Back home for a while

To come back home, to look after an ill parent , is a strange feeling . One part of you is anxious . You don't want to see your parent in pain . You don't want to lose the only person who has accepted you unconditionally .
Another part of you is saying - she is so capable why does she need me to look after her.
My mother is ageing irreversibly. She is being told by all to be careful , don't do this , don't do that .
But that is not how I want my mother to live her remaining life . LIVE LIVE . Why should she burrow herself in misery and loneliness.
How do I cope with all this ? How do I cope with a parent who won't acknowledge that she needs my help ?
I just want to go back home . Back , back to a time when I had only one home .

Kumbakonam - a journey in midsummer

This is a week after our trip to Kumbakonam .

Didn’t realize how exhausting coming back to reality is .

The three of us had a lot of fun and made serious vows  to do it  every year , no every six months and so on

This whole trip was Nived’sidea. She had to see the Bhagwatha Mela at Mellatur . And I could not imagine going all the way there and not seeing the Chola temples of the region

Everyone I spoke to , except an aunt , said Thanjavur , Kumbakonam  in May ?!!

And I said yes , yes I have this crazy friend .

This is not just a blog about a road trip . Its a blog about a trip into past life regression .

Sometimes when one is in a place where one has been earlier – I don’t have to elaborate , any number of  hindi/tamil movies  have explained to us in great detail  already – one tends to get cranky and act bizarre . But that is later

Anyway we planned the trip , Miriam – meticulously , Me – obsessively , Nived – not at all . We spoke to people about what to see and planned routes , clothes , protection from the heat  , snacks . We booked rooms in Swamimali Indeco  which was certainly nicer than staying in downtown  Kumbakonam .  Nived had arranged for this Taxi , whose driver was also the owner

 This is his car with those two bobbing  things .

 Even the bricks in a tractor ahead of us are arranged like a Gopuram

The first morning we stuck to our printed  out schedule  and ‘finished’ the temples in  Kumbakonam at a at a killing pace

This is Kumbeshwar temple . During  a Pralaya a Kumbh of Amrith washed up in this place . Shiva shot at it with his arrow and so this place is so bountiful . With a little sand and Amrith , Shiva made a  Lingam himself . Which is in this temple . No liquid abhishekham for this lingam .Of all the temples we went to , this one was the closest to a live bustling temple . The only one with a market outside . 

This lady is actually asking me to buzz off .

Then we visited Sarangapani temple which has a very high Gopuram . The gopuram has tiers and tiers of figures and embellishments .

So Miriam with her Marthomite/Pentacost   foundation asked Nived  " why ? why ?"

Nived said “ because the craftsman was bored”

Back to Swami Malai Indeco for insipid Udipi style lunch and we got all dolled up for the Bhagwatha Mela .

Swamimalai temple  is a man made mound where the story is that Karthikeya holds Brahma captive cause he cant  explain the ‘Omkara’. Creation comes to a standstill . Then Shiva pleading for Brahma’s release has to submit to a lesson from karthikeya .

Another  tale says Sage Bhrughu planning a long Tapas , asks  of Shiva  a boon – whoever disturbs him will be rendered totally ignorant . So intense is his subsequent tapasya and yagnas that the flames reach  heaven and  worry the Devas . So Shiva is forced to disturb him and thus has to learn the Pranava Omkara  from his son Muruga at Swamimalai . The Malai where Swami was taught

I love Indian mythology for its twists and turns . And profound explanations for every single thing in the world !

But that is the story of the world !

Don’t we have to come to our own little story ?

After a day Nived  finally realised that she had an atma bandham with dance  and that she felt a frisson whenever   she was to witness  a dance program .

Sotto voce she tells Miriam all this as an  explanation for the fact that she was in a Maha sulk  the whole day . I thought it was pms , she claimed it was because Miriam and I were talking Coimbatore Gossip (CG) .

Whatever .

In the photo above can you see her close affinity to the entertainment world . As you will in a lot of subsequent   photos .

Our next stop was Thiruvalanchuli . The architecture here was very different and impressive . Strangely though none of us was specially religious , to see these temples in this state of disrepair  was a little bothersome . We might as well have been in a greek or Egyptian temple . I did not feel 

the life force  or spiritual power  that one feels in a regular temple i . The pujaris were desultory in their duties . It was more a tourist trap kind of routine rather than following the agama shastras .

So what are we playing at ?

Why don’t we make it clean tourist centres where people can appreciate the sculpture and the past glory of the Cholas ?

