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...
Saturday, April 19, 2008
south India tour
My parents recently joined me here in our fair Tamil Nadu for a whirlwind 11-day non-stop tour of south India. We managed to visit two states and six cities and saw everything from IT parks to nature preserves. We visited palaces, temples, and shopping malls, and traveled by plane, train, autorickshaw, bus, and automobile. The A/C Scorpio car from Mudumalai to Mysore was probably the most posh way we traveled, except that the driver was completely deranged and drove at terrifying speeds through crowds of people. I was so carsick I was prostrate in the backseat, but I managed to get up long enough to tell him his driving was horrifying us and he did manage to take it down a notch after that. My parents favorite mode of transport, however, was undoubtedly the "slab train" as they called it, seeing as how the "beds" resembled slabs. (It might be called "sleeper" train but for them sleep did not appear to be an option.) The highlights of the trip were the elephants and wild dogs in Mudumalai. We started off with south Indian cuisine three meals a day, but by the end of the trip we were chowing down on pizza in Mysore and Subway in Chennai. Admittedly this isn't exactly the best way to introduce folks to the local cuisine, but seeing these titillating American food items in the big city made me feel like a convict who has been locked in an idli-dosai jail for the past year and a half.
I highly recommend the Chennai - Madurai - Coimbatore - Ooty - Mudumalai - Mysore - Chennai itinerary, though by the end of the trip I don't think you have ever seen three more tired human beings than we were -- and I think we are all still recovering a week later. After I dropped my parents off at the airport last Saturday night, I don't think I have ever been so exhausted in my life, but I ended up going to a three hour Tamil movie starting at 10PM! I did this for my good friend in Chennai who I hadn't seen in a very long time. I felt bad, however, because I think I must have fallen asleep during the movie at least a dozen times. I came back to Madurai looking like I had been run over by a lorry. I got a croup cough in Ooty and developed a stomach problem (most likely from yet another evil mango, if you will recall a previous posting some month's back), so a couple of days ago Renuka had me drinking an unidentifiable liquid which was the most foul-smelling stuff with an odor like poison and a taste worse than anything you could imagine. You are supposed to chase this stuff with pure sugar. I drank it only because they told me they give it to babies, and I figured if it was safe for them it'd be safe for me. I feel asleep soon after consuming the concoction, and when I woke up 2 hours later my stomach problem was gone. A highly unpleasant and suspect home remedy, but with positive results. Again I have been scolded for consuming the "heating" mango, but I think it is rather the 40C heat outside that could be to blame. Call me crazy.
Eruption!!! Highlight of birdwatching in Mudumalai:
White-bellied Minivet.
Chamundi Hill, Mysore;
in front of statue of demon that the goddess killed.
Mysore Palace
We saw at least 15 wild elephants at Mudumalai NWR
Spotted Deer
Langur
First in a series of cow pics; devotees (and calves)
wait in line for darshan at Chamundeeshvari Temple, Mysore
Cow in doorway, Chamundi Hill;
Looks like they used the same housepaint on his horns.
One of the biggest Nandi (Shiva's vehicle) statues in India.
Joy rides available to foreigners for an extra Rs. 50.
Scientology is in India, folks!!!
I highly recommend the Chennai - Madurai - Coimbatore - Ooty - Mudumalai - Mysore - Chennai itinerary, though by the end of the trip I don't think you have ever seen three more tired human beings than we were -- and I think we are all still recovering a week later. After I dropped my parents off at the airport last Saturday night, I don't think I have ever been so exhausted in my life, but I ended up going to a three hour Tamil movie starting at 10PM! I did this for my good friend in Chennai who I hadn't seen in a very long time. I felt bad, however, because I think I must have fallen asleep during the movie at least a dozen times. I came back to Madurai looking like I had been run over by a lorry. I got a croup cough in Ooty and developed a stomach problem (most likely from yet another evil mango, if you will recall a previous posting some month's back), so a couple of days ago Renuka had me drinking an unidentifiable liquid which was the most foul-smelling stuff with an odor like poison and a taste worse than anything you could imagine. You are supposed to chase this stuff with pure sugar. I drank it only because they told me they give it to babies, and I figured if it was safe for them it'd be safe for me. I feel asleep soon after consuming the concoction, and when I woke up 2 hours later my stomach problem was gone. A highly unpleasant and suspect home remedy, but with positive results. Again I have been scolded for consuming the "heating" mango, but I think it is rather the 40C heat outside that could be to blame. Call me crazy.
