first interviews!

I finally decided on a topic for my independent study project: tattooed village women
I dont know what I'm exactly trying to find out... yet. I'll figure it out soon enough

I had my first couple interviews today. One was rather spontaneous, but the other was more structured.

I get into an auto with my translator and we drive along and pick up Thangam's servant lady. She takes us to her village where a crowd forms around me with little children chirping, "hello! hello!"
They took me along the clay path to a hut made out of dried palm leaves where a bare-(saggy)breasted octogenarian lady in a sari was sitting upon a mat. They insisted I sit and she showed me her arms. They were so wrinkly that I couldn't make out the tattoos. Other women started walking up to me and showing me their arms, from which I could make out some Tamil script, a kollam, and moons. As my translator was talking to them, I looked around and realized-- this is why I want to be an anthropologist. I don't have a clue of what will come from this research, I don't know how I can contribute to this world in a socially responsible way, but if I have the amazing chance of taking a peek into people's lives that have a totally different paradigm than I do, this is a phenomenon that just may satisfy whatever craving I have for some kernel of Truth.

Or I may just be reeling from my VERY FIRST STEPS INTO FIELDWORK!

Yesterday's main events

Coffee/Tea stalls are a major social hub here. For men, mostly. Of course, I decided that I want to get some coffee anyway, even though not only would I stick out because of my foreign skin color, but also because I'm a female. Well, the coffee preparer was really very nice. I was almost surprised at his level of accommodation and the lack of stares from fellow caffeine-fiends (staring here is common, and smiles rare). Alas, my nudge about the social order was indicated to me otherwise. I felt a strange lump come into my mouth and spit it out to find... a dead fly. The coffee was actually pretty good (by Indian standards)... but next time I think I'll ask for veg. 

My host sister's "Maths Tuition Sir"'s (math tutor) cell phone ringtone is a Backstreet Boys song-- the one that goes, "show me the meaning... of beeeing looonelay"

Alriiight ;)

Mind you, these two events topped what would have been a main event of the day back home. I also made dinner for my host family yesterday, but that was rather anticlimactic. To be honest, I think they thought the food too bland. In my defense, I made a masala version of each of the items (ie: masala fries, masala tuna melt... yum?). 

Kerala: "God's Own Country"

The Kerala tour was absolutely refreshing. We stayed for a while in the Western Ghats, enjoyed the mountain air and hiked through the wilderness (leeches galore!). We then took a lazy ride through the backwaters on a houseboat (a great way to travel) up to Cochin. There we saw a bustling city life along the Arabian Sea: fishermen fishing, peddlers peddling, beggars begging. It was a much more modern city than Madurai, although I think population-wise it is smaller. It's a port city, though, so I suppose it makes sense.
We found a wine and tapas bar with legit wine from Karnataka... I had a Shiraz, and it wasn't too shabby. I also enjoyed tiger prawns in a saffron glaze and crab au gratin. Mmmmm, non-mushy, non-ricey food :)
I then wandered the streets with my nearly empty pockets and found a place called Teapot where I enjoyed a pot of earl grey with my knitting and Moby-Dick for the rest of the afternoon. I had just enough money to get back to the hotel via a 3 rupee ferry ride (along with some clever direction-asking) and buy some soup for dinner. Perfect!
I'll post some photos from the tour once I get a chance.

Traffic

Considering that I bike at least 10km a day, I figure its an important part of my life here in Madurai, and that the web-world might be interested to know a little bit about how I get everywhere around here. 

Traffic in Madurai is perhaps the most dangerous traffic I've seen. Besides Istanbul. No, probably worse than Istanbul.. I mean, granted, Istanbul has hills and streets that veer off into nowhere and there are probably only one or two intersections that come together at a 90 degree angle, Madurai is worse.