We went to Mellatur . Wholly Nived’s territory . A nice welcome by Mr Natrajan . Decoction Coffee and  plastic chairs  outside his Thinai on the street . While a lot of Mamas stared at these strange  unclassifiable  women .  We strolled up and down and peeked into the ‘dressing room’. It was the side yard of some one’s house . The made up man in the centre  is Hiranyakashap. The boy with his back to the camera was in shorts just a while ago . Now he has a jadai and is being made up 

We had a simple but amazing dinner . The amazing part was a Valakkai poriyal , which I have tried to make twice already , without much success though . A brief Nadaswaram  program whose aim was to chase off idle bystanders . Then Prahlada Charithram started at 9.45 – 10 pm

It was in telugu  , which I found strange . The songs were sung very well and enunciated clearly .tion . In the typical folk program style where the audience has all the time in the world , each character is introduced elaborately  giving the character and the actor enough time to develop and evolve . Thoroughly enjoyable . Specially  Hiranyakashyap . The character  is a swashbuckling  buccaneer  and the actor was powerful enough to  do a good job .

I tried so often to get him on film . Either I am not  a good  enough photographer  or cause it was 4.30 am  it  was all fuzzy .

 Lilavathi  had the script against her and 35 years of doing Lilavathi can be a downer for any one . Lilavathi is Prahlada’s mother .

The Narasimha mask was brought in procession along with the utsav murthy  to the stage . The stage was about 150 yards from the temple on the street itself . This was before the Natakam started .

Later after all the blather and challenges and tests that Hiranyakashyap (Golden haired )puts his son through , the Mask is again brought to the stage . Narasimha  is supposed to spring from a pillar and tear the Asura to pieces . Incidentally Hiranyakashyap had a bother called Hiranyaksha (golden eyed ) who stole the earth and kept it under the oceans and so had to meet his end at Vishnu’s hands (Varaha Avathar) . And this explains Hiranyakashyap’s intense hatred for Vishnu .

But Natyashastra  forbids  violence and one presumes sex on stage , so this part is converted into a one hour dialogue between Narasimha and HiranyaKashyap.The spirit of Narasimha inhabits the wearer of the mask . So all

   the people  on stage  have a difficult time restraining him from leaping off the stage and tearing Asura H to pieces .

Interestingly  just as this  Narasimha comes onto stage , Hiranyakashyap walks to the temple and apologises to God – all the things he will be saying  in the following  hour  are because the role demands it and are not his personal beliefs .

By 5.30am Hiranyakashyam  collapses  flat prone on the ground in front of the stage .

Out of sheer exhaustion .

And there is great celebration and Narasimha is taken in a procession around the village .

Victory of Good over Evil

 We reached the hotel at 7 am and had breakfast and tried to sleep . Nived  slept like a dormouse and Miriam and I indulged in some CG.

Later we visited the bronze casters  that Swamimalai is so famous for – the process is called ‘cire perdue ‘ or lost wax . this picture is of the wax  sculpture on which clay is coated on .

 A groggy day full of arguments because the coffee was not good – amazingly awful -  faulty air conditioning – we set off for Thiruvarur  - famous for its huge theru  and as the birthplace of saint Thiagaraja . What we found was a temple of hodge podge styles . This is a mural near the entrance . Note the European style framing . And the faces are certainly not Chola . Looks like Calendar Art to me . 

The courtyard is full of little structures in different styles , each housing a lingam . And even more strange was this belfry !

The Theru that we went there to see , was dismantled and being repaired .

Swamimalai Indeco  a village deserted because of communal riots in the ‘30s was  restored to  retain the 1920’s look by Steve Borgia

This is typical Kumbakonam house circa 1896 . With a Morris car in front (not 1896 I think) In the fore ground is a terracotta  sculpture of Surya on his chariot  We then went to Thiruvaiyaru .Where 5 streams meet the river Cauvery , where the Saint Thiagaraja’s tomb is . And where this huge temple to Shiva is. The walls are covered with murals that tell of the  Shiva Puranas . Look at the eaves dropper on the upper part of the panel Finally to the  Big Temple – Brihadeswara . All equipped with socks , hats , dark glasses and umbrellas .This is all three of us finally .The temple is fantastic . The kind of economy that could support  temples of this size  is mind boggling . But the soul , the spirituality is missing . Not just us . All the others were  streaming in like tourists . Like true Indians to keep all bases covered they prayed for a few seconds in front of the idol , did a clockwise pradikshana  that’s all Our sense of aesthetics sucks !

And I ask you  an umbrella with the leaning tower of Pisa and the Coliseum in the BIG TEMPLE !!

We had lunch in the happening place of Thanjavur  and went on to see the bronzes in the Museum . If there was one thing that made my trip to Kumbakonam  worthwhile , this was the second .

Next day we were off to Gangaikonacholapuram . Frankly by now I had had my fill of sculpture and gopurams and the dirt  of the temples . I expected this vast city in ruins like fatehpuri sikri . Only about 10 times bigger .

