Navratri

Sorting out the Hindu festivals that are celebrated in India appears to be an impossible task to the foreigner.  Not only because of the sheer number of them, but also because each region has it's own way of celebrating the different festivals.  In addition, individual temples have their own festivals to honor the particular god or gods they may worship.  One thing is certain, if there is a full moon, you can count on some sort of festival going on.   

 Some of the larger festivals are more universal, though celebrated in different fashions, depending on where you are.  Navratri is one such festival period, which in the south is celebrated by setting up a collection of dolls on a stepped display.  The figures depict scenes taken from the numerous Hindu stories.  In the scene below Ganesh is transcribing, as quickly as he can, these stories that have been handed down by many generations.  Some public displays include thousands of dolls.  


It is a social time for the women, who are invited to each other's houses to view and honor the gods.  Small tokens of appreciation are then handed out to the guests.

Another part of the Navratri festival includes paying tribute to tools of one's trade, by decorating them, which explains why all the  auto rickshaws are washed and covered with flower garlands, banana leaves, and designs drawn or splattered onto them with a colorful paste.  

Cars and automobiles are also dressed up for the occassion, and even I got into the act when our night watchman asked if he could decorate my motorcycle.  I enjoyed showing off my flower garland and decorations, even though it did make viewing in my rear view mirrors a bit difficult.

Monsoon umbrellas

Umbrellas are a much needed accessory in India.  During the Monsoon they sprout like mushrooms everywhere.  In addition to being used in the usual fashion as a shelter from the rain while standing under them, they commonly pop up over motorcycles and bicycles.  This seems odd to us westerners, but it really does keep some of the rain from pouring down on you, because the traffic in the city is generally not moving very fast.   

This bicyclist wearing the traditional Dhoti, has decided to let the rains subside a bit before peddling on, still with his umbrella held over his head.

Here's another person who has decided to take a break from the onslaught, and answer a call on his mobile phone in front of the Chit Chat hotel.  (A hotel is typically not a place to stay but a restaurant, and Chaat is a generic term for snacks prepared by the street cart vendors)

If you don't happen to have an umbrella handy, or just can't afford one, then a plastic sack on top of the head is often used to keep your hair do in place.  While on our way back from Pondicherry in the pouring rain, we passed on woman perched sidesaddle on the back of a two wheeler (motorcycle), totally encased in a huge plastic bag.  We just hope she was able to get enough oxygen!

Umbrellas are not only seen during the Monsoon season.  They provide much needed shade when the tropical sun is beating down on you in the heat of the rest of the year.  Occasionally you will hear the cry of a peddler as he walks the streets, selling or repairing used umbrellas.

 

 This ironing cart vendor's child has found a new toy to amuse himself with.

Monsoon

Char and I were on a short holiday in the town of Pondicherry when the Monsoon hit with a vengeance.  The skies opened up and it poured down rain for days.  We had reservations outside of town at a retreat, so we donned our rain gear, climbed on our motorcycle and headed out in the driving rain through flooded streets.  At times the water came up to our footpegs and engine.  I was having visions of being stranded in this storm if the engine died on us.  But our trusty 100cc Hero Honda plowed right through it all.  When we reached the retreat, we were told they couldn't take us in due to the grounds being under water and the septic system was saturated.  So we accepted a hot cup of tea, put our rain jackets back on and headed the 80 km back to Chennai.  Fortunately the major highways are well maintained and built up enough that flooding is not as much of a problem as it is in the cities. 

The Monsoon season lasts for several months, with squalls and thunderstorms blowing in off the Bay of Bengal. At times the downpours come driving down in sheets, flooding the city streets. 

But the Monsoons are a happy time.  They bring much needed water to the parched land, and the long hot season is broken.  It is a sight for us "people from the cold country" to see people bundled up with wool caps, scarves and jackets when the temperature drops to a comfortable 78F.

Life goes on during the Monsoon, the street vendors are still out selling their trinkets, the rickshaw drivers are still cruising for a fare, and the traffic is as bad as ever, though you have to be very careful when driving through the flooded streets that you don't fall into a foot deep pothole, or worse, a collapsed sewer cover, both of which are numerous.

Much of the flat, low laying land that Chennai is built on was not long ago planted in rice paddies, which explains why this office of the chief engineer for state ground and surface water resources sits in the middle of a swamp during the rainy season.    

Construction & decay

Concrete is the primary building material in this part of the world.  Much of it is mixed with a hand shovel on the ground, put into buckets, then transported around the jobsite balanced on the head of a laborer, often women. 

Men climb around precariously on scaffolding that is typically made from dense hardwood that is lashed together.









In this country of contrasts you do see concrete trucks, steel scaffolding and sky cranes on the big high rise buildings going up everywhere on the outskirts of the city.

Due to the harsh tropical environment and the inconsistent and generally poor quality of building materials, it is not long before the humidity, sun and vegetation take their toll on structures.

A ride through Chennai

In our travels about town on my motorcycle I am constantly dodging and manuvering around buses, pedestrians, cows, bicycles, sinkholes, goats, autorickshaws, other two wheelers, oxcarts, and anything else you can imagine. So when we took a trip across town with some friends in their car, I took the opportunity to snap these photos of a typical ride through the city.

The Indian traffic police have to be some of the bravest people in the world, as they stand out in the swarm of drivers and pedestrians, trying to create some sort of order out of apparent chaos.

