damned if you do, damned if you don't.

That's my motto lately. But I'll get to that later. As I've said before, things have been getting better for me in the neighborhood. Panguni masam (the Tamil month we are currently in) is a super important one for lots of things, and it's a big month for Mariamman, as I've mentioned before. They've had the cone speakers blaring music for several days now, mostly in the evening. Every single day there seems to be a huge to-do going on the neighborhood because somebody is having a special function. So there's a lot going on. Next week I'm going to a couple of ear-boring ceremonies which should be interesting, especially for my research I hope.

Two nights ago I was walking to pick up some clothes from getting ironed and the kids were going nuts there at the temple, jumping up and down to the music and waving neem tree branches all around. Looks like they haven't had this much fun in a while. The old pujari was eyeing me as I walked past. I'd gotten wind that he was wondering why I haven't showed up at the temple yet. Fortunately I had tucked 10 rupees in my pants in the off chance that I was brave enough to battle the attention and make my way into the temple. I got lucky on the way back because this family I've made acquaintances with was on their way to the temple and I went with them. By "on their way" I mean they set foot out their front door and walk about 10 feet. It's a small temple, as you'll see from the photo.

It was nice to finally see inside. Mariamman inside is a sight to behold. The pujari was happy that I showed up, and I think the 10 rupees didn't hurt either. I prayed for divine intervention and help in getting me to "fit in" in this neighborhood. Though "fit in" isn't exactly the right term, seeing as how it is impossible, but you get what I mean. Then I went home happy. The neighbors were happy as well, to see that I had gone there.

Yesterday was a challenging day for me. So much harassment, kids and young men, even adult men, jumping in front of my face and screaming "HIIIIIIIIII!!!!!". I felt stupid getting irritated at kids, but I did get majorly irritated. At first I thought I just wasn't used to being here yet. But now after a month I've decided that things are different now. Just in two years men are behaving differently. They seem much more titillated at the sight of a foreign female and they aren't as afraid to show it. When they react to me, I just COMPLETELY ignore it. As if I were totally deaf and dumb. This seems to baffle them and I revel in this reaction. Yesterday afternoon I had pretty much had it. I decided that I needed to take up yoga, or perhaps tranquilizers, in order to deal with it all. But then on my way home, things were different somehow. Kids were waving at me nicely, and I waved back. Girls were smiling and I smiled back. Men left me alone. Then, I seemed to pass the Meenambalpuram test (at least a very small one), because once I got back to my neighborhood and the kids caught sight of me, they screamed "AKKAA!" (older sister) and waved. I was thrilled, let me tell you. It is so pleasant to be hearing this instead of vellaikkaari.

It's still proving challenging to fit in. Mostly because I am still feeling shy in the neighborhood. People don't really reach out to me, but they secretly criticize me for not coming up to them. Fact of the matter is, I really don't feel like reaching out right now because I still feel so marginalized. When walking down the street feels something like walking down a catwalk, it's hard to feel outgoing. This will change over time. Last night a throng of kids discovered me trying to hide and get a moment of peace on the roof. I ended up taking their pictures because this is something that kids really love here. This was my first positive interaction with the local kids, besides the mere sight of me serving as a constant source of amusement for them. But I ended up getting scolded by this lazy bones man across the street who didn't want the kids coming around. What he perhaps doesn't understand is that I am mauled like that every time I walk down the street. And he's irritated at a few kids screaming outside his house? Give me a break! Hence the subject line. You don't interact with folks enough and it's a problem. When you do try to get to know folks, you get chided. What to do? Just do what you want anyway and laugh it off, I guess.

Making peace with the neighboorhood kids, with the help of a digital camera.

Chellapandi and her daughter. We saw a great movie, but got mauled by bedbugs in the theatre and I ended up bringing them home with us. We managed to cram 9 people in this autorickshaw.

The roof is a nice place to go if you want to pretend it is possible to go unnoticed.

white people tax

The one relaxing thing I manage to do in Meenambalpuram each morning is read The Hindu, a most excellent English language newspaper. This morning, however, my blood pressure shot up to dangerous levels when I read a very small tidbit of news, snuck right in there on the second page. Do you have white skin? Do you want to see inside the Meenakshi temple, Madurai's most famous landmark? Then you'd better be prepared to shell out Rs. 50 to get inside starting on April 1st.

