college. I don't think they would feel comfortable accepting donations from foreigners for the medical treatment, but I do think they would be very happy to receive support for their daughters' education, especially the school fees for the younger ones. Any amount would help (keep in mind that 1 US dollar buys about Rs. 42 these days). So if you are interested in supporting such a cause and would trust me with your donation, I wanted to let you know about the opportunity. Thanks!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
bush backlash
The backlash from Bush's comments on the food habits of Indians is still reverberating, particularly in southern Tamil Nadu. Lawyers here are very active and quite fond of burning effigies. A famous Madurai lawyer that I just interviewed a month back burned an effigy of Bush yesterday in Madurai, and there were also Bush effigies burned in other southern cities, including Tirunelveli. According to The Hindu:
"TIRUNELVELI: The police on Tuesday arrested seven Democratic Youth Federation of India functionaries for allegedly burning the effigy of US President George Bush for his reported comments against the food habits of the Indians. The protestors burnt it near Gandhi Statue even as the police tried to snatch it."
Unfortunately photos are not available at this time but I am working on this. I don't think it's entirely accurate to say that Bush was commenting "against" Indians eating food. He was merely pointing out, using a very poor choice of words, that there are more middle class Indians than the entire population of America, and more middle class Indians means that more food is going to be consumed in India. It's a fact. But to blame the Indians (and Chinese) for soaring food prices is of course ridiculous. His comments, however, are being interpreted as "Americans don't want Indians to eat."
Details are sketchy at present, but I was rather alarmed to hear that here in Madurai "some foreigners were put under house arrest" in nearby Puthur, in response to the Bush comments. Putur is about a 10-15 minute bus ride from my house. I am not aware of any "foreigners" in Putur but my guess is that they could be part of some NGO and more likely Europeans than Americans. But here "American" usually means any person who is white, so it is unfortunately very likely that non-Americans are being put under house arrest for Bush's comments. I cannot imagine that they are very happy about this.
Hopefully no gangs are going to show up at my house. Somehow I doubt my neighbors are very concerned about the machinations of Bush and Co., or at least I hope they aren't. Only time will tell. Hopefully with the burning of the Bush effigies, tensions that had flamed up have now died down. Besides, the Madurai public has been distracted with a number of disturbances of late, and tensions between various groups are simmering almost as much as the summer heat. Lately a select few rowdies among the Madurai youth, with nothing better to do during summer break, have taken to desecrating the statues of various caste leaders, besides the one already desecrated two weeks ago, and then exacting revenge upon vehicles, public and private. Buses had to be taken off the roads again yesterday.
It is interesting to note that when the cut-out of Ambedkar here in my neighborhood was torn to shreds a few weeks back, just before Ambedkar's birthday, no one in Madurai uttered a peep. The cut-out was replaced (without any fanfare whatsoever) with a much smaller and less substantial poster of Ambedkar which was recently torn to shreds by miscreants yet again. Why is it when the Dalit leader's image is desecrated the public is silent? It is either because cooler heads prevail in my neighborhood, or those individuals who are offended are too intimidated to speak out. I think it is perhaps a mixture of both.
I wonder if the folks holding the Putur "Americans" under house arrest
would be willing to consider ankle-monitoring devices
to afford them a little more freedom.
"TIRUNELVELI: The police on Tuesday arrested seven Democratic Youth Federation of India functionaries for allegedly burning the effigy of US President George Bush for his reported comments against the food habits of the Indians. The protestors burnt it near Gandhi Statue even as the police tried to snatch it."
Unfortunately photos are not available at this time but I am working on this. I don't think it's entirely accurate to say that Bush was commenting "against" Indians eating food. He was merely pointing out, using a very poor choice of words, that there are more middle class Indians than the entire population of America, and more middle class Indians means that more food is going to be consumed in India. It's a fact. But to blame the Indians (and Chinese) for soaring food prices is of course ridiculous. His comments, however, are being interpreted as "Americans don't want Indians to eat."
Details are sketchy at present, but I was rather alarmed to hear that here in Madurai "some foreigners were put under house arrest" in nearby Puthur, in response to the Bush comments. Putur is about a 10-15 minute bus ride from my house. I am not aware of any "foreigners" in Putur but my guess is that they could be part of some NGO and more likely Europeans than Americans. But here "American" usually means any person who is white, so it is unfortunately very likely that non-Americans are being put under house arrest for Bush's comments. I cannot imagine that they are very happy about this.
Hopefully no gangs are going to show up at my house. Somehow I doubt my neighbors are very concerned about the machinations of Bush and Co., or at least I hope they aren't. Only time will tell. Hopefully with the burning of the Bush effigies, tensions that had flamed up have now died down. Besides, the Madurai public has been distracted with a number of disturbances of late, and tensions between various groups are simmering almost as much as the summer heat. Lately a select few rowdies among the Madurai youth, with nothing better to do during summer break, have taken to desecrating the statues of various caste leaders, besides the one already desecrated two weeks ago, and then exacting revenge upon vehicles, public and private. Buses had to be taken off the roads again yesterday.
