RE: Postcard from God's Own Country (Kerala)!
Thanks Sunanda,
This blog has been a wonderful read for me, thanks for putting in the effort, and your enthusiasm shines through too 😀
PS. you'll find your phone will probably record sound too... so we expect -nay demand :)-that you also upload a sample of yourululation (is that a word?)... I can't wait to hear it 😉
RE: Postcard from God's Own Country (Kerala)!
But then I'm a bhakta, you're a jnani - two paths leading up the same mountain.
Yes, and I respect that Path, as you know. ;)In fact I would resist being put into any category, for I love bhakti too - but, ouch, I have to know the "why" and the "how it works". If I had time,I really should write a review of the book, "Indian Summer", since a little orphan boy - just one of the many people in the book - was a genius with no training, and could design on paper and then in reality any engine a person would want. It was such a moving story. (Oh, my point there is that he too had to know how anything works: he would take anything apart, and then put it back together - improved. Or design his own better model. This at around the age of 10, from an Indian orphan. So I hope he is doing OK today. So I suppose he'd never be a bhakti!)
For myself, I really have no interest per se in going anywhere. It is all internal. But "moving" and placing oneself in different circumstances has always proved for me to have a huge impact. Hence, India, when the embassy sort their visa system out at last. But I am not so interested in the outer; it is a place for me to explore (again) the inner. So what will I do? End up in a room and not move anywhere? LOL - a half-joke BTW.
Gurdjieff is not my chosen path, but he got such a lot right. It is very easy for us all to become "robotic" in our lives, so thatour lives and actionsbecome, in fact, virtually meaningless. And one tried-and-tested way of escaping the "robot machine" within ourselves is simply to get away to a totally different environment. I've no doubt, for example that this is even half the reason for people taking conventional holidays.
V xxxx
RE: Postcard from God's Own Country (Kerala)!
ORIGINAL: sunanda
Hi all
1. Jackie, vegetarian food is the norm here. People consume some milk - in tea mainly - and cook with yogurt. Actually the Hindus here are happy (some but not all of them) to eat fish and chicken but can't always afford it.
2. I nearly caught the end of my sari in an oil lamp and went up in flames - but she saved me!!:D
Much love
Sunanda xxx
Hi Sunanda,
Thank you for your detailed posts, which I like so many others on this MB find most enjoyable. For me it brings to life, the customs and way of life of a part of India that I have never seen, nor am likely to.
Today being26 January,the 57th anniversary of the Republic Day in India, I would like to ask you how the day was observed/celebrated in the part that you are in. Did you notice or see anything to mark the day? How aware are the ordinary folks there of the significance of that day?
1. About vegetarian diet, I was under the impression that vegetarianism is very much the norm in the whole of Dakshinatya. In fact, a good Paper Dosa with Idli and sambar washed down with a kingsize glass of Lassi is my main reason for visiting a South Indian Restaurant!
Of course, fish will be plentiful in the coastal regions, but more inland, I thought that themost commonmeal would be a vegetarian one.Is that not so in your experience?
2. I can relate to that. I have often felt the same myself; although of course without a sari on my person! LOL. 😀
Keep posting your delightful story. All the best. [sm=grouphug.gif]
Prashna.
RE: Postcard from God's Own Country (Kerala)!
Hello again
Prashna asked:
Of course, fish will be plentiful in the coastal regions, but more inland, I thought that the most common meal would be a vegetarian one. Is that not so in your experience?
And yes, vegetarianism is the norm but for special occasions my Hindu friends love to eat fish and chicken and even 'mutton'. Mind you these are not high caste people. The Brahmins won't even eat eggs - but I have to admit that there are rumours that some of the Big Temple Brahmins in Tiruvannamalai (TN) have been seen slinking out of some of the Muslim meat and alcohol dives late at night. And I know for sure of one occasion on the coach coming back from a betrothal ceremony when there was a fight between some of the Brahmins who had partaken of a little liquid refreshment! (I was shocked!)
Roger - no, I'm so sorry, my camera doesn't have sound! That's what I get for buying the 4600 rather than the 5600!!!
Anyway, just to bring you up to date: the festival ended on Saturday night (or rather 1am on Sunday morning) and it has taken me until now (Tuesday) to be able to write about it. the last two days were just wonderful. On Friday there was the children's procession and another 'kavalkavan' - shaman dance, of which I have a couple of photos. (I really don't like taking photos because the camera becomes such a barrier between what's going on and me.) Then on Saturday there were some big pujas, including the one that I had paid for, which I found very powerful. Immediately following that, the 'tiramuddi' (Headpiece Kali) was taken in procession to the beach to be given a bath. I had to laugh because the tourists lined up like paparazzi to take photos of a movie star! Back at the temple the 'travelling Kali' was reinstalled at the back of the main shrine and a flower abhishekam was performed - where the stone 'idol' was bathed in flower petals until just her little face peeped out. And finally, after midnight, came the last puja - a 'gurusi' with the shaman again embodying the Goddess and blessing those involved in the festival. This was more or less a private function, just for the temple people (and me! - how lucky am I?) and at the end, in his feminine guise, the shaman voluptuously wrapped himself around the temple president and secretary and told them how happy She was! (Much to their discomfiture - these are not tactile people!) I was given a pat on the head and a handful of vibhuti - sacred ash! I would have loved a hug but there was still a residue of 'don't touch she's a woman' remaining in the priest.
It was very moving and I was very sad that it had all finished.
Alarmingly, the following morning all the temple priests were in a car, en route for another temple (our resident priests, not the shaman and his acolytes) when they crashed into a 'post'. No one was hurt (except for the car) and the astrologer has told them just why it happened and what to do to prevent it happening again.
The temple is now closed for a week and I am off tonight into the hills of Karnataka, to visit another favourite Goddess of mine, Sri Mookambika of whom I may have written last year on the Hinduism forum. I had been planning to stay there for six days but am now toying with the idea of coming back down here to be present for the reopening of the temple. (Am waiting for divine guidance on that question!)
Anyway, I shall be out of internet access for a few days so I shall love you and leave you....but only for now.
Jai Ma!
(Victory to the Mother!)
Sunanda xxxx
RE: Postcard from God's Own Country (Kerala)!
Just a quick note to say I know what you mean about photos, Sunanda, yes. No problem in Europe or at places like the Taj, but I've been thinking too that I'm not keen on taking many at all in places like India. What are you "saying" in that action? Maybe that the people in the photo are so different to you (if they are)?
V