Ooty actually felt "cold" from time to time.
Eruption!!! Highlight of birdwatching in Mudumalai:White-bellied Minivet.
Chamundi Hill, Mysore;in front of statue of demon that the goddess killed.
Mysore Palace
We saw at least 15 wild elephants at Mudumalai NWR
Spotted Deer
Langur
First in a series of cow pics; devotees (and calves)wait in line for darshan at Chamundeeshvari Temple, Mysore
Cow in doorway, Chamundi Hill;Looks like they used the same housepaint on his horns.
One of the biggest Nandi (Shiva's vehicle) statues in India.
Joy rides available to foreigners for an extra Rs. 50.
Scientology is in India, folks!!!Sunday, March 23, 2008
nothing says happy easter like a high-noon stoning
While most Americans were having happy dreams of microwaving marshmallow peeps and Cadbury bunnies laying chocolate eggs, I was getting stoned by the locals. Let me tell you, nothing says "home" like being afraid to walk to the end of the road by yourself on a Sunday afternoon. Nothing says, "I'm a human being just like anyone else," like having fruits and vegetables thrown at you while people who have been seeing you pretty much every day for more than a year make fun of you and call you the local equivalent of names like "honky" and "ghost" and "whitey". And nothing says "Happy Easter" like having a large stone thrown at you while you are walking down the road. Fortunately it "only" hit me on the shoulder, but it hurt and it made me very upset. It was thrown from on top of a building and if it had hit me on the head, then what? When you have stones thrown at you, you get the feeling that you are not being seen as a human being, but something more akin to a dog perhaps. Because people throw stones at dogs, not humans.
I've had things thrown at me here before. Fruits like sapotta and also tubers (surprisingly painful). When kids throw things at me it makes me upset, but when adults do it it really makes you wonder. However, I usually just ignore it and keep going. But today I didn't let it go; I stood my ground. I almost let it go, because what I really wanted to do is run away. But all the constant harassment and objectification I've experienced in this area over the past year really boiled up inside of me, and I felt incredibly upset to be treated this way after living here for so long. Today it was a teenage boy who threw the stone at me. He had excellent aim (unless he was aiming for my head) and should perhaps consider a career as a cricket pitcher (or are they called hurlers?). And let me tell you, he ended up apologizing. The locals were begging me not to call the police. I delivered quite an impassioned speech, if I do say so myself, and was carrying on about how I am not an animal, but a human, and they need to leave me alone while I am walking down the street because I am sick and tired of being intimidated to walk down the street. First it's fruits and vegetables, then stones, and then what? It's time to stand up for myself or else I am going to get run over repeatedly. While I was carrying on, people were remarking: "Wow! She speaks Tamil!" as if I had mistakenly been stoned because people thought I didn't know Tamil (partially true). The angle that seemed to work best in getting sympathy from the huge crowd that gathered for the spectacle was asking folks if it is part of Tamil culture to stone white girls.
The good news is that after one year in Meenakshipuram I have finally stood up for myself and something tells me I won't be stoned henceforth while walking to BB Kulam. Immediately after the incident I ended up meeting some very nice people who took a genuine interest in me. They asked me why I was living in such a horrible part of town. That's a very good question. Let's hope that the next four months are stone free.
Sundays in Meenakshipuram are all about giving thanks to God
for the blessing of the wine shops.
I've had things thrown at me here before. Fruits like sapotta and also tubers (surprisingly painful). When kids throw things at me it makes me upset, but when adults do it it really makes you wonder. However, I usually just ignore it and keep going. But today I didn't let it go; I stood my ground. I almost let it go, because what I really wanted to do is run away. But all the constant harassment and objectification I've experienced in this area over the past year really boiled up inside of me, and I felt incredibly upset to be treated this way after living here for so long. Today it was a teenage boy who threw the stone at me. He had excellent aim (unless he was aiming for my head) and should perhaps consider a career as a cricket pitcher (or are they called hurlers?). And let me tell you, he ended up apologizing. The locals were begging me not to call the police. I delivered quite an impassioned speech, if I do say so myself, and was carrying on about how I am not an animal, but a human, and they need to leave me alone while I am walking down the street because I am sick and tired of being intimidated to walk down the street. First it's fruits and vegetables, then stones, and then what? It's time to stand up for myself or else I am going to get run over repeatedly. While I was carrying on, people were remarking: "Wow! She speaks Tamil!" as if I had mistakenly been stoned because people thought I didn't know Tamil (partially true). The angle that seemed to work best in getting sympathy from the huge crowd that gathered for the spectacle was asking folks if it is part of Tamil culture to stone white girls.
