welcome to paradise

I'm not one to romanticize village life over city life, but this past weekend I made a day trip to the nearby village of Mangulam and being there made me wonder why I ever decided to live in the city. Late November is a GLORIOUS time to be in Tamil Nadu. And the rural landscape of the southern districts of this fair state is really at its most beautiful this time of year. The tanks, irrigation channels, and rice paddies are full of post-monsoon water. The rice paddies and sugarcane fields are bright green and the sky is a dark clear blue. There is also a nice wind blowing at this time of year. The air in Mangalam was fresh and not choked with pollution like Madurai, and it was actually peaceful without the blare of car horns, blasting of crackers, booming radios, etc.

In somewhat typical village (and even city) style I was treated with overwhelming hospitality such that I ate two breakfasts and one enormous lunch, alone. And by eating alone I mean I was the only one eating -- with 25 people standing around watching me. And after the amazing lunch I was made to lay down and take rest on a special mat and was also carefully observed during nap time as well. Normally I would find it difficult to sleep under surveillance, but this day was different as we had just marched several miles in the hot sun to a festival out near Melur and I was exhausted. It was Kartigai Deepam, a very special day for Murugan. Because I was there the family arranged transport to a drop off point, from which we walked several kilometers to reach a huge festival going on basically in the middle of nowhere countryside. (It was funny to me that the only reason we took transport was because of me; otherwise they would have walked many more miles!) Here Murugan is worshipped with no statue or any image whatsoever. They say that if there is an image of God in this place it signifies a lack of faith among the people. Basically the "temple" is merely a platform covered in garlands that everyone circumambulates. The priests crack coconuts on it for devotees and distribute ash. Nearby there is a mountain of sand that people climb up, dumping handfuls of sand and salt on a plant at the top. They say that you should pray while doing this and whatever you ask for will be granted. Also near the temple there is a huge field filled with water. This water is considered holy, and one must remove their shoes to go into it and collect the water to take home. I was the only one participating in any of these rituals as the family I went with is still considered impure for several more days because of a death in the family. It was very nice of them to take me to this festival, just so I could witness it. And it was certainly a lot of fun, and the festival was like nothing I have ever seen. A lot of festivals are like this in Tamil Nadu. So many of them are completely unique.

On the way back to Madurai, we were treated to some very beautiful views of the countryside. It was evening when we boarded the bus, and since it was Karthigai Deepam everyone had lit lamps in the doorways, windows, and on the steps of their homes. It was quite a sight, and reminded me of Christmas in the U.S. except even more beautiful. I think this is probably my favorite holiday here, perhaps because it is so peaceful. But some people are introducing firecrackers/dynamite to the Karthigai Deepam celebrations, probably because they simply cannot help themselves. What else are you going to do with any atom bombs left over from Deepavali?

My dream house is straight ahead on the water's edge.

Mangulam, TN (Madurai district)

Collecting holy water

Dumping sand and salt on the mystery plant

This smiling man will give you a tattoo using the communal needle
pictured at the bottom of the photo. It's a bargain at Rs. 3 per tattoo!



Thankfully, much more benign body art is available at the festival.
For Rs. 1 this gentleman will put henna designs on the kids' hands.

My neighborhood, Meenakshipuram, is known for
very nice Karthigai Deepam displays.

It wasn't until after this picture was snapped that I noticed
the three interlopers behind us!

sambhar for thanksgiving

I hope y'all are having a very Happy Thanksgiving, wherever you are. The day here in Madurai has come to an end. I sure do wish I were home, in the US, right about now -- gorging on dressing and cranberry sauce. But the fact of the matter is, I'm thousands of miles away and feeling homesick. For dinner I had uppuma, taakkaali koottu, pumpkin (hey, that's sort of like Thanksgiving! Except this was sauteed in tons of spices), and eggplant. Quite tasty, but not what my heart exactly desires on Thanksgiving. We ate by candlelight because there was a power cut. I told Chellapandi that in the US fancy restaurants put candles on the tables and she thought that was pretty funny.

The past couple of weeks have been a rollercoaster with some very difficult moments. This is the reason I haven't blogged in a while. But before I recount recent events I'm just going to ease back into blogging again by putting up some happy pictures from life in Madurai. I just went through over a thousand pictures today, organizing all the drishti pumpkins and such, and I stumbled upon some nice pictures from the past few weeks. Hope you enjoy.

A new use for okra

Pet sheep in the sari shop?
Haven't quite figured this one out.

A moment of rest in the midst of Deepavali shopping madness

post-saappaadu (rice meals) euphoria

The one picture from Deepavali that sort of turned out.
I have a new digital camera that no one can figure out just yet.

Madurai sunset

deepavali: not for the faint of heart...

