Kalanjiam

I went to a Kalanjiam meeting last week and it was really great to see.  The kalanjiams are something like a credit union or club and run by women.  They're relatively new, started by DHAN and over half a million families are involved all over India.  

Since many people in India are very poor the Kalanjiams allow them to borrow small amounts of money for things like purchasing a cow, even though they wouldn't normally be able to take out a bank loan.  They also are active in community development, they had a few speakers at the meeting who were talking about trying to increase accessibility to water and toilets, and offer services like insurance.  It's really a great idea and wonderful to see how well the women are doing with it.

There are several levels, from small local areas to large federations.  The meeting I went to was one of the larger ones and there were hundreds of women packed into the building.

The meeting was organized partially for the film crew so they ended up having students from the school dancing as well. 

Many of the women had brought children with them.  I was surprised that the meeting was in the middle of the day because it would seem to exclude anyone with a job but perhaps they're normally in the evening.  Or I guess if Nilakottai is any example, maybe most of the women don't have full time jobs.

Indian Wedding

I had the opportunity to go to an Indian wedding last weekend and it was wonderful.  The bride is a former illam child.  It's nice to see how the children turn out after they leave.

The illam was buzzing about the wedding all weekend.  Dhivya left several years ago so only some of the older children knew her.  The day before a few of the girls spent hours tying flowers together to put in everyone's hair.  And I got a lovely mehndi (henna) design.

About a 15 of us packed into a van that's meant for far less people, and we headed to another city for the wedding.  When we arrived we were greeted by several billboards announcing the nuptials.

All of the women were so beautiful in their fancy and colorful saris and there were several musicians playing typical Tamil songs, with huge amplifiers of course.  There were thousands of people and Nagarathana thinks it cost about $15-20,000.  Ceremonies are incredibly important here and Poor families will sometimes take out large bank loans just to be able to put on a wedding.  Dhivya's family had just sold a piece of land and so was able to cover the cost and pay the dowry, which is supposed to be illegal but is apparently still done.  Just the idea of dowries seems ridiculous to me, not to mention a huge burden on the bride's family.  Dowry's were made illegal because no one wanted to have daughters.  When we were at the hospital the other day they even had a sign stating they wouldn't tell expecting parents the gender of the fetus.

It was an arranged marriage, as are most marriages in small villages and towns around here.  Divyha met her husband for the first time when they took engagement photos and all of the wedding preparation was conducted through Dhivya's family. Apparently everyone is very satisfied with the match.  He has no family but is well educated with a good job.

The main hall had a stage at the front which was crowded with people giving gifts to the couple, putting flowers around their necks and taking pictures.  A lot of people give money as gifts and the amounts are all meticulously noted down because if in the future, Dhivya goes to the wedding of one of the guests, she is expected to give them at least as much as they gave her.  Complicated!

Upstairs was a large dining hall where people sat at long tables, each with a banana leaf, and servers came around with buckets full of rice, vegetable curries and other delicious foods.

On the way home we stopped at a nursery where the girls were excited to each pick a flower to bring home.

Living with an author

I just finished Jean's book about the illam (it's not on the Kindle, I looked).  She provides an interesting account of how she first came to India, the circumstances which brought her to Nilakottai, how she eventually started the illam with a local man and all of the challenges they underwent.  It was a unique experience, getting to read a book with the author right down the hall, while living in the place where the story takes place.  I wonder if she feels self conscious or if she's used to it.

I enjoyed getting to experience India through the eyes of a poet and it was fun to notice all of the similarities between her experience and mine.  I laughed when she wrote about how one day, when she wasn't in a good mood, she made a snippy comment about how she needed a proper broom and her friend went all the way to town and came back with something completely different.  The brooms they use here are bundles of twigs tied together and I can understand her frustration.  I tried to sweep my room the other day and couldn't figure out how to use it at all.  Every night at dinner I would pepper her with questions: is Subbiah the one who did this?  When did that happen?  She was a very good sport about my inquiries.  I could sympathize with how she felt uncomfortable always being served first and having to get used to the Indian customs.  I'm trying to convince her to write a sequel about everything that has happened since and about the process of building a new illam which will hopefully be undergoing construction soon.

Small town life

Nilakottai reminds me a bit of Stars Hollow. (Tay, you may be the only one who understands this reference)  Small town life is a lot different from life in a big cosmopolitan city.  In Bangkok and KL, and even in smaller cities like Sukhothai, I didn't stand out nearly as much.  It seems that all of the cultural differences are that much more apparent when a foreigner is thrown into a small relatively homogenous society.  Since Jean and I are the only Westerners in town we've gained a bit of celebrity.  Although of course, she is a celebrity anyway; author of several books and more importantly, founder the illam.  I just look funny!

When I ride my bike into town or to the land where the boys live I always get stares and the children will call out 'hello!'  Yesterday I stopped in the village for a cup of tea and several children came up to talk to me and ask me questions about my family and my 'native place' (this must be a direct translation from Tamil because they all say it).  I went on a predawn run and two of the girls came up to me and told me their classmates had seen me.  Even my wardrobe is critiqued like a celebrity!  I wore an ankle length skirt the other night and the girls seemed to like it much more than my typical pants / capris.  And when the girls put a flower in my hair and a bindi on my forehead this weekend I got approving comments.

I was walking into town the other day with a short shopping list and my shoe broke (it was only a matter of time, I guess, I bought it for $5 in Thailand, and fortunately I was already headed in the right direction).  As I was walking along the hot asphalt, my left foot burning with every step, I looked around and noticed that a significant number of the people around me weren't wearing any shoes.  I don't know how they do it!  I don't even like going down the stairs at the illam because the cement gets so hot during the day.  I run down as quickly as possible, trying to step in the shady spots.  Not only is the ground hot during the day, but you have to be mindful of the broken glass, rusty pieces of metal, and human and animal waste.