The good news is that after one year in Meenakshipuram I have finally stood up for myself and something tells me I won't be stoned henceforth while walking to BB Kulam. Immediately after the incident I ended up meeting some very nice people who took a genuine interest in me. They asked me why I was living in such a horrible part of town. That's a very good question. Let's hope that the next four months are stone free.
Sundays in Meenakshipuram are all about giving thanks to Godfor the blessing of the wine shops.
Friday, March 21, 2008
nearly falling head-first and backwards out of the bus is embarrassing...
....it's also dangerous, and scary. Today was one of those days. 80 year old grandmas manage to remain upright while an overcrowded Indian bus lurches left and right and rumbles over huge potholes, slamming on the brakes frequently and without any warning whatsoever. Meanwhile I fall over easily, even when I'm holding on to an overhead bar. I've fallen on top of people from time to time, and it's always embarrassing, but today was the worst. I was holding an umbrella and my bag and was trying to get two damn rupees out of my bag when the bus lurched and I fell backwards. I don't know how I didn't fall out of the bus head-first and backwards, because I was right in front of the entrance (three steps leading down to an opening with no door) to the bus and it was unobstructed. I flew across the bus and somehow or another ended up ass-first on top of a woman right who was right next to the exit. Lucky for me I landed on her, but I think she would have rather I fell out of the bus because she was really angry and started screaming at me. "CAN'T YOU HOLD THE DAMN BAR??" I looked like a total idiot who almost died because she wasn't holding onto the bar. People started grabbing my things and trying to help me the best they could. "Hold the bar!!" But if you don't keep your change purse inside your bra like most women here you require two hands to get your change out. And for this I nearly died.
going by bus in India is cheap, but it sucks.
going by bus in India is cheap, but it sucks.Saturday, March 15, 2008
procession of goodies
There were some technical difficulties in the previous post, but I managed to get the video up this time.
being Tamil is expensive
Thought y'all might like this video. It's a short movie showing the procession of lady relatives bringing gifts to a ritual ear piercing for two kids, ages 3 and 6. These sorts of processions are known as ciir, and all sorts of auspicious occasions require them. They are accompanied by bursting firecrackers, virtual dynamite explosions, and marching bands. Relations are expected to provide gifts and cash to the tune of thousands (and sometimes tens of thousands) of rupees at events such as ear-piercings, weddings, and coming-of-age ceremonies. Money gifts are recorded in a ledger, with name and address and amount of cash being meticulously written down. If you don't have cash when a relation is having a function, you either pawn some gold jewelry if you have it, or you get a loan from a local moneylender at exorbitant interest rates.
If you're low on cash, it's a good idea to have a function. At this particular ear-piercing the family made Rs. 120,000. They're going to build a house with the money. It's interesting to note that while the whole point of these functions is to squeeze tens of thousands of rupees out of your relations and closest friends, people aren't supposed to do up their functions too grand because people will talk about them being too ostentatious. So at this function, the meal was veg and no goat meat was served. People brought a live goat along as the ciir was being marched in, but it turns out the relatives took the goat back home with them when the function was over. The family also didn't hire a professional photographer or videographer (the reason for which, I am told, was to avoid being too ostentatious), but they took care to invite two foreigners with cameras who were instructed to take hundreds of photos of every aspect of the function.