The article stated that the board of trustees decided that "foreign" (READ: "white") tourists will have to pay Rs. 50 to enter the "permitted areas" of the temple (READ: areas outside the inner sanctum where white people [and Muslims] are allowed) for viewing of "sculptures" and "artworks". When I first read this I was confused. What "sculptures" and "artworks" will these tourists exactly be seeing? There is already a museum on site which charges folks for seeing sculptures. Then I realized what they mean. The board of directors has screwdly reasoned that for foreigners, the sacred idols used for worship are mere "sculptures" or "artworks" and they are now prepared to charge accordingly.

Keep in mind, folks, that this is an ACTIVE temple. Meenakshi temple is not a museum. Oblivous foreigners treat it as such, and often enter the temple premises dressed in a very disrespectful manner. It is for this reason that I understand why they keep foreigners out of the inner sanctum. But why this additional white people tax? There is already a significant charge for taking photos and a very steep charge for taking video. The museum itself pulls in a lot of cash. So why this white people tax? It will be interesting to see how they enforce this. I imagine that they will post people at the entrance looking for white people and will then charge them to get in.

Of course, many may find it absurd that I would be so angry over the equivalent of $1.25 being charged to foreigners when this is nothing for them. This is true. But this charge seems outrageous to me, especially when there are already the aforementioned ways to get plenty of money out of the white tourists who come into the temple. What irks me is that while tourists from all over India and the rest of the world flock to Meenakshi temple by the thousands every day, it is going to be white ones who are going to have to pay. Maybe this is just desserts for centuries of colonialism. After all, white people (especially British ones), made off with tons of valuable Indian sculptures, jewels, etc. Perhaps we should have to start paying back for all the stuff that was stolen. But it still makes me feel pretty bad. Especially because I treat Meenakshi temple as a place for prayer and meditation, not as a tourist destination. It is the one place to go and sort of escape the madness (though the oppressive touts there make it difficult at times), and now I am going to be further marginalized in this place of worship for being a foreigner. It really ticks me off.

Recently a white man managed to enter a temple at Puri, in Orissa. There the temples are noted for being very restricted to foreigners and non-Hindus. For this reason I have never bothered to go there. But when it was noted on the security cameras that this "American" man had gotten into the temple, the priests went into an uproar, locked the temple, and threw prasad (holy food intended for devotees) worth hundreds of thousands of rupees into a hole and buried it. I myself, while praying along with everyone else, have been approached by police in one particular temple and told to step back and get away from the idol. In this context I am feeling particularly miffed right now. From now on I am going to stick to such temples as Mariamman and Karappusamy temples which don't discriminate against people of any color, caste, or class, as far as I can tell.

I am penning a letter, in Tamil, to the board of directors of Meenakshi temple explaining my outrage. Then I am going to write a snarky letter to the editor of The Hindu. And I am going to go to the temple on April 1st and I'm not going to pay the tax. We will see whether or not I get in.

If you think I am full of crap for my position on this, I am all ears.

not so fast with the moon conclusions!

Turns out I've been playing pretty fast and loose with this moon question thing. The other day I pulled a GW and prematurely declared "mission accomplished". I've been advised that we need more photographic evidence. I hope that Professor Don Collins at Warren Wilson College doesn't mind if I reprint his email to my father here:

"I took a look at your daughter's blog site. Unfortunately, we cannot make any conclusions regarding the moon appearance from the tropics and temperate latitudes merely from one fuzzy photo. In order to study this scientifically, you would need a network of observers world-wide to agree to take digital photos of the moon at exactly the same date/time. The time should be Universal time. Another option would be to photograph the moon rising or setting on specified dates where the horizon is also in the photo. If the crescent moon is photographed near the horizon from different latitudes, the "angle" of the crescent will certainly be different. Be sure to get a team of photographers to photograph the moon on the same dates, however.

"I also suspect that participants on her website may be confused about the shape of the crescent moon being caused by the earth's shadow. The earth's shadow rarely falls on the moon - it's only during a lunar eclipse. I will post a Physics Photo of the Week this Friday explaining
that."

So I will need to enlist some help in this. It would be great to get a photo of the rising moon, with the horizon in the picture -- at the same time on the same day. Last night I went up on the roof again and looked at the moon. At that point it was high in the sky and I realized that without the horizon in the picture, you simply cannot compare photos of the moon and draw any conclusions about how its angle differs from place to place. Despite suffering from a lack of common sense, not to mention scientific know-how, I drew this conclusion simply by rotating my head around and noticing how different the moon looked!