It is interesting to note that when the cut-out of Ambedkar here in my neighborhood was torn to shreds a few weeks back, just before Ambedkar's birthday, no one in Madurai uttered a peep. The cut-out was replaced (without any fanfare whatsoever) with a much smaller and less substantial poster of Ambedkar which was recently torn to shreds by miscreants yet again. Why is it when the Dalit leader's image is desecrated the public is silent? It is either because cooler heads prevail in my neighborhood, or those individuals who are offended are too intimidated to speak out. I think it is perhaps a mixture of both.
I wonder if the folks holding the Putur "Americans" under house arrestwould be willing to consider ankle-monitoring devices
to afford them a little more freedom.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Rice on rice
Perhaps you have heard of the latest diplomatic gaffes made first by Condoleezza Rice and then President Bush. It is an ironic twist that a woman named Rice is criticizing a developing country for eating too much rice. She alleged that the "apparent improvement" in the diets of the people of India and China are to blame for global price rise. This caused a big stir in India, and Bush followed up her comments with inflammatory comments of his own.
"....When you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up," Bush said. Wow. Looks like someone majored in econ. Of course Indians, like most people with any sense, are attributing the global price rise to high energy prices and the diversion of huge amounts of arable land towards biofuel production. Bush, in his infinite wisdom, admits that biofuel is a part of the problem but added: "I simply do not subscribe to the notion that it is the main cost driver for your food going up." Looks like your classic ostrich response to world crises.
Our "leaders" not only blame global warming on everyone but us, but now they are blaming the global price rise crisis on people who are suddenly able to afford nutritious food. Imagine. The nerve of a country eating sufficient food. What Condi and Bush don't understand is that India is not a food importer! They grow their own food. So it's not like they are eating up the global food supply and taking it out of other people's mouths.
The Indian media is understandably up in arms over these comments. And India doesn't need another reason to feel resentful towards the United States because they apparently already have PLENTY of reasons. One of them is the civilian nuclear deal between the US and India which is STILL like a lame duck in the water and hasn't been approved. This is a source of resentment for India (the handing over of FREE nuclear assistance, go figure) because everyone here assumes that Washington will try to ask for something in return. The way the media and some politicians talk about the U.S. here you would assume that America colonized India and not Britain. But that's another blog. And given Bush and Condi's insults of late, I cannot imagine relations between the two countries improving very much in the near future. Way to go!
Let them eat cake,
"....When you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up," Bush said. Wow. Looks like someone majored in econ. Of course Indians, like most people with any sense, are attributing the global price rise to high energy prices and the diversion of huge amounts of arable land towards biofuel production. Bush, in his infinite wisdom, admits that biofuel is a part of the problem but added: "I simply do not subscribe to the notion that it is the main cost driver for your food going up." Looks like your classic ostrich response to world crises.
Our "leaders" not only blame global warming on everyone but us, but now they are blaming the global price rise crisis on people who are suddenly able to afford nutritious food. Imagine. The nerve of a country eating sufficient food. What Condi and Bush don't understand is that India is not a food importer! They grow their own food. So it's not like they are eating up the global food supply and taking it out of other people's mouths.
The Indian media is understandably up in arms over these comments. And India doesn't need another reason to feel resentful towards the United States because they apparently already have PLENTY of reasons. One of them is the civilian nuclear deal between the US and India which is STILL like a lame duck in the water and hasn't been approved. This is a source of resentment for India (the handing over of FREE nuclear assistance, go figure) because everyone here assumes that Washington will try to ask for something in return. The way the media and some politicians talk about the U.S. here you would assume that America colonized India and not Britain. But that's another blog. And given Bush and Condi's insults of late, I cannot imagine relations between the two countries improving very much in the near future. Way to go!
Let them eat cake,
provided we get the biggest piece.
Monday, April 28, 2008
i hate power cuts...
...and that's putting it mildly. The power just went out earlier for about the 6th time today, and as soon as the lights went out I let loose a barrage of curse words that made the ladies sitting outside chuckle. Scheduled power cuts are one thing. There is such a shortage of power in India that "load shedding" has to be done. I understand that. In the old days we used to have an 8hr power cut on or around the last Saturday of the month. That was way easier to deal with. But now that it is hotter than Hades, they are cutting the power CONSTANTLY and without warning. Recently it happened at 3am and a friend of mine said that in her area it was like a street fair. It was so hot people couldn't sit still inside their house so they either roamed the roads or paced the rooftops. That was brutal. I thought the relentless 1-3PM daily cuts of late were bad, but these daily 6am cuts are killing me. I am still sleeping at 6am, or trying to (I'm lazy compared to the locals, who are already up and stirring usually around 5:30). And with no fan sleeping is impossible. So at 6am I relocate to the floor in the main room, open the windows, spray myself down with bugspray and pray for a humid breeze to seep through the windows. Sometimes when you sweat enough, if there is the slightest breeze coming through the window it will produce a cooling effect. I live for these moments. Well, this morning the power went off at 6am and stayed off until 11am. That was a real treat. Then it went off again in the afternoon and about 3-4 more times after that. I was just sitting down to some notes here at my desk when it went out AGAIN. And when the power goes out after a certain point in the afternoon, I have NO LIGHTS IN MY HOUSE. This is because we are dependent on florescent light bulbs, and they don't work unless they are already burning before the bell tolls 5pm. If the power goes out, forget the lights coming back on. I have no idea why except that it has something to do with people who steal power and make the voltage low for everyone else. And the people stealing power would be just about everyone who lives next to me. So here I am sitting in the dark with just the computer light to illuminate this dump.
