Madurai

Village Deities

Raj & Family

Mansion House

Batik

Jan. 8, 2013-Who’s Who

Here's an update on the group. Now we know what happens when someone on the trip gets sick. Charlotte, the Air Force retiree & horse owner, was laid low by the heat when she skipped the first optional temple tour & chose to stay at the resort. She overdid poolside & beach sunning & has heat stroke. A doctor was called to the hotel this morning. He checked her vital signs which were ok. He recommended hydration & rest. She traveled by highway in a taxi to our next hotel & arrived in three hours. She rested today while we took ten hours to travel the same distance on rural roads. I almost offered to accompany her.

Nam, the Vietnamese waiter, has a cold.

Dan from Wisconsin makes documentaries  & has won awards. Years ago when fetal alcohol syndrome was first being recognized, he did a film on its effects on the impulse center of the brain.

Kayo was born in Tokyo. She came to the US at 21 years old, got her cosmetology license, & traveled for Redkin for many years. She decided she wanted to work with internal rather than exterior beauty & now does massage, reflexology, & acupressure. She's the one who's taken thirty-six OAT trips in five years.

Casting Call

In our down time on the bus Charles elaborated on the caste system. The term originated with the Portuguese & their word casto meaning pure. As I mentioned before it started after the arrival of Hindu Aryans around 2000 BC & is  based on skin color.

Brahmans were the only literate group & they interpreted the caste system to their advantage by exploiting the lower castes. This included the requirement of lowest caste men sending their new wife to a Brahman  home to spend her "wedding" night with the male head of that household. The lowest class had to carry a drum as the dancers did last night so others would keep far enough away that even their shadows wouldn't overlap. The intense inequality was an impetus for the birth of Buddhism & Jainism. A draw to Christianity & Islam was also equal treatment. Mahatma Gandhi brought legislative change. Born of a Brahman family he went to South Africa & was a barrister. There he learned what it was to be treated as a third class citizen under apartheid He returned to India & wanted to eradicate the caste system.

Untouchables, now called Dalit, were not allowed to wear shoes or upper garments. Gandhi dressed like the untouchables & that's why he's seen shirtless. He appointed a Dalit who'd been educated by the king as Minister of Justice. Dalit are  sometimes identified by name, also community ID certificates list caste & religion. In their version of affirmative action people have to list caste when applying to university. Places are available by caste & exam. When caste positions are filled competitive exams are held for the remaining places. It's easier for Dalit to get into a good university & a job is thought to be guaranteed in America.  Brahman boys can't get good jobs here in IT so want to go to the U.S. as well, Charles' son included. He's now studying to improve his English.

ID cards with caste are attached to voter registration forms. The former president of India & governor of Chennai used the system to rise in society even though from  the Dalit caste. With the Dalit becoming more educated there's a problem finding people to do menial jobs. Maybe that's why trash pick up is inefficient & toilets are dirty.

What has happened in present times is a form of reverse discrimination. Inter-caste marriage is promoted. Businesses can't discriminate or a suit will be filed. What  became a protected class, the Dalit, in some instances exploit the law. But the old caste system is still practiced in the countryside. Recently a Dalit girl married an upper class boy. The girl refused to obey his family so her father killed himself from shame. The non-Dalit in the town were envious of government subsidies given to Dalit & were waiting for an excuse to get revenge. Using the girl’s refusal to obey her husband’s upper class family as that excuse, they destroyed the entire Dalit community. The Supreme Court jailed the men of the upper class & re-instated the Dalit.

Children of inter-caste marriages go with the father's caste unless the mother is Dalit. Then it might be advantageous to choose to be Dalit & get extra benefits. Parents ultimately decide. No matter the caste, fair skin is preferred. It's seen in ads & boys find fair skinned girls more attractive. It's an aesthetic rather than racial discrimination.

When Indians convert to Christianity they lose their Dalit status & its modern day benefits. Charles grandfather was Dalit until he converted. Converts to Buddhism keep their benefits.  I asked what Indians thought of Obama & Charles said they celebrated his second election. They loved it when he & Michelle went to a Mumbai slum & danced with Dalit kids.

Pit & Other Stops

Our first stop was to see cashews being fried & shelled. We're used to raw cashews & I found these tasteless. Evidently the shell of the nut has toxic oil that has to be cooked off before they're opened. Raw cashews are shelled by machines. We then saw the

cashew palms. Didn't know they grew on palms. It was a drive by. We're getting more discriminating & didn't get off the bus to see rice drying at the next photo stop.

