Kausik Joins the Club

I had hoped to pick up some bowties for my friend Kausik and his sons while I was in the States last June. The vagauries of internet ordering and what not meant that the ties did not arrive until after I had left.

The package was duly shipped to me, but suffered terribly in transit. Fortunately there was no harm to the contents, and I was over joyed at its final arrival.

It turned out to be good timing as Kausik's birthday was last week. So the ties served as a birthday present.

They are what we would call Madras plaid, but I assure you I have looked all over Madras and the plaids here tend to be blue and black, not nearly so festive.

I was truely touched that kausik took such a shine to his new sartorial neckwear and brought it to work on Wednesday.

A quick 5 minute lesson in the men's room, and another member of the club is inducted!

Puja Miranda

Back in the 40's there was a famous entertainer in the States named Carmen Miranda. She had come from Brazil and her persona was recognizable by extravagant headwear usually featuring fruit.
I bring this up because I'm not sure if it's my age or my location that gives me some apparently obscure information about past American celebrities.

Carmen came up just after the puja. Pujas involve big collections of fruit: bananas, coconuts, etc. Some of these are sacrificed to the gods and some are distributed the attendees.

After the ceremony there was one of the female laborers, who usually carries rocks and dishes of concrete on her head, was seen taking some of the distribution off to her coworkers.

An Indian Carmen Miranda!
(gotta love the Minnie Mouse shoes!)

A Real Sarathy

There's a kid (must be all of 20, if that) who drives one of the site vehicles. He thinks the pink skinned American is odd looking, and I felt he looked like someone, but couldn't quite put my finger on it. Then last week it occurred to me that with his big eyebrows he looks like Colin Ferrel.

So I printed out a picture of the Irish-born actor and asked the driver to hold it for me. Unfortunately I couldn't find a picture of CF with a 70's era parachute haircut. He has no idea who Mr. Farrel is, and just thinks I'm a little more strange.

I realized that it was not just the eyebrows, but coupled with the shape of his eyes, mouth and jaw that does it. Talk about your Black Irish!

Site Puha

With the passing of the lunar month that included two eclipses (spp - see previous posts) came an auspicious day to invoke the aid of Ganesh and start a new work. The project includes 6 towers grouped on a podium, 18 to 24 stories tall. The contract has finally been let for this work and the contractor is chomping at the bit to get going.

Following the precepts of vastu, Indian feng shui, the first work was done in the Northeast and the building commenced from the South west.

The priests were called and fires lit and a puja, or hindu blessing ceremony was held. a huge canopy was erected and chants sung and
concrete and bricks were blessed.

The big brass were adorned with wreaths of flowers and every body got to enjoy sweets and lunch.



All sorts of people were invited to place bricks, spread mortar, and break cocnuts. I'm not sure what OSHA would say about all the barefeet on site, but I guess for this event we answer to a higher law.

More Fashion Shows

My firend Sunil was at it again, directing another fashion show. Of course Vineeta says it's the only entertainment there is in Chennai, but she's a model, so she would say that.

This one was for the Times of India (No idea if I'll make Page 6 again) and it was a bridal show. Lots of great clothes and jewelry.

Including some incredibly tied and pleated dohti (length of cloth wrapped like a very fancy towel around your waist) I have enough trouble with a regular dohti, much less one of these!

Victoria Terminus - Bombay

In what was, no doubt, once, the heart of the city is Victoria Teminal: a huge masonry heap with a glass and iron train shed that is so evocative of the British Empire that spawned it, and drips with carvings and grotesques, that it appears to be a charicature of itself. I laughed when I saw it.
F/W.Stevens, the architect, must have had a ball. His designers and draftsmen went to town with any number of monkeys, lizards, cats, dogs, fish and fowl all over the place.

It took 10 years to build and untold numbers of carvers, masons and laborers just to erect the superstructure.
The World Heritage sight calls it "an outstanding example of Victorian Gothic Revival...with themes deriving from traditional Indian architecture" by which I assume he means the peacocks over the windows. There are allegorical figures all over and busts of various personages dotting the facade, none of whom look the slightest bit indigenous.



