Today Tamilarasi and I made our way downtown for various purchases such as cloth for her son's school uniform and bangles to wear to a nearby function tomorrow morning. Seeing as how my stomach operates according to a very strict schedule, by the time 1:30 PM rolled around I was about to die of hunger. I reluctantly decided that we would eat in a very busy meals place right beside the Meenakshi Temple. I was reluctant because places by the temple, pretty much any temple, aren't exactly renowned for cleanliness and hygenic food. And sure enough, I've been insanely nauseous for the past several hours.
But it turns out that there was something quite a bit more amiss than the sambhar in Manorama restaurant. As Tamilarasi and I were busy eating, suddenly there was this man trying to bum rush our table. There was a big confusion and hubbub, and when I looked up there were several restaurant employees holding back a man with crazy in his eyes. He was looking at me and gesturing wildly, going on about how I looked like a "cinema actress" and indeed he thought I was Trisha! He kept trying to rush up to me and they were holding him back and trying to throw him out of the place. Meanwhile a man was very calmly pouring sambhar on my banana leaf which added to my confusion. Was this a serious matter and should I run away? The sambhar man told Tamilarasi that he was simply a "loose" man and there was nothing to worry.
Last Thursday, the evening I arrived to Madurai, the 13-year-old girl next door reached her "age attendment". She has to stay in this room for 11 days and cannot go to school, but she can watch TV from the room. And when I visited there last Sunday she didn't seem to be acting like someone who felt like they were under house arrest. Indeed she seemed pretty happy. I'm thinking she might be glad to be out of school for 1 1/2 weeks. In the villages it is usually the case that the girl is kept separate for something to the tune of 15 days, and sometimes in a thatched hut which the mother's brother (maamaa) builds. No men should see the girl or else they will break out in a rash all over. At the end of the 15 days, she comes out of the hut and the maamaa burns it and water is poured over her head in a sort of ritual bath. Then she is free to move around normally. But here in the "city" the girl hangs out in a bedroom and watches Tamil movies and serials. Nevertheless, it is still a big deal in the city as well. And tomorrow there is going to be a huge function and I am really looking forward to seeing it in person, as I have only seen such things in the movies. I think it's going to be pretty awesome, and it's my first function in the neighborhood.
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