Other than trying to conduct faulty scientific experiments, I've been suffering from bedbugs and prickly heat. That's about all the excitement from here. People here are majorly depressed because India is already out of the Cricket World Cup. When they lost to Bangladesh the fans went ballistic and were putting their pictures on donkeys, conducting mock funerals of team members, shaving their heads in mourning, and attempting to destroy the homes of some of the disgraced players. Needless to say, cricket is taken very seriously here in India. In the English language media these fan outbursts have initiated a debate about "progress" and "rationalism" in India -- the highly educated Indian elites opinion of the "common man" is often disparaging, especially with respect to the events of late. Then there is the whole Bob Woolmer murder fiasco which has marred the sport altogether. Will have more reports tomorrow.

Case closed!

I don't know about you, but this photo of the moon that my sister just sent me just about clinches it. The moon certainly does look different depending on where on the Earth you are! They look pretty freaking different, and I'll be interested to see how much it changes through the seasons. Even though it's blurry, you can still make out that in Silver Spring, Maryland, the shadow of the moon appears to be on the right lower half as opposed to the left lower half in Madurai. I still cannot grasp why this is the case, because I cannot wrap my brain around such matters of spherical geometry, but now that we have photographic evidence that the moon looks different I can rest somewhat easily. Thanks L.L.!

Thanks to an alert reader for pointing out there was no photo previously.

Will someone please help me settle this moon question once and for all

There is this moon question that has been bugging me for years and I want to finally put it to rest. Those of you who have traveled to tropical latitudes may have noticed that the moon often appears differently than in does in the United States. The phases are the same, but different sides appear to be shaded differently depending upon where on the Earth you are looking at it. I've told folks this and they pretty much told me I was crazy, but here's what an astronomy professor at Warren Wilson College, Don Collins, had to say about this question:

"The phases of the moon should appear the same from any point on the earth, i. e. first quarter will appear to be a half-moon shape from anyplace on the earth.

"What may be deceptive, however, is that the position of the moon is different - especially from the tropics. For example, at this time of year, the quarter phase early in the evening is quite high in the sky from the Carolinas, but still south of the zenith. When viewed from the tropics in southern India, the moon at this time of year (last night or tonight) will actually be north of zenith. When viewed from the southern hemisphere the moon will appear "upside-down" compared to our northern hemisphere view. The fraction of the moon illuminated will appear the same to all observers on earth, except for a very small impercepible difference. "

He wrote this email to my father about a month ago, so I'm not sure if it applies right now, in late March. This whole thing has been driving me crazy. What is the moon looking like over there in the US right now? Which part is illuminated? This is what the moon looked like from my roof last night at about 8pm.

Could someone in the U.S. please take a digital picture of the moon and send it to me? Especially someone in the Northeast, that would be especially helpful. I need to compare these photos!

All white people look exactly alike.

Just the other day in the internet cafe I learned that I have a long lost twin! She just happens to have landed in Madurai, of all places, just like me! She looks very similar to me and in fact, has a name very similar to mine. Her name sounds something like a very garbled "Melanie." The funny thing is that my twin doesn't speak Tamil, while I do! HAHAHAHAHAHA! This is what the internet folks were telling me the other day. They were very amused at this coincidence, as was I. Imagine!

Well, folks, sorry to disappoint you, but I don't actually have a twin. At least not that I know of. You see, all white people look exactly the same. This is the source of the confusion. I threw things all out of kilter the other day when I came into the internet cafe and spoke a few English words to the girl here. When I showed up two days ago speaking Tamil she then got confused and mistook me for the girl who looks a lot like me and has the same name but doesn't speak Tamil. When I came in just now she looked at me with a very curious look like she was waiting for me to say something so she could figure out whether the English or Tamil twin had shown up today. I said nothing and instead utilized hand gestures which will no doubt introduce the possibility of triplets.

Also, just the other day a woman in my neighborhood swore up and down that I had been to the neighborhood last year for a housewarming party. I told her that I was in the U.S. so this was impossible. But as she herself said, since all white people look exactly the same, it's no wonder she got me confused.