Some people don't even bother disguising the fact that their functions are all about the Benjamins, or Gandhis as the case is here. Recently I went to a coming-of-age ceremony in a village about one hour from Madurai. When we reached the venue I was greeted by a girl about 12 years old whom I assumed to be the reason for the function. Then a little while later a girl shows up all decked out in what was actually wedding jewelry and I was really confused as to what was going on. Well, it turns out the girl in the wedding finery was the one having the coming-of-age ceremony, and she was 21 years old!!! She came of age probably ten years ago, but her family decided to have a "do-over" so they could advertise her for marriage...and rake in Rs. 300,000!!! A handy sum when you are about to spend every penny you have on dowry gold. It comes as no surprise that everyone I know is in debt up to their ears because of ritual obligations. During the last ear-piercing we went to, a friend of mine was horribly embarassed because she could only give Rs. 3000 (more than twice the monthly salary of a day-laborer). Luckily she wasn't one of the in-laws or she would have been laying down Rs. 10,000 easily -- plus gold earrings, chains, and rings. This doesn't count all the vessels, fruits, and clothing that come as part of the ciir. Compare this with the price of the punch bowl you had to buy from that wedding registry in the States and you realize just how expensive it is to be a Tamil.
If you're low on cash, it's a good idea to have a function. At this particular ear-piercing the family made Rs. 120,000. They're going to build a house with the money. It's interesting to note that while the whole point of these functions is to squeeze tens of thousands of rupees out of your relations and closest friends, people aren't supposed to do up their functions too grand because people will talk about them being too ostentatious. So at this function, the meal was veg and no goat meat was served. People brought a live goat along as the ciir was being marched in, but it turns out the relatives took the goat back home with them when the function was over. The family also didn't hire a professional photographer or videographer (the reason for which, I am told, was to avoid being too ostentatious), but they took care to invite two foreigners with cameras who were instructed to take hundreds of photos of every aspect of the function.
Some people don't even bother disguising the fact that their functions are all about the Benjamins, or Gandhis as the case is here. Recently I went to a coming-of-age ceremony in a village about one hour from Madurai. When we reached the venue I was greeted by a girl about 12 years old whom I assumed to be the reason for the function. Then a little while later a girl shows up all decked out in what was actually wedding jewelry and I was really confused as to what was going on. Well, it turns out the girl in the wedding finery was the one having the coming-of-age ceremony, and she was 21 years old!!! She came of age probably ten years ago, but her family decided to have a "do-over" so they could advertise her for marriage...and rake in Rs. 300,000!!! A handy sum when you are about to spend every penny you have on dowry gold. It comes as no surprise that everyone I know is in debt up to their ears because of ritual obligations. During the last ear-piercing we went to, a friend of mine was horribly embarassed because she could only give Rs. 3000 (more than twice the monthly salary of a day-laborer). Luckily she wasn't one of the in-laws or she would have been laying down Rs. 10,000 easily -- plus gold earrings, chains, and rings. This doesn't count all the vessels, fruits, and clothing that come as part of the ciir. Compare this with the price of the punch bowl you had to buy from that wedding registry in the States and you realize just how expensive it is to be a Tamil.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
hoping there isn't a lemon somewhere with my name on it
I'm sorry for not having updated in a while. Hopefully I haven't lost too many dear readers. What little of my time hasn't been consumed by a family drama that would rival most Tamil soap operas, has been spent documenting cases of witchcraft that hopefully don't involve me.
A couple of weeks ago on the way to a neighboring village an advertisement in the bus caught my eye. It was a woman astrologer/priestess/witch advertising her services to the public at large. Since then I have seen her ad on at least two other Madurai buses. Is "witch" too pejorative of a word to use in your research? Well, I am calling her a witch because she practices witchcraft. She's got spells to use on your family, on men, on women, in school, on the job, and to make you rich. She also has cures for malignant astrological influences. She'll read your horoscope and your palm while she's at it.
I never really paid much attention to witchcraft until I moved to this neighborhood. Around these parts it's being practiced constantly, and usually it's wives who use it to control their husbands and to quote "make them like an obedient dog circling around your leg." Interestingly this form of witchcraft, vasiyam or mai as it is called in Tamil, seems to more often turn men into drooling idiots which I suppose is a form of control which could result in obedience. If your mother-in-law is bad, you'd better hope she doesn't get a hold of a magical lemon from one of these witches because she might plant it under your threshold and destroy your life. One of these days I'm going to write up a post just on the uses of lemons in Tamil culture. Because these little devils have dozens of uses and can convey mad powers, both auspicious and malevolent.
So, I had seen this ad in the bus and got curious. It turns out she lives in the same neighborhood as my painting teacher. I asked him about her and not only does he know who she is, it turns out his younger brother ran off with her 35 years ago. It turns out she was having a puja consecrating a new Kali temple that she has constructed right next to her house (usually a no-no as Kali is a ferocious goddess that you aren't supposed to worship in your home, as she is easily angered by the slightest errors and lack of diligence regarding ritual pollution. The priest at this puja was very careful to advise her on this.) My painting teacher informed me of the puja and I went there along with my trusted associate/research assistant.
