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!