Last night I actually made a friend in the neighborhood. Her name is Prabhu and I guess she's in her early 20s. Somewhat surprisingly she is not married but is working at the Corporation office, which I gather is a pretty good job.
She and her family invited me in for coffee. Very nice folks. Her father told me that I was welcome anytime and that I should consider him as my adopted father while I am here.

Prabhu asked me how did it make me feel that everyone in the neighborhood is making fun of me, thinking I don't know Tamil, every time I set foot on the street? Hearing her say this actually made me feel pretty bad. I have sort of been in denial about the extent of the provincial behavior I have received, but when she confirmed it I sort of couldn't ignore it. I told her that it made things difficult. The fact of the matter is that I am just completing ignoring it, or trying to. But sometimes I realize just how much of an alien people think I am and it's difficult. I know that I'll never exactly fit in, but I do wish that the harassment would subside somewhat. It makes me want to run away to another neighborhood for sure.

But why would I want to leave Meenambalpuram when the Mariamman festival is about to crank up, with *48 hours* of non-stop cone speakers blaring music at ear-splitting volumes throughout the day and night? This is going to be interesting!

Turns out that Panguni Masam (the Tamil month that we are currently in) is a big time for Mariamman festivals and for other important functions as well, especially ear-piercing ceremonies for kids. A lady tailor that I have made acquaintance with has invited me to two such ceremonies next month, and both of Chellapandi's kids will be having theirs done at Pandikovil, a temple on the outskirts of town. I am very much looking forward to witnessing these, though probably not the goat sacrifice part, I have to say.

Roommate/Lizard: The ugly creatures supposedly eat mosquitoes, but my house is full of both somehow.

Yesterday I used the kerosene stove for the first time in an effort to make coffee. Right after this photo was taken, I accidentally let the pot explode and boil over, pretty much ruining the stove. Way to go! This is why cooking in India should be left to the hands of trained professionals.

an evil eye pumpkin of my very own

The past few days have been somewhat interesting, and if nothing else they have given me a nice glimpse into the family politics which are going to saturate various realms of my Madurai existence over the next year. Things are never simple when families are involved, and this is the same the world over, seems to me. I've been fretting quite a bit over this the past few days, because of late, individuals have been using me to make one another jealous. This simply isn't going to be tenable as one of them is currently in my employ and the other will be in my employ shortly, as a research assistant. This is a very uncomfortable situation for me. I know they aren't really doing it consciously, but I'm being manipulated. I really want everyone to be happy, which is what is causing me to fret. But today I realized that I am really going to have to take charge of the situation and do what it is that I want to do, without worrying about dividing my physical body and my attentions 50/50, which as we know isn't possible.

A few days ago, Chellapandi's husband was kind enough to paint a face on my drishti pumpkin. Chellapandi, apparently concerned that I did not find the face aesthetically pleasing, reminded me that for it to be effective against the evil eye it has to be "ugly". It also needs to have a face on both sides in order to deal with folks coming from both directions. I am very satisfied with the result, though I do think it could be more ominous, perhaps with the addition of some fangs.

Yesterday Tamilarasi and I took a bus ride out to Madapuram, about one hour away, to visit the very popular Kali temple there. You would have to see photos to do it justice, but I was worried that taking them inside might be disrespectful so I'll have to wait until next time to ask permission. We are going to go one Friday when it is packed. Tuesdays are also a very busy day. Yesterday a young woman was rolling her body on the ground around the temple premises three times as part of a vow for good health. In front of the Kali shrine, there are some cutting tools and an anvil on which people put coins and cut them in half, as a sort of magic spell against their enemies. As this has something to do with mitigating envy, it might be interesting for my research and I plan to explore this further.

In other news, there is still a gaping hole where a window should be in the bathroom. I am also still sweating bullets as there is no fan in the main room. I was assured that these two items would be completed yesterday, so I'm fairly certain that by the end of the month we should see a crew completing the tasks. Also a phone line was due to be installed yesterday and I have similar expectations with regard to this. Other things are much easier. The thing which has simply made my WEEK, has been the fact that I can now have The Hindu (a great English newspaper) and Dinamalar (a good Tamil paper) delivered to my doorstep each morning. Sounds like a small thing but it's a major pleasure and there were no coordination problems involved. Turns out my neighbor's son across the street is raising money for college by delivering papers and it took only a 10 second conversation to arrange this "subscription." Excellent!