The carvings can be frightening as cats chase monkeys who carry rats away in their jaws. While crocodiles stalk dogs who snarl; or enchanting as simians coyly peer at you and dogs grin wildly while the elephants watch with wisdom and piety.
The striped stone arches are probably suppose to refeence the great academies of Italy or the arabian architecture, but they add a festive atmosphere. With all the people and the performing animals on the building, it's a regular circus!


Of course not everyone there is moving. There's a lot of standing around and waiting around. There are sleepers everywhere at all times of the day and night. Watched over by the carved mangerie above.

Architecture critics complain that it Penn Station doesn't give a sense of arrival or destination in New York, buried under Madison Square Garden. So there's a lot of government money being wasted on a plan to move it to the Main Post Office across the street. A building not intended as a train terminus. Doesn't matter what they do, it will never compare. Here is a piece of architecture which speaks volumes about the history of the place, and how people thought about it, and what happened there.
For all it's frippery, it serves as architecture should.

Bugs!

Like everything else in India, the bugs come in an incredible variety of colors and forms.



The jungle lighting almost makes this ant home look romantic. Of course I'm presuming it's an ant home. If it's something larger, by the diameter of the hale, I don't want to know what it is!


Everyone got really excited when I went to brush this guy out of the way. They thought he might bite, he might be venemous, or he might carry disease. I didn't argue that he might, but I simply brushed him fast enought that he didn't have time to bite.


There was this crowd nof yellow ants who were haapily carying home a beetle for lunch. They were walking along the top of a chainlink fence and were so excited i thought they'd fall off!

Waterfall

The next state over from Tamil Nadu is Andra Pradesh. To get there you cross the Gahts, or the Western Gahts. They are full of forests and streams and pools an waterfalls.

My buddy Padu thought that we should hire a car, pack a lunch and go up country. The roads got smaller and rougher and 2 km after leaving the car we came to the boulder spill in the canyon. In the 2 or 3 km up the canyon there was only one short part where a rope came in handy.



At the end was a beautiful pool of crystal clear water, and around that curve was a waterfall. We had a terrific afternoon splashing and playing in the pool. I made them all be good campers and pick up and pack out the litter, much to the disappointment of the monkeys. Then a good hike back down, boulder jumping, and deep snooze in the car back to Chennai.

The Sisyphisian Cycle

Way back in Minnesota, before my engineering degree, or construction career, or heck - before I even tended bar, I was a philosophy major headed for Law School. I came upon a short work called The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. http://members.bellatlantic.net/~samg2/sysiphus.html

Sisyphus was this Greek guy who got the Gods angry by not submitting to fate. When they finally got him into the underworld he was destined forever to roll a rock up a mountain, and just before the rock reached the top it would slip from him and roll back down into the jungle below, and he would have to walk back down and try pushing it up again.

Camus saw the absurdity of the human condition in this story. Sisyphus is the proletarian hero destined to work and labor in futility. He is tragic only when he is concious of the futility. But if he is is concious then he will also appreciate the absurdity, especially when he turns to walk down the mountain, reflecting on how he himself manufactured his destiny.

In that walk he is free of his burden and free within the confines of his destiny to simple be. Camus says that we must imagine that Sisyphus, in this time, is happy.

When I was in college I had had a couple of jobs with some responsibility, but not a lot. At that time I didn't have a very deep appreciation for Camus' interpretation of an old saw about the visicitudes of arrogance.
In the years since I have found a very direct application of Mr. Camus' thoughts in the cycles of my career.

The beginning of the month I "put in my papers" as they say in India, or "gave notice" as we say in the states. With this act I entered into what I have come to think of as the Sisyphician state.

My boulder has slipped and getting it to the top of the mountain is no longer my concern. I must walk down the mountain, where there are other stones waiting for me. Soon I will be pushing another one up the mountain, but for now...I am free.
Or somewhat free. I still have to come to the office until the end of the month, but as people try to hand me their stones, I give them back with a smile and a shrug.