There was nothing there . Just the Temple . 

The amazing fertility of the land did not let people  mourn the loss of a dynasty by entombing their  palaces and buildings . Every inch outside this compound is  filled with paddy. The guide claims  every time they dig the foundations of a house they strike on a cache of gold . 

We had to do the touristy thing

From here we went onto a Vigneshwara temple . Where you only had to ask and you would get all the wealth you wanted .

I did not see too many millionaires there . Or maybe it was a closely guarded  secret . But our guide still had to shakes us down for  ` 1500 .

Darasuram was  next – very very fine sculpture .These are the musical steps that go sa re ga  ma  when struck 

Another caged songbird 

 This sage is wearing  espadrilles .  

Now  for the first time  we saw Nived happy ,smiling .

The sculpture in Darasuram is exquisite  and very  fine . Note the courtesan's cameo in the pillar above Nived’s head. This temple was filled with cameos like this that showcased the sculptors skill and creativity . 

The following photo is a fitting end to our trip . All the Shiva temples we visited and the Prahlada Charithram came together . To kill Hiranyakashyap , Vishnu takes on the form of Narasimha .

Where he has the intelligence of Nara and the brute power of Simha . He is so ferocious that after killing the Asura , he still seeks to slake his anger .

Shiva takes the form of a powerful bird – Sarveshwarar – with powerful talons , who picks up Narasimha  and flies off with him . Then Narasimha drops his Shank and Chakra and surrenders to the  supremacy of Shiva .

Like all women we had to go saree shopping . Swearing to all though that we not going to buy etc . Well we saw the weavers and made small talk and spent a small packet 

We bought Gops a saree .

Ok cant find the picture . Will do it later . 

No found it 

I promised myself that every book I read I would note down . But some books are so inane , I dont have the energy to do more than return them to the library . They are not worth talking of
Orhan Pamuk -- tried reading him a few times before but just was not in the right frame I guess . The other day I bought RED by him . Was in Chennai for a whole day in a hotel room so read the book and enjoyed it . He is good . Very informative of Islamic illustrated books . But the strange thing is you try reading up a bit more on the net or you want to see what an illustration is like but all you get is obscure and weird sites . I guess Islam is the new four letter word .
THE OTHER FAMILY --  by JOANNA TROLLOPE -- Nice . Again a story of people , families .
THE PREGNANT KING - DEVDUTT PATNAIK --  Wow . I still have a few pages left . You know how it is ? A very good book and you dont want it to end ? Just read it . The author has made mythology and dharma very contemporary . Waiting to recommend it to all my friends

Climate in Tibet - Tibet Travel Information

Climate in Tibet - Tibet Travel Information

You know why I read ? Read all those random books that no one has heard of . that dont make it to those lists that are treated like God has made them , when it is actually another frail human being or maybe sales has decided it should go onto a list . 
When I read someone like Michael Ondaantje  it makes the whole thing worthwhile , to read a whole lot of stupid books . 
I have just read DIVISADERO by Michael Ondaatje .  It is fantastic how he can get the reader interested in little stories and feelings without a start , middle and end to his story . 
After I read a book by him I just feel - my god  all these people , I want to meet them . No, I know people like this . And the ends are not tied up and tidied away in a neat closing scene . 
But isn't that life ? Is there ever a " The End " in any of our lives .Read it 

Been reading a bit
LACUNA by Barbra Kingsolver -- Its about Mexican Artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo their lives , their friendship with Trotsky and then of course how the USA handled (mis) the communists in their midst
Lacuna is a mexican word for an underwater cave in the sea , which when the tide is right lets you swim up to an opening in the middle of the island
A very clever pun on the blackness of thought - when a country refuses to use its common sense and goes on a senseless rampage of accusations .
I wonder if its is something to do with the western culture or Christianity . The Spanish Inquisition , The Salem Witch Hunts , The Holocaust , The red threat , and now the Terrorist threat from the Muslims .

Then a book called  'Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother ' by XINRAN -- Female infanticide on a large unacknowledged scale . Well, what is there to be said about it ? Women are doing it . Why ? Does it affect all of them ? What is the pressure / force from the other side that allows parents to kill their children .
Is not the instinct to pass on their genes supposed to be the main force that drives all beings on ?
So then how do they go about killing that instinct ?

Fieldwork - Mischa  Berlinski  -- A first person account of his contact with a remote tribe in Thailand , an anthropologists life there , and some missionaries . Trying to talk about Animism without offending the Christian Missionaries . Anyway it is a fictional tribe . I dont know what he is trying to say and in any case the print was so small that it took me ages to read it

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/peter_eigen_how_to_expose_the_corrupt.html

One of the best talks I have heard
http://www.ted.com/talks/raghava_kk_five_lives_of_an_artist.html