A couple more anecdotes: Turns out that the main reason why Chellapandi was walking me to the bus stop all last week was not so much so I could get used to the neighborhood, but so that others in the area could come to know who I belong to. She and her mother-in-law had assured me that I have nothing to worry because everyone is afraid of the "postman's house" -- the house in which I am residing. This is apparently because they are afraid of Chellapandi's husband who apparently will "fight" if he needs to. I'm not sure what he has done to instill fear in the vicinity, but I am feeling sort of good about this considering that there are frequently drunk men stumbling out of the bar across the street.

Chellapandi's husband decorating the drishti pusanikay.

I like it, but I'm not sure it looks demonic enough.

I am laughing because I almost got run over before taking this picture.

Tamilarasi, on our trip yesterday to the Kaliamman temple at Madapuram. These long garlands of lemons to adorn the deity are available for purchase.

Conspicuous leisure: A specialty of men the world over, the most popular place for men in India to engage in this "activity" is tea stalls. Meanwhile, women and girls as young as 4 were hauling water vessels to and fro. You're a lady and you want some tea? Better make it at home, because the tea stall is men's domain.

What a "river" in Tamil Nadu looks like thanks to years of drought.

Turns out rooster blood is more useful than you might think

Today my spirits seem significantly boosted. The past few days I was having my doubts. Such questions as "How will I ever conduct research here when I am such a spectacle?" were running through my head. The good news is that things are already starting to improve. This morning I went and waited at the bus stop along with everyone else and I got more smiles than gawks. I am feeling significantly less objectified today. Today I was feeling pretty good about living in Meenambalapuram. Life in middle and upper-middle class neighborhoods can seem more peaceful and the foreigner might feel less a spectacle, but one also feels much more isolated and potentially bored and dull in these areas where six-feet tall walls with glass shards surround the homes. Needless to say, Meenambalapuram is nothing like this.

I've been learning a lot already about the evil eye that I would never really pick up if I were staying somewhere else. My new location allows me to be much closer to Tamilarasi, who is my friend and main informant. Her sister-in-law, Chellapandi, is working for me. She is super nice and helpful, and I am also learning a lot from her. So overall I am feeling good about being in this neighborhood, despite the challenges I have mentioned before.

Last night I slashed open my finger when I was opening the front door. The lock, being new, is sharp and difficult to open. As I was opening it to let Chellapandi in, I cut it. Blood was going everywhere. Chellapandi was very concerned and helped me take care of it. Before she went home for the evening she said she had to do something first. She went out and bought some camphor tablets. She made me sit down on the floor and then she rotated them clockwise and then counter clockwise a number of times around my head. Then she had me spit on them three times before she took them outside to the front of the house and set them on fire. As a precaution against the evil eye, Chellapandi felt that we should do this. It made me feel better for sure.

One more blood story before I go. Chellapandi explained to me that because the house I am living in was not completed in a quick manner, but instead went on for over a year without being finished, a Murugan puja was required in order to avert the evil eye from the home. The home was more vulnerable also because Saroja's husband is not working and she herself earned all the money to build the home. Apparently this fact can potentially bring some untoward energies towards the home. So in the middle of the night when no women were in sight, the men of the family did a Murugan puja and rooster sacrifice, smearing the rooster blood in important areas on the outside of the home and also on the inside. Chellapandi told me that this will protect the home very effectively. There are some photos below.

Rooster blood on the living room wall

makes for a very cozy atmosphere.

Rooster blood outside the front door =

highly affective antidote for the evil eye

A significantly more flattering picture of my homestead than has been seen before, this photo features my new most prized possession: a fridge. Cost me an arm and a leg, but those of you who have experienced the Tamil Nadu heat know that you cannot put a price on cold water!

Thought I was going to need stitches for this one.

"how it might feel to be an alien dropped to earth from outer space", or "experiences of a vellaikkaari in meenakshipuram"

It's been a few days since I moved into my new place now, and it's been a couple of days since I've had a chance to sit down and write anything. The feeling of shock and awe which has accompanied my landing in this new neighborhood has started to wear off somewhat. In past years I have spent a lot of time in neighborhoods where folks are used to occasionally seeing foreigners, which really isn't the case in BB Kulam/Meenambalpuram/Mullai Nagar/Meenakshipuram (to add to the confusion, this neighborhood is known by at least 4 names). This weekend was pretty difficult. On Saturday I decided to walk to the main road instead of taking the bus. I had the feeling of hundreds of people staring at me and laughing and commenting from the moment I set foot outside, I guess because this is exactly what was happening. "Vellaikkari" is a word I used to hear rarely -- now it's all I hear. It's sometimes a curse to know Tamil in these situations because you hear people talking about you and can understand.

