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.

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...

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.

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!!!