When we arrived they were in the middle of the sacred bonfire (a.k.a. yaaham) and the priests were pouring oblations of ghee, milk, curd, honey and other auspicious items into the fire. The high priestess (who shall remain nameless as I am shit scared of her) immediately received me like royalty and put a garland that weighed several pounds on my neck. The puja stopped long enough for me to be photographed and videotaped (apparently these media would later be used as advertisements for the temple!) This really angered one of the actual VIPs in attendance, a woman who had donated Rs. 50,000 towards the construction of the temple. She ended up pouting and stomping out of the puja at several points. She was 100 times scarier than any witch and I certainly hope she doesn't scrawl my name on a lemon in a fit of rage.
After the photos and video were taken the puja resumed. The priest began to pour what he called "blood" into the sacrifical fire but I consulted a neighbor and discovered this was fake blood consisting of kungumam and honey -- which is a good recipe to keep in mind for Halloween. The room was so smoky that even my Tamil associate had to run outside gasping for breath. There were drishti pumpkins and lemons everywhere. The lemons came in handy at the end of the puja (post-abishekam) when the priestess received the garland off the Kali idol and immediately became possessed. She was flailing all over the room and the Brahmin priests (who I imagine aren't accustomed to possessions) tried desperately to control her. She actually fell ONTO THE FIRE which as you can see below is actually quite significant. She was unscathed. The priest called for a blessed lemon and they held her still long enough to squeeze the juice into her mouth at which point she immediately became calm and Kali left her. I think my research assistant doubted the authenticity of this possession for reasons I won't get into here, but both of us were too scared of divine retribution to consider the matter further.
At the very end of the puja we took blessings from the priestess. My research assistant prostrated, I took some kungumam from her, and then we promptly high-tailed it out of there. I was scared they were going to demand tens of thousands of rupees from me, and the VIP lady was boring holes into my head with her eyes. Turns out we left before the distribution of prasad, and they ended up sending a bunch of lemon rice and other tasty items to my painting teacher's house for us. I felt really bad for escaping like that, mostly because the hostess received me so nicely and it seemed rude to leave, but I also felt bad for escaping because I am scared of angering said hostess. And for good reason because I don't want her using her lemons against me.
Kali puja was carefully documented by video camera
for subsequent digital darshan.
My painting teacher painted this as a drishti prophylactic outside the new temple;
He did it for free. As he put it, you've got to keep your friends close, and
practitioners of witchcraft closer. A smart policy.
A couple of weeks ago on the way to a neighboring village an advertisement in the bus caught my eye. It was a woman astrologer/priestess/witch advertising her services to the public at large. Since then I have seen her ad on at least two other Madurai buses. Is "witch" too pejorative of a word to use in your research? Well, I am calling her a witch because she practices witchcraft. She's got spells to use on your family, on men, on women, in school, on the job, and to make you rich. She also has cures for malignant astrological influences. She'll read your horoscope and your palm while she's at it.
I never really paid much attention to witchcraft until I moved to this neighborhood. Around these parts it's being practiced constantly, and usually it's wives who use it to control their husbands and to quote "make them like an obedient dog circling around your leg." Interestingly this form of witchcraft, vasiyam or mai as it is called in Tamil, seems to more often turn men into drooling idiots which I suppose is a form of control which could result in obedience. If your mother-in-law is bad, you'd better hope she doesn't get a hold of a magical lemon from one of these witches because she might plant it under your threshold and destroy your life. One of these days I'm going to write up a post just on the uses of lemons in Tamil culture. Because these little devils have dozens of uses and can convey mad powers, both auspicious and malevolent.
So, I had seen this ad in the bus and got curious. It turns out she lives in the same neighborhood as my painting teacher. I asked him about her and not only does he know who she is, it turns out his younger brother ran off with her 35 years ago. It turns out she was having a puja consecrating a new Kali temple that she has constructed right next to her house (usually a no-no as Kali is a ferocious goddess that you aren't supposed to worship in your home, as she is easily angered by the slightest errors and lack of diligence regarding ritual pollution. The priest at this puja was very careful to advise her on this.) My painting teacher informed me of the puja and I went there along with my trusted associate/research assistant.