I need to get re-used to people touching me all the time. Tamilarasi reminded me yesterday of something I had heard a while back: many people believe that by touching me, my "whiteness" will rub off on them -- literally. I was also interested to hear about other forms of transmission between bodies from Tamilarasi last night. She and I got on a crowded bus to go to the Karappusaamy temple at Tamukkam last night. After we got home her right eye got very red and started burning and itching. She told me it was because a "bad woman",probably a prostitute, had touched her on the bus. She said it was best to make sure no one touches you on the bus, but these seems pretty difficult considering we are crammed in there like sardines. Tamilarasi also told me that just like it is possible to transmit bad properties from person to person through touch, it is also possible to transmit good qualities between people. A person who is very good morally can transmit some of this essence to a person who touches their feet; like an electrical "current" these properties will pass from the feet of the person to the individual touching them.



One of the benefits of living in my neighborhood is the spontaneous emergence of very exciting processions such as this one above, which was for an ear-piercing ceremony. In the front men were dancing in cow costumes, others were setting off firecrackers and beating drums.

These very nice people work at the Goripalayam vegetable market where I went the other day to stock up on very important staples such as drishti pumpkins, etc. They are big believers in drishti and their whole shop is covered in very interesting amulets.

Nothing really says "welcome"
like a nice drishti moham on your house.

This highly efficient conveyer of hepatitis/sugarcane juicer
bears a lot of auspicious markings

These girls were on their way to the Perumal temple
and easily charmed me out of ten rupees.

of ration cards and things that go bump in the night

Who knew that moving into a place could be so political! And so incredibly exhausting. Well, I knew it could be exhausting, but settling into a house in India comes with it's own unique challenges, as you can imagine. I haven't been able to get onto this blogger thing in a few days due to a number of factors including illness and internet problems. Now I am finally able to log on and I'm sitting in an A/C internet place which is simply splendid.

I had wanted to move in on Thursday, but I ended up getting this high fever/bad cold/a dose all-night diarrhea-for-good-measure kind of illness and as a result I was in bed all day on Thursday. I had such cabin fever that I was really itching to move into my new place. Despite being pretty weak from this weird illness, I had to go around for about 8 hours non-stop in the heat on Friday, buying stuff for the house and moving stuff in. I was taking buses and rickshaws and walking back and forth all over town and at the end of it I was pretty incredibly dirty and tired. It's hard to believe that this was only yesterday. Feels like ages ago already.

When I arrived at the home yesterday I was very happy to see that doors and windows had been installed! I also unknowingly arrived at a very auspicious hour, which Saroja's husband confirmed to me by showing me the time on the calendar, which lists all the auspicious and inauspicious hours of each day. We did a puja and waved the camphor flame all over the premises which made me feel pretty good.

When I arrived, a crew was feverishly applying cement and working on the front stoop. They were working on this late into the evening and are at it again today. It's looking pretty good, except for the big cement chunk I knocked off the steps when I left the house. But I must say I'm somewhat frustrated at this extravagant expenditure when there is a gaping hole in the bathroom where a window should be. While it does provide a lovely view of the "Government Bar" across the street, thousands of mosquitoes are flocking in there and being a major nuisance, rendering the attached room off-limits. They've assured me that this window will be put in and I believe them.

The single most costly, and frustrating, task for me has been getting everything needed to cook some food in my house. Tamilarasi's sister-in-law Chellapandi is now working for me, and she lives next door with her mother-in-law who is my houseowner. Tamilarasi wrote up a long list of all the different spices and dals and want not one needs to cook at the bare minimum, and this budget list came up to Rs. 650, not even $20 and not bad for a month's worth of basic non-perishables, but here this is a fortune and I don't know how people eat. This is only for one person, mind you.