All the stalls were selling the same type of sandals and for the same price (40 rupees, or about $0.65) so I just went for the largest ones I could find. (Indian people, like the Thais are short and have very small feet, not good for a Westerner trying to purchase shoes or clothing!)  Even the largest they had are a size too small, but they'll do the job.

Next stop was the 'general store' for toilet paper... really just another small storefront that sells a variety of items.  Western comforts are not easy to find here.  The town just got toilet paper this year, and I'm pretty sure the kiwis and I are the only one's who ever buy it.  One roll of toilet paper is also 40 rupees.  Now of course, the shoes were incredibly cheap, and the toilet paper is considered a novelty item here, but still, I never expected to pay the same price for a roll of toilet paper and a pair of shoes!

Rain!

The sun is out, the air is fresh, and the fields are covered in pools of water.  In a town that centers around agriculture, and is in the middle of a drought, the beginning of monsoon season is a time of celebration.  Everyone's spirits seemed lifted this morning as I ran by the rice fields, dodging puddles along my route.

When I first arrived to Dindigul and we were driving to Nilakottai I remember Mr. Khader telling us about the drought and how the monsoons were going to start on October 15th.  I also remember thinking they either have significantly better weathermen than us or he was just making it up.

It started to rain right before dinnertime.  A cold drenching rain accompanied by lightning and thunder.  We only got a few hours but that's still significantly more than we've gotten up until now.   They're saying we need about a weeks worth of constant, hard rain to satisfy the agricultural needs of the area, so hopefully it will continue!

Saraswati

It's been a busy few days at the illam.  On Friday I went with Jean and the film crew to a famous temple in Madurai.  Like in Thailand the city has grown up around the temple structures.  In fact, one has been converted into a market.

Interspersed with the tailors and shops selling tourist knick knacks are stone statues, some are coated with some sort of paint or tar to make them black and decorated with fabric, colorful paints/powders and flowers.

Yesterday was a festival for Saraswati, the god of art and education.  We all woke up early for a special prayer and a big breakfast of fruits, popped rice and some kind of sweet dish with rice, cardamom, bananas and raisins.

By the time I woke up at 5:30 the girls were already well into their morning routine.  Everyone got flowers in their hair for the holiday.  Even me and Jan!

It was great to have the children off from school for a few days.  During normal school days it seems like they are always busy.  They have extra study session almost every day after school, and spend hours doing homework.  

The weather was nice this weekend, a bit cooler than normal, we even had a few minutes of rain!  I found some of the younger girls playing school in the courtyard.  And today they invited me to their kitchens where they served me a banana leaf feast with mud dosai and grass chutneys.

The boys spent some time outside as well, playing cricket.  They invited me to join but I still don't understand it at all.  I did join in on their dance class though.  I may have accidentally agreed to a performance at the end of me stay!

Beauty in India

It's been great to be here with the film crew because I can tag along on their outings.  Yesterday we went out early so that they could film the sunrise and got to see how the locals start their day.

Early in the morning the boys all head to the river to bathe.  It was a little too chilly for my liking but I'm sure it would be very refreshing in the heat of the day!

Traveling with the film crew draws a crowd.  Everyone wanted to see what we were doing and most were eager to have their pictures taken.

We went out to the rice fields and a banana plantation where people were just getting to work.

The women in India are beautiful.  This morning I was talking to a woman with intricate henna decoration.

I went to a sari store as well.  There were thousands and thousands of saris, three floors with stacks and stacks of material.  I didn't buy one (barely can fit everything in my bag as it is!) but everyone else did.  They had saris made from all sorts of silk and cotton.  They even had some dyed with vegetable dyes!  

The entire town was colorful.

Illam life

Every morning the girls draw a kolam outside of the illam using rice flour.  The kolams are supposed to bring prosperity to the household and when I walk down the street I see them in front of almost every household.

The streets are covered in trash.  This job of trash collector is a new addition to Nilakottai.  The trash is generally collected and then burned.

The children are off from school on Sundays. They spend the day washing their clothes, studying, doing a thorough cleaning of the illam, and have free time as well.  I spent the morning playing 'duck duck, goose' with several of the younger girls and chatting with the older ones as they braided each other's hair.  

Jean led the girls in a drawing class.  I was surprised to see that many of the girls brought in scraps of newspaper or textbooks so that they could copy pictures out of them.  They didn't seem to want to make up pictures.

This man works right outside the illam.  He's ironing clothes on a street cart with an iron heated by a small stove.

The boys relax on Sundays as well.  I went to the garden to watch them playing volleyball and then joined them in a dance class.  (I don't think I'll be going to Bollywood anytime soon.)

Today I finished up an art project for children's day at the school to display the children's art work.

There is a housekeeper and cook at the illam but the girls help out with food preparation and other chores.  This is there version of a knife that she is using to cut a melon.

I really love the food.  Today we had quite a spread, all fantastic!

I went with Jean and the film crew to a hospital in Madurai this afternoon to visit Ganeshani, a girl who used to live at the illam and is now finishing up school to be a laboratory technician.  DHAN helps the children with college and technical school after they leave the illam.  It was great to be able to see a girl who is doing so well thanks to the help of the illam.

It started to rain!  Torrential downpour in fact.  Although unfortunately it was only in the city, Nilakottai didn't get much rain at all.  Everyone is hoping for rain next week.  As we were driving to Madurai we could se all of the brown fields.  The farmers are suffering because of the drought.

Jean taught the girls a spoken English class tonight, perhaps I'll do one soon!