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. 

Ireland

We wanted to see as much of Ireland as possible in our short week long trip, so we only stayed overnight in Dublin, which is a large city full of old buildings and churches complete with Griffins on the towers.

The next morning we hopped into our little rental car and headed for Galway on the west coast. We passed through a number of small towns, and no matter how small, there was always at least one pub. And yes, the sign does say Budweiser, which is readily available, but Guiness and Hard Cider seemed to be the drinks of choice.

Galway is a pretty, college town which makes it a cultural center and a tourist destination. We also met people from all over Ireland who come to vacation here. In the center of town whole streets have been turned into walking malls where street musicians, human statues, sand carvers and jugglers were in plentiful supply.

When the tide is out, the boats in the harbor are left high and dry.

Most pubs in the town have some great live music, though most of the sessions are for the tourists, and not open for jamming.

From Galway we made out way up the coast to Sligo, where we had a beautiful, though busy, campsite overlooking the water.

Char heard some accordion music in her wanderings, so I looked up this fellow and shared a few tunes with him.

Of coarse, no trip to Ireland would be complete without a pint or two of Guiness.

Summer fun

Since this is really a blog about our adventures in India, I won't spend much time on our summer break, except to give our friends and family a brief overview. We did manage to connect with many of you, and it was great to see you all!

Our friends Pam & Larry were gracious enough to put us up for a week in our home town of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
Here is Char catching up with some of her fellow teachers.

Following that we were able to spend a week doing nothing but playing music and dancing our feet off with our good friends Mo & Melody at the Lady of the Lake dance camp on the beautiful shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene.
Here's Mo showing off his TGIF (Thank Ganesh it's Friday) T-shirt we brought for him.





Since traditional Irish and American folk music is a rare thing in India, I took advantage of every opportunity to play. Here I am with Arvid at a local Coeur d'Alene Irish pub.








More music with brother Billy at his unique handmade home in St. Maries, Idaho.

It was a real treat that my mother from California was able to spend a week with us in St. Maries.

From there we were able to spend a mostly relaxing three weeks visiting with Char's family at their beautiful property in the lower Hudson Valley in New York.

Char and I on the Riverwalk on the Hudson River.

It is a short hop on a commuter train into the city, where we met up with my niece Jessica, who is now living in Brooklyn, and working in the city. We spent a day walking around Manhattan, and were very impressed at how clean and alive the city has become. The waterfront that was once a place where you would not want to wander has become a vibrant center for cultural activities.

The next day we were able to show Jessica some of the sights on the Hudson, including Philipsburg Manor, which is a historic restoration where Char had once worked (in full period costume).

Our next stop was a week stopover in Ireland, which I'll catch up with in the next blog.

Summer Break

For friends, family and others who may be following our blog........ We will not be posting any updates while we are back in the US for the months of June and July. I hope you are enjoying the blog, which I will resume when I get some more pictures together in August.

Untill then, enjoy the summer!

Dave & Char