Turns out rooster blood is more useful than you might think

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

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

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

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

Rooster blood on the living room wall

makes for a very cozy atmosphere.

Rooster blood outside the front door =

highly affective antidote for the evil eye

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

Thought I was going to need stitches for this one.