When we arrived they were in the middle of the sacred bonfire (a.k.a. yaaham) and the priests were pouring oblations of ghee, milk, curd, honey and other auspicious items into the fire. The high priestess (who shall remain nameless as I am shit scared of her) immediately received me like royalty and put a garland that weighed several pounds on my neck. The puja stopped long enough for me to be photographed and videotaped (apparently these media would later be used as advertisements for the temple!) This really angered one of the actual VIPs in attendance, a woman who had donated Rs. 50,000 towards the construction of the temple. She ended up pouting and stomping out of the puja at several points. She was 100 times scarier than any witch and I certainly hope she doesn't scrawl my name on a lemon in a fit of rage.
After the photos and video were taken the puja resumed. The priest began to pour what he called "blood" into the sacrifical fire but I consulted a neighbor and discovered this was fake blood consisting of kungumam and honey -- which is a good recipe to keep in mind for Halloween. The room was so smoky that even my Tamil associate had to run outside gasping for breath. There were drishti pumpkins and lemons everywhere. The lemons came in handy at the end of the puja (post-abishekam) when the priestess received the garland off the Kali idol and immediately became possessed. She was flailing all over the room and the Brahmin priests (who I imagine aren't accustomed to possessions) tried desperately to control her. She actually fell ONTO THE FIRE which as you can see below is actually quite significant. She was unscathed. The priest called for a blessed lemon and they held her still long enough to squeeze the juice into her mouth at which point she immediately became calm and Kali left her. I think my research assistant doubted the authenticity of this possession for reasons I won't get into here, but both of us were too scared of divine retribution to consider the matter further.
At the very end of the puja we took blessings from the priestess. My research assistant prostrated, I took some kungumam from her, and then we promptly high-tailed it out of there. I was scared they were going to demand tens of thousands of rupees from me, and the VIP lady was boring holes into my head with her eyes. Turns out we left before the distribution of prasad, and they ended up sending a bunch of lemon rice and other tasty items to my painting teacher's house for us. I felt really bad for escaping like that, mostly because the hostess received me so nicely and it seemed rude to leave, but I also felt bad for escaping because I am scared of angering said hostess. And for good reason because I don't want her using her lemons against me.
I was pleased to note heavy use of drishti pumpkins in this puja.
Kali puja was carefully documented by video camerafor subsequent digital darshan.
My painting teacher painted this as a drishti prophylactic outside the new temple;He did it for free. As he put it, you've got to keep your friends close, and
practitioners of witchcraft closer. A smart policy.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
no love
Valentine's Day is India is always quite a bit deal for lots of people, especially College students and youth. It's getting bigger every year, and so are the protests. This year was no exception. In cities across India, hardliners gathered together in mobs to burn valentine's cards, raid shops, and break up couples caught canoodling in public to "advise" them against the dangers of Valentine's Day, an evil American holiday that is corrupting Indian youth and culture. "Advising" couples about the evils of love often involves threatening to beat or manhandle them, but that's another story altogether.
Here in Madurai we were fortunate enough this year to get some Valentine's protests. A hitherto unheard of hardline group took it upon themselves to burn not just Valentine's cards, but a pair of (white) dolls that were supposed to represent "lovers." Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the doll burning. The pictures in the paper were basically just scenes of chaos. I really wanted to see footage of the white American dolls being burned at the stake.
According to the chief of the Shiv Sena's North Indian branch, Jai Bhagwan Goel: "We have come to know that in America, even unmarried girls as young as 11 or 12 years have become mothers ... and every second man there is divorced," Goel told reporters after reducing several greeting cards to a small pile of ash. "This is their culture— it cannot be accepted here."
I'm certainly not the first to defend American culture, but these anti-Valentines folks need to read the Tamil newspapers every day if they think that India is some puritanical land. These stories, and daily-life in my neighborhood for that matter, make The Jerry Springer Show look like Mr. Roger's neighborhood.
"Protest Valantine Day!"
Here in Madurai we were fortunate enough this year to get some Valentine's protests. A hitherto unheard of hardline group took it upon themselves to burn not just Valentine's cards, but a pair of (white) dolls that were supposed to represent "lovers." Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the doll burning. The pictures in the paper were basically just scenes of chaos. I really wanted to see footage of the white American dolls being burned at the stake.