THEN, you have to go and buy vessels and cups and plates and all that, and again I suffered from major sticker shock -- this time at Anantha metals. In TN it seems that to every food item there is a unique vessel and a unique utensil with a unique Tamil name (in addition to a different verb phrase for cooking each item), and I pretty much don't have a clue. Chellapandi wrote up a list for me, with such things as paal chaddi, kolumbu chaddi, vade chaddi, chinna silver chaddi, etc. All these are different kinds of pots for different things. I was totally confused. I ended up pretty much buying the whole store. I nearly fainted when I saw that a "cooker" alone costs Rs. 800 ($20), and this is one of the smallest ones they have. The other family-sized ones are into the thousands. As you will see from the photo, metals stores offer a mind-boggling array of products and as a foreigner I was completely overwhelmed. I asked Tamilarasi how on earth people afford all these vessels, and she informed me of what should have been obvious: when a woman gets married, her parents give her all those things as dowry.

Despite all this purchasing, I still don't have everything I need. The most important thing I don't have is a gas cylinder to hook up to the stove. So Chellapandi is cooking on a "Country stove" of sorts which is basically a kerosene stove. And it stinks. And there is only one burner. So why not just get a gas cylinder, you might ask? Why have a perfectly good stove just sitting there collecting dust? Because you need a freaking ration card, that's why. If you don't have one, you are screwed out of a lot of things. Foreigners don't have these. There's a lot of politics involved in the gas cylinder situation, among other things in my moving experience, but I'll save that for later. My landlady is being weird about it. Her dream and goal is for foreigners to live in her house, but without a gas cylinder there is no hope for this. I am too patient and foolish. Just yesterday morning she had told me she had two cylinders and I could use one. This was when she was in front of others so perhaps she was telling a different story, because by evening the tune had changed and now it's up to me to go around begging for a gas cylinder. We'll see how this goes.

So last night was the first night I slept in my new house. Curiously, at 1:30 AM someone rang the doorbell and I startled awake. I was completely petrified for a while and remained barricaded in my room, listening for any sounds. About 10 minutes later I snuck out and looked out the window but I didn't see anyone. This is unnerving to me because everyone knows that I am staying there alone, and at 1:30 AM in the morning EVERYONE is in bed and all lights are off, so I guess the only folks out are crazies or rowdies who like to ring doorbells and scare the shit out of white girls.

Okay, that is quite enough for now. I will post more pictures of the house soon, including an outside shot and some snaps of the neighborhood. It's certainly a "village" in lots of ways, and my very presence causes a stir and incites chaos every time I set foot outside, but I think I will like the area. The road, however, is the worst in Madurai, and you have to wait at least 30 minutes in the blaring sun for a bus sometimes, and these are my only complaints. Tamilarasi assured me, however, that the actor-turned-politician and Madurai man himself, Vijaykanth, has promised that his party will install a new road through BB Kulam. I'll be interested to see how this plays out!

Seenivasa Finance kindly provided this calendar,
and image of Balaji, for our puja yesterday.

Welcome to my hell, a.k.a. Anantha Metals.

View of one of the Meenakshi temple towers, downtown.

Proof of life....and of fever.

bedroom

developments!

Turns out that my morning visit to BB Kulam proved very productive. My expectations proved to be somewhat low. According to what I was told, I was expecting a small upstairs apartment in a very run down slum area. But it turns out that it would be a NEW house all to myself, attached to Tamilarasi's mother-in-law's residence, and the rent is unbeatable at Rs. 1500 per month (approx. $40). It's very much under renovation right now, but they've promised to get it in order in the next three days. The area is indeed considered a "poor area", and as Tamilarasi has said it is pretty much a "village", but the area in which this new house is set appears to be an area (albeit small) of middle-class aspirants and as such constitutes the perfect area for my research. People here were quite friendly and I feel very good about the area. So I couldn't be more stoked about it. I think the thing I am looking forward to most is installing my own drishti puusanikaay (evil eye pumpkin)!

There is still a lot to be done, and I am rather concerned about how quickly they can get this place in order, but I must say that it is a big relief to have found a place, and one that is ideally located for my project. It's a "fixer-upper" but I think it will turn out well. Furthermore I will be living next door to people that I can count on and trust, and people who are very happy to help with my project.

Today I have traipsed around far too much in the heat and I have a headache. Perhaps this evening I'll be meeting my painting teacher. When I called his house today his wife answered and was nearly hysterical with excitement because I am back in town. So it will certainly be good to see them! When I am missing home so much it is better to socialize as much as possible with friends here.