The streets, if you can call them that, are dusty, pot-holey messes that are thoroughfares for all sorts of vehicles. Let's start big: buses, filled with people, not only in their seats, but hanging off the sides... buses are probably the scariest... you do NOT want to go around one as its stopped because in a few seconds, it will inevitably be beeping at you as youre cycling your little legs off trying to get out of its way. Then there are cars-- oddly, the rarest sight on these streets are cars. They think theyre entitled because theyre bigger than you and give you a little jump because their horns are SO FREAKING LOUD but whatever. I have as much a right to the road as they do... damn rich people. Next are the little yellow autos! My personal favorite part of the me-lee, these little buggers are pretty nifty, and really nice to cyclers (like me!). Their horns are not too annoying, usually they resemble a clown horn, you know the one you squeeze.. 

The most popular form of transportation are what I'll call two-wheelers.. this includes motorcycles and scooties. They're everywhere and they carry more than you would think possible. My host-mom regularly carries me, her two daughters, herself, and whatever groceries we've bought on her bitty purple scooty. 

Then there are the real cycles.. the ones powered by man instead of machine. All sorts of cycles carrying all sorts of things: people, coconuts, water, etc. They're slow, they take up room, but they are a legit part of the traffic flow. 

Then there are the non-human creatures: dogs roam the streets and arent very well treated, but cows get so much respect in these streets. I almost ran into one and some lady started yelling at me. People stop and wait for them. They have a tendency to plop down in the middle of traffic and either take a nap or just watch the chaos around them with amusement. 

The first day was kind of hard: OH i forgot to mention-- sticking to their British colonial days, the flow of traffic is flipped- so stay left! Soon enough though, I found myself flowing with the traffic and zipping around Madurai.

sick

I think this fever has really gotten to me. I'm over the physical sickness of it, but now I'm all kinds of other sick. I've been homesick lately-- i miss the ease of living mostly. i miss my family and my friends. talking to them, adventuring with them.
i think i'm a little lovesick too. i miss the ideal self i become when im in love.
sighh

kerala cant come soon enough. (we're leaving for an "educational tour" to kerala this upcoming week)

some poetry i've been reading

"The traveler has to knock at every alien door to come to his own, and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end."

Rabindrath Tagore, Gitanjali

a word about karma

Being here so far has been like releasing soooo much past karma. I feel like I've just been shedding layers of skin, and being utterly exposed to the elements in my new baby self.
I am not the same person here as I am when I am home. I am openly scared, upset, depressed, tired, stressed, sick, and just trying to get rid of it all. Every once in a while, I'll look up to see that I'm surviving, that I'm here, that I can actually live in a place that I am so clearly not fit for-- it is some sort of weird test to see what is left of me when I'm through, because in the end, that is all I'll ever need to truly live as myself anywhere I go.

past entries:
aug 30
whatever my fantasy of India was--I'm over it. You see pictures of brightly colored saris, powders, smiling schoolchildren, breath-taking views of mountaintops and oceans and you think, "this is it-- the marrow of humanity." You hear of India as the spiritual land, the holy place, a mecca of sorts... you come here to find yourself and all you find is-- trash. Burning piles of trash. People peeing on the side of the street, cow dung baking into cakes. The people are dirty, inconsiderate, loud, obnoxious, disrespectful, selfish.. they stare, they cheat, they yell, they lie. The weather is out to kill you. If it's not 110 F, then its monsooning.
And yet? I came here for a reason, didn't I? Every once in a while (very rarely) I find myself detoxing. It's like a sauna-- you go into the heat until you just about faint then you quickly wash with cold water. Through this constant hot and cold and stress to the body, it starts to release the toxic crap its been holding onto.

sept 2
what a curious country! I've been sick the past few days- fever and body aches. I've been spending my days miserably in bed, in pain, in thirst, and in hunger (I can't hold anything down).
And yet, it was today on the way to the doctor's office on the back of a two-wheeler that it struck me how vibrant the colors are here. How through the chaos, there is a method to it, a rhythm. I've only complained of the dust and dirt and disorganization-- but for a second today I saw something different.

Krishna Jeyanthi

Happy Krishna Jeyanthi!

I was unlucky enough to get very sick last night. I didn't get ANY sleep. At SITA, I slept all day and missed the chance to go to a Krishna temple, missed my religion class about Krishna.. almost missed the puja, but they woke me up for that, and now the gang is going to Jain Hill and I'm missing that too.
sighhh. 102 fever. go away.

In other news, I had dreams about kittens.