According to the chief of the Shiv Sena's North Indian branch, Jai Bhagwan Goel: "We have come to know that in America, even unmarried girls as young as 11 or 12 years have become mothers ... and every second man there is divorced," Goel told reporters after reducing several greeting cards to a small pile of ash. "This is their culture— it cannot be accepted here."
I'm certainly not the first to defend American culture, but these anti-Valentines folks need to read the Tamil newspapers every day if they think that India is some puritanical land. These stories, and daily-life in my neighborhood for that matter, make The Jerry Springer Show look like Mr. Roger's neighborhood.
"Protest Valantine Day!"Thursday, February 7, 2008
train strikes elephants, pregnant women in state of panic
A Tamil daily, Madurai Mani, was running the headline today: "Aborted baby elephant's death: Should pregnant women panic?" I immediately purchased this paper to get the scoop. A few days ago three elephants were tragically mowed down and killed by a train running in the mountainous regions of NW Tamil Nadu. Apparently the elephants did not hear the train as its engine is electric, not diesel, and it was much quieter than most trains. Once the train hit the elephants, the driver tried to get out to access the situation but was unable as he was surrounded by a herd of elephants. Upon impact a fully-formed male elephant baby was immediately aborted from its mother's body. This picture ran in many of the newspapers.
Well, it turns out that this news hasn't been taken too well by people across Tamil Nadu. If you are at all familiar with the very popular Hindu god Ganesh (a.k.a. Pillaiyar and Vinayagar, in Tamil), who has an elephant's head, you know that elephants are pretty important here in India. Elephants are considered manifestations of Pillaiyar, and the fact that a baby elephant died during this accident isn't boding well for folks here -- and for pregnant women in particular. This death of the baby elephant is being taken as a very inauspicious sign for pregnant women. But the papers are telling people, don't panic, you can do some protective rituals for Pillaiyar and it will be okay.
I'll provide more details from the article in the next post. In the meantime we are currently dealing with some major drama. I wish I could write about it here, but I can't. People are okay, but it's just some insane drama that you couldn't even imagine. I will have to tell you about it in person someday. Or by email!
After some research I discovered the sad fact
that elephant/train accidents are fairly common in India.
Well, it turns out that this news hasn't been taken too well by people across Tamil Nadu. If you are at all familiar with the very popular Hindu god Ganesh (a.k.a. Pillaiyar and Vinayagar, in Tamil), who has an elephant's head, you know that elephants are pretty important here in India. Elephants are considered manifestations of Pillaiyar, and the fact that a baby elephant died during this accident isn't boding well for folks here -- and for pregnant women in particular. This death of the baby elephant is being taken as a very inauspicious sign for pregnant women. But the papers are telling people, don't panic, you can do some protective rituals for Pillaiyar and it will be okay.
I'll provide more details from the article in the next post. In the meantime we are currently dealing with some major drama. I wish I could write about it here, but I can't. People are okay, but it's just some insane drama that you couldn't even imagine. I will have to tell you about it in person someday. Or by email!
After some research I discovered the sad factthat elephant/train accidents are fairly common in India.
Friday, February 1, 2008
photography by B. Tamilarasi
After a much needed break, I am safely back in Madurai. While at home I got to catch up with friends I haven't seen for a very long time. I was flattered to learn that folks have been reading my blog religiously! So I am resurrecting this blog now after a hiatus. I hope you enjoy, and make some comments from time to time. I am sure there will be many more embarrassing and potentially interesting things to take place over the next six months.
Each time I return to India, even after a relatively brief hiatus, I feel as though I am coming here for the first time. This time was no different. After only a few weeks my Tamil had become like a rusty wheel. I was taken aback by the Indian service and hospitality, especially after just having spent time in Philadelphia where service encounters of any kind are often excruciating. My last service encounter in the United States was at the airport in Newark when I bought an overpriced bottle of water; the "staff" were literally lying half asleep on the counter and customers were treated at best as hostile nuisances, at worst as invisible entities.