Murals like these are scattered throughout the city on the walls that often line the streets.  From this picture you can not see the detail, but the artwork on these murals is very good.  The paintings are typically of scenes from the area.

We see an incredible array of things and any number of people being transported on the typical 100cc motorcyle.  These guys are loaded down to play a music gig.  Char made a comment to me the other day that we were probably photo worthy, as she climbed onto the back of our motorcyle with a guitar on her back, drum hanging at her side, and holding a mandolin in her lap.

I have seen as many as six teenagers on one of these little workhorses.  One on the gas tank, two on the seat, one on the rear luggage rack, and one on either side standing on the rear foot pegs.

Looking at this picture through the car window and you will see the father driving with a bundle on the tank, mother in back and daughter sandwiched in between.  Look a little closer and you will see the feet of an infant the daughter is holding in her lap.

Tricycles and bicycles are abundant in Chennai, and many goods are transported throughout the city by human power.  Sometimes it is hard to see the bicycle through all the wares a peddler may have strapped to it.

Valluvar Kottam

 I thought the Valluvar Kottam stone cart that I mentioned in the previous post, deserved a few more pictures. 

Thiruvalluvar mentioned in the plaque above wrote the Tamil Vedas which is an important ancient text in Southern India.  It is written in rhyme.  Here's a brief excerpt from Wikipedia:

It was authored by Thiruvalluvar, a poet who is said to have lived anytime between the 2nd and 6th centuries AD.  The Thirukkural expounds on various aspects of life and is one of the most important works in the Tamil language.

Thirukkural (or the Kural) is a collection of 1330 Tamil couplets organised into 133 chapters. Each chapter has a specific subject ranging from "ploughing a piece of land" to "ruling a country".

Here's Char in front of the oncoming elephants pulling the cart for a sense of proportion.

Valluvar Kottam craft fair

There are several craft fairs throughout the year in Chennai.  One of the largest is held at Valluvar Kottam which is a large covered auditorium.  Just outside the hall is an immense stone car, carved from granite.  Take a close look at the life sized elephants that are pulling the car to get an idea of just how large this monument is.

The fair is sponsored by an organization that promotes traditional crafts, and has merchants and artisans from all over India.  This West Bengal booth that was selling handmade custom jute bags was very popular with the ladies.  I like to think that is partially due to the nation-wide ban on plastic bags the government is trying to implement, encouraging people to bring their own bags to the markets. 

Flowers, mostly fresh, are seen everywhere you turn in India, from the flower girls who weave Jasmine for women's hair, to arrangements like this man was selling.

Other artisans had unique ceramics.

These wooden representations of the gods are also very common.  The detail in these intricate carvings is quite amazing.

Shadow puppets, like this Peacock, are made from leather.  During a performance they are held up to a translucent screen and manipulated with sticks.  A backlight shines through the thin leather, so the audience sees the colored shadow on the screen.

Some of the other crafts for sale were hand-made jute shoes, a large assortment of handmade jewelry, cloth and clothes, wooden toys and much more.

I know how this group of women felt after wandering through the stalls for several hours.

Back in Chennai

This school year has found us in a new apartment in the area of Chennai known as Besant Nagar.  Besant is an upscale neighborhood and includes the popular Elliot's Beach, a much smaller version of the huge expanse of the more centrally located Marina beach.We have an unrestricted view of the ocean from our bedroom balcony, where we can watch the sun rise in the morning.  Even before the sun comes up, many of the fishermen are already out, setting their nets. 

Like anyplace in India, this neighborhood is an interesting mix of people.  Within this affluent community are two fishing villages, where families live in small concrete houses or thatched huts and the only plumbing is a small trench dug in the sand. 

We call the fields along the beach that we overlook the pooping fields, because every morning you can see dozens of people using this for an open latrine.  Though the "public" beaches are relatively clean, it is indeed unfortunate that there are not more free public facilities, and better education, to protect the incredible resource that Chennai has in the miles and miles of undeveloped beaches.   

Despite the pooping fields, living on the beach is very nice, the sanitation issue is just one example of the many things you have to take in stride when living in India.  The trade off is we can open our big double doors and get wonderful ocean breezes cooling down our apartment, watch the incredible lightning storms roll in, the fishermen riding their small boats in on the waves, and even see the occasional dolphins playing in the surf. 

Rostrevor, Ireland

From Sligo we headed back to the west coast along some winding country roads, through some beautiful green rolling hills. 

We had expected a boarder crossing into the UK, but the only way we knew we had entered Northern Ireland was when we stopped at a petrol station, and realized the currency had changed to Euros, and the road signs were no longer bilingual English and Gaelic.

There were many typical cottages along our route, some like this rambling house had obviously been added onto over the generations.  Other larger buildings had some great architectural stone, brick and wooden details.

Our destination was the very typical Irish town of Rostrevor, complete with at least 2 churches and 4-5 pubs.  There is a wonderful large park just at the edge of town where we set up camp for the next 3 days. 

The annual music festival is what drew us to Rostrevor.  The festival is a small affair with a stage is set up right in the middle of town, with other venues set up at various places. The acts varied with everything from traditional and contemporary Irish, to Country Western.  Our favorite was the tradition Ceili session, where everyone swapped songs or stories in an intimate setting.  Some of the best music happens in the open pub sessions where the Guiness flows freely, and young and old alike play late into the night.