...and yes Albert, I am happy.

Yoga

I'm becoming a real devotee of this yoga stuff. I was able to hire a trainer who comes to the apartment 3 times a week and charges Rs 300 a visit - that's like $7.

The parctice is moving along and Monday night I actually held my lotus for over a minute, and was able to walk afterward. Now, I've been working toward that goal since April, so it's about time.

I'm also getting pretty good at my scorpion, though no where near as good as Sarvanan, my yogi (shown here)

Besides the sense of accomplishment, there really is a patience and peace and happiness that comes from the practice. Not to mention how much better my body feels and the deflating of the spare tire.

Garuda in Kancheepuram

This is Arvind. He works in one of the temple complexes in Kancheepuram. He's not a priest, and I certainly don't know all of his duties. He's a gang leader for the folks who carry the idols. He's a friend of a my friend Kausik, and he's a really nice guy. He was excited to have a New Yorker there for the festivities, especially one that knew enough to where a dohti (Thanks Kausik!)

I didn't count how many were in the team, or ask how heavy the platform is, but the timbers that they are carrying, by the size of them, are going to weigh a lot by themselves.

Apparently there are a number of idols who get taken around for veneration at this temple and Arvind and his teams are paid to do that.

A couple of Arvind's team members have sprouted specific muscles from their labors. They stand on alternating sides of the beam, and hold onto the guy in fron of them with their free hand.
Every so often they'll stop and set the float down on stands and duck under the beam to switch shoulders. It's a great bit of choreography!

This was one of the days that Lord Vishnu is placed on his mount Garuda, and taken out of the temple into the world. The last time he flew out was my birthday, but there were issues at the office that kept me from attending. So I made sure not to miss this time.

When Vishnu travels he rides on Garuda. There's a blog on Garuda a few weeks back. I originally mistook him for an angle when I first saw him at the temples. I have come to learn that he is actually an eagle.

So Garuda is the brass faced one here with the big eyes, and he's holding out his hands to support the Lord's feet.

The priests put Lord Vishnu into some very cool purple pants and brought him out of the temple. He's sitting on Gaurda's head, and he's draped in a huge collar of flowers. You might make out his bejeweled right hand which he is holding up, palm out in blessing. He's wearing an enormous crown, and you can find his head in the middle of that orange line of flowers. (It took me a while to see that under all the flowers and wrappings, there really is an idol!)

Of course the Lord is going no where unattended and on the float are a couple three priests fanning him, and blessing him and holding the umbrella. (More weight Arvind?)
There are also musicians and drummers and the crowds!

Once around the temple, inside the perimeter walls, and then they head for the gopuram (big tall gate house) and out into the streets. Then once around the outside of the temple walls, before going inside. Don't know if they go around the park, it was Arthur who loved te park so much.

This was a particularly auspicious parade. It seems that there was an elephant in a pool in Kanchepuram. The elephant got attacked by a crocodile and fought desperately for 1000 years (don't ask). The elephant called out to all his relatives and friends for help, but none would dare to fight the fierce crocodile. Then he called out to the saints and gods and lords for salvation, but none came to help thinking that another would. Finally he beseeched the Lord of Lords and Vishnu, realizing that it was he being beseeched, mounted Garuda, defeated the crocodile and saved the elephant.

Kausik tells me that the follow up story about the elephant is too long, so it wil have to wait for another time.

Schedule?

Lest anyone think that I'm doing absolutely no work at all here, I include a shot of the building construction.

Now the original schedule had this particular building of four full flours (of which 3+ are shown here in superstructure)were to be occupied by the end of last month...

So it's not that we're idle: Just slow.

Large Reptile Warning

apparently somewhere along the line an Indian Bureaucrat, wanting to increase the traffic to the King's palace in Kerala, suggested an attraction for children. We all know that children love dinosaurs. So someone erected a dinosaur on the back grounds, on the path to the deer park.



I took the opportunity to demonstrate my ferocity.