Flash forward to my hotel in Chennai where the service and attention were so over the top it was actually quite a bit suffocating. After every service encounter I was presented with a comment form asking for my evaluation of the service. I signed no less than five different forms on at least three different occasions confirming that I had indeed paid a Rs. 4000 deposit upon check in. I received a call merely six hours after check-in asking if I wanted my room cleaned. I said no, but when I came back during the afternoon there was a man hard at work cleaning what was already a spotlessly clean bathroom. I tried to give him a tip but he refused; he was merely doing his job. While I was trying to sleep off the jetlag in the middle of the afternoon, reception called to ask if I liked the hotel. At the complimentary breakfast buffet, staff rushed to serve the guests. At dinner I told the waiter I would spoon the dhal onto the plate myself and he looked like he was going to cry.
I reached Madurai and was very happy to see my friends again. People seemed happy to have me back in the neighborhood. I had brought one of the neighbors a bottle of Jim Beam and I have never seen him so happy. The local men had quite a fun night on Tuesday it would seem. Regrettably I discovered upon my return that I had basically been robbed blind while I was away, but that's another story altogether.
While I was out of town I gave my good friend and brilliant research assistant Tamilarasi a digital camera to take photos while I was away, mainly because I was missing Pongal this year. I have included some of those here, with her permission. I think she will be pleased to see them published on the web. She wasn't able to get photos of decorated bulls (a traditional part of the Pongal festival) because the owners said that taking photos of them would cause them to be damaged by the evil eye. One owner cited an instance in which a foreigner had taken a picture of his bull, thereby putting the evil eye on it. The bull then ran away, never to be seen again. I am guessing it might be a little difficult for me to get an interview with this guy.
Taking off the evil eye immediately upon my return
A decorated doorway at Pongal
Pongal kolam featuring the obligatory pongal pots and sugarcane
decorated calf at maaddu pongal or "cow Pongal" --
one of the three day of Pongal on which cows and bulls get rest
Pongal kolam
the horns of cows and bulls are freshly painted on Pongal
evil eye repellent at gate of house
Each time I return to India, even after a relatively brief hiatus, I feel as though I am coming here for the first time. This time was no different. After only a few weeks my Tamil had become like a rusty wheel. I was taken aback by the Indian service and hospitality, especially after just having spent time in Philadelphia where service encounters of any kind are often excruciating. My last service encounter in the United States was at the airport in Newark when I bought an overpriced bottle of water; the "staff" were literally lying half asleep on the counter and customers were treated at best as hostile nuisances, at worst as invisible entities.
Flash forward to my hotel in Chennai where the service and attention were so over the top it was actually quite a bit suffocating. After every service encounter I was presented with a comment form asking for my evaluation of the service. I signed no less than five different forms on at least three different occasions confirming that I had indeed paid a Rs. 4000 deposit upon check in. I received a call merely six hours after check-in asking if I wanted my room cleaned. I said no, but when I came back during the afternoon there was a man hard at work cleaning what was already a spotlessly clean bathroom. I tried to give him a tip but he refused; he was merely doing his job. While I was trying to sleep off the jetlag in the middle of the afternoon, reception called to ask if I liked the hotel. At the complimentary breakfast buffet, staff rushed to serve the guests. At dinner I told the waiter I would spoon the dhal onto the plate myself and he looked like he was going to cry.
I reached Madurai and was very happy to see my friends again. People seemed happy to have me back in the neighborhood. I had brought one of the neighbors a bottle of Jim Beam and I have never seen him so happy. The local men had quite a fun night on Tuesday it would seem. Regrettably I discovered upon my return that I had basically been robbed blind while I was away, but that's another story altogether.
While I was out of town I gave my good friend and brilliant research assistant Tamilarasi a digital camera to take photos while I was away, mainly because I was missing Pongal this year. I have included some of those here, with her permission. I think she will be pleased to see them published on the web. She wasn't able to get photos of decorated bulls (a traditional part of the Pongal festival) because the owners said that taking photos of them would cause them to be damaged by the evil eye. One owner cited an instance in which a foreigner had taken a picture of his bull, thereby putting the evil eye on it. The bull then ran away, never to be seen again. I am guessing it might be a little difficult for me to get an interview with this guy.
Taking off the evil eye immediately upon my return
A decorated doorway at Pongal
Pongal kolam featuring the obligatory pongal pots and sugarcane
decorated calf at maaddu pongal or "cow Pongal" --one of the three day of Pongal on which cows and bulls get rest
Pongal kolam
the horns of cows and bulls are freshly painted on Pongal
evil eye repellent at gate of house
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