Deepavali: the most important Indian (Hindu) holiday. No one seems to know what it is "really" about, but the two most important things seem to be new clothes (shopping madness) and firecrackers (the more deafening, the better). Everyone is in the festive spirit, and this includes pooling your money together with the neighbors and buying a goat or two. I'm not sure where folks got the idea that Indians are (mostly) vegetarians. Because most of them love meat. They might not eat cows, but they love them some goat meat. Just tonight I was heading over to the medical stall to buy some honey (considered a medicine!) and I noticed a couple of (cute) goats tied out front, happily munching on fodder and oblivious to the giddily happy, salivating humans surrounding them. I immediately knew they were going to be lunch, and the neighbors had quite a good time joshing me about it. The fact that I am a vegetarian is something they respect but have a great time making fun of me about. Especially when I tell them that my family kept goats for 15 years, but as pets! They ask me if we ate them when they died and look disappointed and confused when I tell them no. Why would someone waste a perfectly good goat that people here would pay thousands of rupees for the (rare) pleasure of eating? I am trying to be an open-minded vegetarian, but I think I'll be absent tomorrow when these two oblivous goats go to the chopping block.

Deepavali: not exactly for goat-lovers.

I [heart] TN (pre-Deepavali)

Earlier I had been feeling homesick, or actually sick for a home -- any home that is at least semi-permanent. I was feeling sorry for myself, for still being completely itinerant at the age of 28 when my peers are settling down someplace and have a semblance of a stable, normal life (whatever that is). But then I started looking back at the photographic evidence of the past few months and started to get the feeling that there is something to be said for this sort of life as well, and that I am pretty lucky to be here. Probably in 10 years I'll be wishing I could be "free" again. Right now I am feeling that I really do [heart] TN. (TN meaning Tamil Nadu.)

Of course as I write this, my blood pressure is slowing inching up with each deafening and heart-attack inducing bomb (known euphemistically as Lakshmi Candle "firecrackers") that goes off in bursts of pre-Deepavali exuberance. It has just begun this evening. I first noticed them in Mahatma Gandhi Nagar this morning, and slowly but surely the explosions have spread like a cancer throughout the whole city. By Thursday I will be hating my life completely, as bombs will be going off twenty-four hours a day by then. My favorite is having crackers going off next to me as I walk down the road. So if I've got something nice to say about TN, I'd better say it now, pre-Deepavali firecrackers.

Resident of Madakulam, Madurai

Aiyannar Temple, Madakulam
Votive Cow


Foot statue votive, gifted upon completion of vow


Horse votives


Deputy of Aiyannar


Drishti pumpkin


Kan Drishti Ganapati


Drishti Donkeys: "Lucky Queen and Lucky King"
"Look at us and you'll be lucky"


Women's Art Celebration, Madurai


Tree shrine


My bling. Let me show you it.


Ganesh, downtown Madurai


Digital Darshan of Mary and Jesus


Veelaankanni Maata

Two Madurai Spinsters

processions: men vs. women

October 30th was the 100th birth anniversary of Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar (a hero of the Thevar caste). Thevar Jeyanthi has been notorious for inter-caste riots and violence, and just as recently as a few years ago individuals tended to go slightly overboard in their exuberance, brandishing sickles in the middle of the major Goripalayam intersection where the Thevar statue is located. There is often tension between Thevars and Scheduled Castes (Dalits) throughout Tamil Nadu, particularly in the southern districts. Just before Thevar Jeyanthi, a statue of Ambedkar was "disrespected" in Madurai leading to the stoning of buses. It is difficult to find out exactly what happened to this statue, because the media will not print such details. (It is illegal to print or say things which might inflame or incite religious or communal tensions, and this seems to include newspapers and other media outlets covering such incidents in detail. Just a few weeks back a radio DJ up in NE India made some apparently racist comments against the runner-up of Indian Idol, but it was impossible to find out what these comments were because no one would print them. It is also illegal to "hurt someone's religious sentiments" and often this is interpreted very liberally.) The Chief Minister of TN just named the Madurai airport "Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar Airport," an action which many individuals (particularly those from the Scheduled Castes) tend to interpret as an assertion of Thevar supremacy. Needless to say it is all very controversial and I will refrain from saying any more.

Things have changed a lot in the past few years, and you don't see sickles at Goripalayam. There was violence in other districts, and a member of Parliament did get stabbed in the stomach on the way to Madurai, but Goripalayam (the epicenter of the Madurai celebrations) was relatively under control, at least when I went there in the morning. I took a couple of short videos of the exuberance, and I thought it was interesting to compare the way that women and men conduct processions. The women's procession consisted of women and young girls walking in an orderly line around the statue carrying molleppaari (sprouts, considered holy, usually grown for religious festivals) on their heads. The men's "procession," on the other hand, consisted of circling the statue over and over again at top speed hanging off the sides of vehicles, whooping and hollering and whistling at the top of their lungs. Men and young boys were also dancing; Tamilarasi wanted to leave because she said they were dancing "obscenely" because of me. It didn't seem any more obscene than usual, but we left before things got too crazy (read: after the women's procession was over).

Men's "procession"

Women's procession