Looks like someone had to dispel some drishti this morning!
(This is a drishti pumpkin that was smashed
in the middle of an intersection.)

Occasionally one sees stray horses in Madurai,
usually much more pitiful that these two.

Settling down in Madurai, or at least trying to.

Getting ahold of working internet has been challenging the past few days. All day power cut one day, places randomly closed the next, internet that was available was super slow. Just like old times!!

The past few days I have been seeing old friends again which has been nice. The shock of being here again is starting to wear off. I've been searching for an apartment and I hope that something works out soon. I particularly would like to reside in a (reasonably) quiet neighborhood because I've been staying in Goripalayam which is an incredibly noisy and trafficy part of town.

Today I'm going to look at an apartment in BB Kulam. It's an flat upstairs from my friend's mother-in-law's house. Politics are involved. It's always risky to rent from friends because you feel obligated. It's going to be interesting because this place is a new house but is in a run down area, apparently. I hear that my potential landlord is keen on my moving in as she thinks a foreigner's presence will provide an impetus to neighbors to fix up their properties. HA! I am heading there is a half hour, and we will see if my presence creates a circus or not.

Yesterday I went to the movies with Tamilarasi and her two sons. Like a proper teenager, her oldest son sat as far away as possible from us and whistled at ear-splitting volume during the fight scenes. We went to the Jeya "A/C" theatre. A/C theatres are a total lie. We paid Rs. 30 each to sit in first class which was honestly about 90 degrees with hardly any fan. Since the first class section is higher up than the lower classes, the heat collects there. Next time I guarantee I'll pay Rs. 10 to sit with the rowdy "front-benchers" where it will probably at least be 10 degrees cooler.

Lots of new construction means lots of effigies!

Despite many more cars on the road, bullock carts are still
a reliable means for transporting goods around town.

Plenty of traffic

Lunch, not including the rice!

Tamilarasi and sons

Lufthansa sucks, Paramount Airlines does not.

Today, after having literally been taken for a ride all over creation by a cheating auto driver in Chennai, I've blown that popsickle stand and have made it safely to Madurai -- though I almost didn't get a flight down here today. It would appear that the lady with whom I tried to book the ticket three days ago didn't think I actually WANTED the ticket so she didn't buy it. I'm not sure what part of "I definitely want this ticket, please go ahead and book it for me" she didn't understand. I am sure that it was my fault, though. These amiguous interactions happen quite often here, and it isn't until after the fact that you realize there was a big misunderstanding and the person didn't mean what they seemed to be saying. It wasn't a language problem, but some other sort of communication breakdown.

So when I went downstairs this morning I discovered there was no ticket. Fortunately I was able to get a seat on this new Chennai-based airline "Paramount Airlines." At first I was worried because I have never heard of this airline. But it turns out there was nothing to worry. In fact, Paramount Airlines rules, as do all the other (private) domestic airlines in India that I have flown. Want to be treated like royalty? Then you need to fly on this airline. Want to be overcharged, cheated and treated like shit? Then please feel free to fly any American or European airlines.

The central idea behind Paramount airlines is that "everyone is business class." And they are serious. Plenty of room in the plane, no middle seats, two Tamil newspapers and The Hindu (English paper) at every seat for your reading pleasure. Before takeoff we were given bottled water, juices, candy, and a wet washcloth to scrub the air pollution off our faces. After takeoff we shot up into the air like a bullet, and within 5 minutes the friendly flight attendants were bringing us a three course meal. UNBELIEVABLE. This is a 55-minute flight, folks. I paid Lufthansa $1500 for them to (yet again) NOT register my mutiple advance requests/reminders for vegetarian food and to then have them guilt trip me on the plane and accuse me of lying when I insisted they locate some veg food. EARTH TO AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN AIRLINES! Take a clue from the private Indian airlines and start valuing your customers. Today I paid $75 to fly to Madurai and was treated like royalty. Furthermore, this Indian airline did NOT charge me for excess kilos (as a courtesy b/c I had flown from overseas) while Lufthansa stole an additional $50 from me at the Philadelphia airport.

I'm back in Madurai and am tired and dirty. Worried about getting myself settled here. Hopefully tomorrow will go okay.

This is what hospitality looks like on a 55-minute flight in India.

Outskirts of Madurai, from the plane.

It's quite a different pace on the outskirts of town.
And a nice break from hectic Chennai.