South India Part 4 - Tanjore

• published: 19 Mar 2015
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Coffee and samosas at the “Starbucks” of Pondicherry. Fish auctions at the colorful fishing village Nalla Vadu. Visits to mat weavers’ village and a school for Bronze art. Beautiful baratha natyam dance performane in Tanjore. The day started out as somewhat drizzly and kind of foggy, but cleared up nicely. We went to a street fish and vegetable market and then to what Sudha, our guide, calls the ‘Starbucks’ of Pondicherry. A corner ‘open concept’ coffee shop where people were drinking their coffees in tuk tuks and standing around in the street. The coffees are served in two little metal cups and you have to mix them to cool the coffee down. They make it look easy, but I know from experience that it’s not; especially because the metal cups are scolding hot. When I tried it, most of the coffee ended up on the table and I had a sip left in the cup! A cow strolled by our group very nonchalant.  I guess bovines have the right of way here - we took tuk-tuks on the way back and a bull was blocking the road; he hardly moved as the little vehicle went by. Our next stop was the Fishing village of Nalla Vadu. The walk to the beach was interesting by itself because we got to peek into the daily lives of the local people. Right on the street, a woman was hand washing baskets of laundry, two very young boys were helping each other wash up, and a young lady was drying her beautiful long dark hair. And then I got to the beach… really you don’t know what to look at first. The colors, the level of activity, the fish auctions, the shouting, the ocean, the fishing boats, everything is SO interesting. I could have spent a whole morning there and still want more. It amazes me how our world is made up of so many layers. This way of life may be the only one that these people have or will ever experience. Then we drove by the sacred river Kaveri to a village that is known for their mat weavers. It had been raining for a few days and Sudha was keeping his fingers crossed that we might see them at work. We did because very recently they had built a roof cover over one of the work areas. We got to see how the grass, straight from the field, becomes a beautiful, colorful mat. The weavers sit on the floor and weave mats usually for special occasions such nuptial mats for weddings. The only process we did not see (because of the rain) was the dying and drying of the straw, which is too bad because the colors are very vibrant and absolutely beautiful. There were many-many stores around town selling not only mats but beautiful rattan furniture as well. I wish those chairs fit in the luggage  We had a very interesting visit at a school for bronze art where we were given a demonstration in the creation of the wax figures used in the “lost wax” method. We saw many different artists performing a different part of the process. Every piece is worked on by several different artists at different stages of the process because every artist specializes and becomes really good at one of the steps. We saw the creation of a delicate hand in a typical Indian pose. We were all allowed to try and make something ourselves and at the end the little hand was given to Jan as her prize for best effort! Unfortunately, my battery run out and my spare was in the bus, so that part is not in the video. While driving, we saw a funerary procession of a flower covered vehicle accompanied by many men. Sudha discussed the custom of cremation of the dead and the scattering of the ashes in sacred rivers. Then, we stopped for a minute to watch a couple that were bathing their cow in the river. As with all the warm-hearted South Indians, they smiled and waved at us. We were lucky enough to see a bullock cart coming to the river to collect sand to be sold for construction. The sand is free but it takes a lot of hard work by several men for every load. During this run, a few of the men were paying more attention to us than their work! At another point, we passed by a town that is known for festivals (Chidambaram?) and Sudha spoke to a Shaivite (worshipper of Shiva) that was growing one of his fingernails to beat the Guinness world record. He had a way to go, but his nail was already about four inches long and he had it painted a beautiful vibrant blue. The General Manager of our Sangam Thanjavur hotel arranged for us a wonderful Baratha natyam dance performance. Bharatanatyam is a 2000 year old traditional classical South Indian dance that originated in the local temples of this exact Tamil Nadu city (Thanjavur). It is a very beautiful, stylized, visual, elegant, fluid dance, performed by dancers in colorful, elaborate, and ornate costumes, complete with ‘temple jewelry’. It was performed for us by two young sisters, their teacher, a musician, and a singer. We got to ask them questions and find out more about them and their art. Sudha, our guide, told us that the school helps girls that are not from privileged families.