When asked if anyone needed a bush pit stop David stepped off the bus to use the  "facilities." I asked him to give me the camera but he knew what I was up to. No photo to follow.

The temple stop of the day was at a primitive (as if they're not all) place where ancient Dravidian animism was still practiced. There's animal sacrifice & ritual body piercing with sticks during festivals. The path leading to the altar was lined with brightly painted crumbling ceramic horses since this temple god rides a horse. Monkeys ran about & left their calling cards on horses & ground alike.  Charles said the altars in the ancient religions are established by placing a rock, anointing it, & declaring it as a holy place. It was much as Jacob did when he left Laben's home (the father-in-law who screwed him) & took the household idols with him establishing his holy place where he settled.

Another roadside attraction was a stop to see tile made by hand. We  hope to re-do a bathroom this year & were tempted to buy just one of the exquisite tiles but again it was too heavy to get past airport regulations.

Our next site was the Chidambara palaces. Most are over 100 years old & have from 40-110 rooms. Teakwood from Burma & tiles made the way we'd seen demonstrated were used extensively to cover walls, ceilings, & floors. Why are they there, you wonder (or not)? In 1893 a tsunami devastated Southeast Asia. Bankers & diamond merchants from the region wanted to move inland far from the sea & decided on this part of the world.  Being very competitive they tried to build their houses at least one centimeter larger than their neighbors. Most of the 5,000 houses in the area are abandoned now. The one we visited has been turned into a boutique hotel where it's  un-air-conditioned rooms rent for $300/night.

Lunch was at a place called Bangala. It has come into our language as the word bungalow. Fabulous food served on a banana leaf. There was mango three ways:pickled, spicy chutney, & milder chutney. David dared try the spicy with no ill effect. At the end of the meal they just rolled up the leaf & carried it away. Raj, our driver, is from the village where we'd stopped. We met his family & of course took photos. His wife is stunning & his three (oy) daughters ages 10, 9, & 5 are adorable. We told him it was a good thing they looked like his wife. The youngest wouldn't come over at first & was in tears. It's amazing the international power of peek-a-boo. After I demonstrated the game she began to wave at us.

Marriage & More Stops

The on-bus lecture continued. Seventy-five per cent of marriages are still arranged, not forced. Children can refuse. Child marriage is against the law, but still occurs.  If discovered, the girl is removed to a government home until she's eighteen. Divorce is 5% in arranged marriages. When not arranged it's 50% in the first year. To augment family contacts, friends, & marriage brokers, they now use matrimonial ads in Sunday newspapers & on line web sites to search for mates.  They categorize by caste, religion, profession, physical condition, & language among others. Hindus are particular about the couple's horoscope matching. Resumes are reviewed, home visits are made, agreements are reached. It's a long process.

And another stop! This time we went to a Dalit village where batik making is the main livelihood. We watched the process & even bought one though we don't know what we'll do with it. All except the newer houses were identical & built by the government. They were two rooms built of brick covered with stucco. The newer ones are mandated to be built with attached toilets & solar panels for heating water. When we left it had begun to drizzle & was cooling off. We got back on the bus & I napped a bit as Charles read marriage ads.

We still had two hours before we got to our hotel in Madurai. It's another Sangam Hotel. This hotel seemed to be slightly less in quality than the last, but they charge for wi-fi here so we're hopeful it will stay connected. The problem was logging on in the first place. David carried the IPad to the desk & they called their IT man for help. Our room is nicer than the last with touch pad controls for lights. The problem was we couldn't find our room. We're in #203 so we pressed the 2nd floor in the elevator. When we got out all the rooms were in the 300's. We got back into the elevator & headed down one level. It was tempting to pick up the emergency phone in the elevator to call for help finding our room. Sure enough it's on floor 1. When we got to the room David wanted to take a nap but had to set the alarm in case I fell asleep. The alarm needed a new battery & it took him almost until the time we had to leave for dinner to find the extra battery, find the tiny screwdriver to open the alarm, realize the screwdriver wouldn't work, use his nail clipper & fingernail to do the job, & change batteries. The joys of moving every other day.

Dinner was on our own. We ate with some of the group in the hotel restaurant. Just soup & naan tonight. Lunch was adequate until tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow we see more temples & stay another night. I haven't broken down & done laundry yet except for the smelly shirt I've been wearing for sun protection. I'm holding out for Cochin as far as undies go. You know how I feel about stiff line dried underwear.

Toby