Caught Up in Kerala's Net

Last weekend I finally got to Kerala.
On the first plane ride over last September I sat next to a woman who was from the Southwest of India and talked about the beauties of her home. Since I have been here everyone has raved about the beauty of Kerala.

Like much of India, there is a rich legacy from international trading. One such expression are the 'Chinese Fishing Nets' near the Fort in Kochin. The engineering is ostensibly brought from China and they are simply giant seives counterweighted on a tripod.

The area where they are located is a narrow passage between a couple of the islands that make up Cochin. There's a lot of boat traffic and foot traffic and lots of tourist hotels nearby. It doesn't have the feel of a commercial fishing area, despite the large number of fish mongers along the street.

Sure enough, the guys are not catching a lot of fish, though they catch a lot of tourists. They smiled and waved and we picked our way down. They suggested we hang around a few minutes and watch them raise the net. All the while they're chatting and asking where we were from and was it my first trip to Kerala and did I like it and all the rest. They set their lines with practiced and professional skill.

At the right time, of course, they asked if I wanted to help raise the net. I would be the paler guy grabbing the rope. The catch, no surprise, was a little disappointing: one fish in the net, much too small to keep. No mater they had hooked their big fish.
We laughed about the laws of chance and bemoaned the difficulty of caring for our loved ones. I dribbled some gold into their hands. When Sunil later proclaimed about the amount, I pointed out to him that he was now free to return anytime and all of his guests would be well cared for.

There was a cat in the fish market. It made me wonder if he was the luckiest guy in the world, surrounded by such delicacies, or the saddest, having to wait for scraps when surrounded by such wealth.

The Other Sarathys

I mentioned in an earlier blog my friends the Sarathy. The term sarathy refers to a chariot driver, and specifically to Krishna, who offered his services as a chariot driver to Arjuna in the epic Mahabarta, which was penned by none other than Ganesh himself.

Traffic is so crazy in Indian cities that many people forego the hassle and hire drivers or sarathy for themselves. Despite the godly connections and the neccesity of these folks, their social status is rather low and several have been surprised by my talking to them.

My driver comes to pick me up at 7am each morning, and is sometimes late, or maybe I'm early. (Stop laughing please) At such times I sit in this nice little open air pavillion by my building's security gate and wait for my car.

The Indian caste system may be disappearing, but the class system certainly is not, and I caused a bit of a stir the first week I sat with the boys. They all saluted and stood up and wouldn't sit down even when I motioned for them to do so. A couple of the residents gave me very worried looks. Everyone has now written me off as a crazy foreigner, though they do still all rise and say good morning when I walk by. (sheesh)

Anyway, these are some of the guys. One is in the standard white of the chauffer class. There are a couple of the security gaurds and another driver in his street wear.

Apologies to Kausik

While there is nothing more universal than smiles and laughter, there is little as ethnocentric and culturally nuanced as humor.

I've mentioned before my friends Kausik and Viji. A list of all their kindnesses this past year would overflow the 300 Gig limit on Blogger. They have made do with such poor remittance as my thanks and a trinket or two.

Really, I would not have survived, much less grown here in India without their help oversight and support. From setting up bank accounts and providing lunch, to explaining the nuances of a business conversation or a theological point, to welcoming me into their family activities and making sure I wasn't lonely on the weekends, they have been incredible.So trying to balance the equation, when Kau asked about my blog and about setting one up for all his intricate knowledge of parts of the Hindu pantheon, I jumped at the chance. You might think to check it out, it is well written, nuanced and insightful. http//www.kausiksarathy.blogspot.com

Anyway, he wanted to check to see if it actually came up in a search engine, so he googled himself and found my previous post. Unfortunately with my droll humor I cribbed about him getting me out of bed to see the goings on at his temple. He pointed out that I said I had enjoyed it.

Sigh. If my best friend in India doesn't get the humor, what chance is there for the rest of them?

I've been meaning to tell the world about these folks who have been guiding my chariot through the tour, and in singing their praises as the kind, generous, witty and intellegent folks that they are, I hope I make up for any unintended slights.