Thankfully I have my Rs. 3 fan which makes surviving the April heat possible.
I Google image searched "power cut"
and this pic came up. Curious.
Thankfully I have my Rs. 3 fan which makes surviving the April heat possible.
I Google image searched "power cut"and this pic came up. Curious.
Friday, April 25, 2008
best three rupees I ever spent
The very merry Chittirai Festival just ended (sadly) a couple of days ago, and now things in Madurai are returning to their normal state. Normal state being "absolutely nothing going on". Of course yesterday we had a bandh (strike), which was different from the usual but certainly not the least bit enjoyable for anyone. I had already made my way to the bus stand and was on my way to a function when suddenly all the shops starting downing their shutters, there wasn't a bus in sight, and all the autos were missing as well. I managed to get to my destination by joining forces with a couple of random ladies at the bus stand. We managed to find a city bus (that escaped attack by the mobs) to BB Kulam and then found a lone auto to take us to Putur. For the rest of the day we couldn't go anywhere or buy anything whatsoever. Fortunately I had food in my house. A few days ago someone had the brilliant idea to smear cow dung on the face of a statue of a very important caste leader down in Goripalayam -- the biggest intersection in Madurai. Well, people didn't take this lying down. They took it sitting down, in the middle of the Goripalayam intersection. People blocked traffic while others attacked buses and stoned them. A bandh was called yesterday in protest of the dung-smearing incident. Those buses that dared to ply were punished with mob attacks, and a number of drivers were injured. A witch hunt is underway to find the culprit who desecrated the statue, though the Chief Minister has urged calm over an incident that was surely perpetrated by a "mentally unstable individual." A few years back a lorry filled with people sped past the statue and someone threw a shoe on it, and unrest erupted then as well. This time fire trucks were called to spray water on the statue, and then purifying milk was poured over it and a garland put around its neck.
Ever since the Chittirai festival started a couple of weeks ago, we've been plagued with daily power cuts at the absolute worst times of the day. Every day we go without power for at least 3 hours, sometimes more. Needless to say, business across the state is being crippled and industries are begging for something to be done. There simply isn't enough power to go around. And in this heat, these power cuts are simply too much to bear. At the fair the other night I bought a homemade fan for a whopping Rs. 3!!! I don't know how on earth they can sell such a wonder for so cheap, and I have been marveling at it for the past few days. It produces wonderful air currents with minimal effort.
I've found, inexplicably, that the night hours are the absolute WORST in terms of the heat. I cannot imagine why this is the case, when the evil sun has actually gone away for the night. Nevertheless, there isn't a time more oppressive than nighttime in terms of sweating. So last night I discovered than instead of struggling (in vain) to find ways to cool one's environment, it is better to attempt to cool one's insides. To that end I took two bananas, sugar, some leftover curd, and an entire tray of ice cubes and threw them into the blender. I then drank the super cold concoction and I'll be damned if I didn't stay cool for at least an hour after consumption.
It's 1:12 PM and I am shocked and amazed that the power hasn't gone out. Perhaps the power company was satisfied with the three hours they stole from us today starting at 6am.
I've got lots of Chittirai pics to post, but blogger isn't cooperating at the moment. Tune in tomorrow for some virtual darshan!
hand powered A/C:
more refreshing than you might imagine...
Ever since the Chittirai festival started a couple of weeks ago, we've been plagued with daily power cuts at the absolute worst times of the day. Every day we go without power for at least 3 hours, sometimes more. Needless to say, business across the state is being crippled and industries are begging for something to be done. There simply isn't enough power to go around. And in this heat, these power cuts are simply too much to bear. At the fair the other night I bought a homemade fan for a whopping Rs. 3!!! I don't know how on earth they can sell such a wonder for so cheap, and I have been marveling at it for the past few days. It produces wonderful air currents with minimal effort.
I've found, inexplicably, that the night hours are the absolute WORST in terms of the heat. I cannot imagine why this is the case, when the evil sun has actually gone away for the night. Nevertheless, there isn't a time more oppressive than nighttime in terms of sweating. So last night I discovered than instead of struggling (in vain) to find ways to cool one's environment, it is better to attempt to cool one's insides. To that end I took two bananas, sugar, some leftover curd, and an entire tray of ice cubes and threw them into the blender. I then drank the super cold concoction and I'll be damned if I didn't stay cool for at least an hour after consumption.
It's 1:12 PM and I am shocked and amazed that the power hasn't gone out. Perhaps the power company was satisfied with the three hours they stole from us today starting at 6am.
I've got lots of Chittirai pics to post, but blogger isn't cooperating at the moment. Tune in tomorrow for some virtual darshan!
hand powered A/C:more refreshing than you might imagine...
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