The S Word

The other day the Safety Team at the job site finally got around to taking their consultant's advice and had a seminar on the possible prevelance of certain reptiles who the call nag here, but for whom we have a name starting with S. They contacted the city S Park which is walking distance from my apartment. The S park educators brought some of their live specimens for show and tell. They have all sorts of critters including the chameleon shown here. You REALLY have to see these guys live. Their eyes move independently - it is really creepy!

After the show I ran into the guys packing up. Their non-venemous guys are in the basket in the back of the car. The box I'm leaning on, the one with the screen top, is where the cobra is sleeping. Didn't get to touch this one!

Rahu Gets Lunch

I got a phone call halfway through the Friday afternoon meeting, and took the opportunity to go look at the eclipse. The clouds had parted and the sun was truely blinding. No sense looking right at it.
So I grabbed two pieces of paper and tried to make a pinhole camera. I got the image focused, but it was WAY to small to see clearly.

So this really nice guy at the site, Bala, who does the Tom Selleck eyebrow thing, comes out and he's concerned that I'm outside in the eclipse. I look around and there's nobody else around.

It seems that since fire purifies (per Indian definition) and the sun is fire: ergo the sun purifies. Consequently when the light of the sun is obstructed, it's purifying power is also eclipsed and bacterias can grow. That's why we weren't suppossed to eat during the eclipse and we were suppose to bathe afterward and why, in general, the eclipse is a bad thing.

Since the pinhole camera wouldn't work, I had Bala hold the paper and used my reading glasses to focus the image of the sun.
All the engineers in the office got very curious and came outside to see what we were doing.
Unfortunately I gave one of them my camera to take a picture of the image, and the poor guy didn't know how to operate it, so the snapshot is poor.
But if you look at the lower right side of the bright dot, you might notice that it looks like someone took a nibble out of it.

No issue: there's not only the lunar eclipse coming, but also a conjunction between the moon and Mars! (see next post)

Scientific Rahu & Ketu

Gupta the Indian astronomer lived around 300 a.d. He understood that eclipses were caused by the shadows of the Earth or Moon. The story of Rahu and Ketu is just a simplification for the masses.

He also understood that an eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are close to the point in their respective orbits where the path of the Sun crosses the path of the Moon, or the node point.

The Sun moves against the background of stars around the entire sky in the course of a year. This path is called the ecliptic.

The Moon moves around the entire sky in the course of about 27 days, and its path is such that it crosses the ecliptic in two places. The place where the path of the Moon crosses the ecliptic moving northward is called the ascending node and the place where the path of the Moon crosses the ecliptic moving south is called the descending node.
Thus the Moon crosses the ecliptic at the ascending node, roughly 14days later crosses the ecliptic again at the descending node, and roughly 14 days later it is back to the ascending node crossing.

Things are somewhat complicated by the fact that the nodes move very slowly from one month to the next making it more difficult to predict eclipses.

However Hindu astronomers discovered that if they kept track of the location in the sky of the nodes, then they only need to check the proximity of the Sun or Moon to the nodes in order to be able to predict an eclipse. Since the nodes are theoretical points they are referred to as "shadow planets"

The ascending node is called Rahu and the descending node is called Ketu. Added to the seven visible planets, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, Hindu astrologers count a total of nine planets.

More about Rahu & Ketu & Garlic & Onions

So this is an especially odd month because there is not only a solar eclipse, but also a lunar eclipse (more about that tomorrow)

The brahmin castes eschew the use of garlic or onions in food. I've been told that it's because they 'excite the passions'.

Turns out that as Rahu and Ketu were drinking the elixir of immortality, interestingly called soma, and Visnu, dressed in drag as Mohni, cut off their heads with his/her chakra - if you have no idea what I'm talking about go look at yesterday's post -

So the elixer dribbled back out of Rahu's & Ketu's necks and spilled on the ground.

From where the drops fell grew garlic and onions. The elixir gives these plants wonderful and healthful properties, but they've been tainted by the demons and cause excitment among men.