Friday, 2/19/16 - Kerala Kalamandalam, Periayanamepetta Pooram Festival |
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We left Kochi early this morning. The East Indies restaurant technically don't start serving breakfast until 7:30, and that was what time we were supposed to leave. The kitchen staff kindly offered to serve us slightly early before our departure, which was incredibly nice of them. They even cooked us eggs to order along with a side of bacon. We have nothing but wonderful things to say about the Eighth Bastion Hotel. Lovely rooms, world-class food, and excellent hospitality!
We were on the road to Cheruthuruthy by 7:40 a.m. As we left Fort Kochi, we passed colorful fishing boats moored off of Willingdon Island. We passed the shipyards, a naval installation, and the military airport. As we got further out of Kochi, we passed mangrove forests, palm trees, and teak plantations. We passed a smaller version of the Chinese fishing nets we had operated yesterday in a picturesque lagoon. We saw many gleaming white Christian churches in a variety of styles, as well as mosques and Hindu temples. We arrived at Kerala Kalamandalam at 10:40. This is a residential school where students learn various local cultural arts. It was founded in 1930 by a poet named Padmahooshan Vallathol Narayana Menon. The tourist program had started at 10:00 a.m., so we apparently missed the A/V program. But we were in time to watch the live demonstrations, so we were happy. We walked around the nice campus and went from building to building observing kalaris (gurus) teaching their students. We started out with percussive drums (Thimila, Kathakali Maddalam). It takes a lot of both strength and finesse to master this art form, and we saw the various stages of training. The young boys start out pounding on stone tablets with sticks. They learn the wrist movements and rhythms required to play the drum. When they have mastered that stage, they graduate to the next level. But they are still not ready to beat the actual drums. It takes a lot of strength to be able to get such a punctuated sound from the drums. Students work up to it by first beating on a wooden frame the same size and general shape of the drum. They pound on each end simultaneously with hardened papier mache "fingertips" over their fingers. Finally, they are ready to play the drum. We watched the students at this stage. Their instructor would pound out a rhythm with a stick on a wooden desk, and the students would then join in, pounding on their drums with their papier mache "fingertips". Next we saw a Mohiniyaattam (classical dance) class. Young women danced to the music of a harmonium. I really enjoyed this. The fluidity and grace of their movements was mesmerizing. We observed a Kathakali Veshum (acting) class (Kathakali was the performance that we saw last night). Men perform Kathakali (even the female parts), and this class consisted of young men. An unexpected addition was a young German woman who was studying here. She lives here on campus and studies along with the local students. It was fun to see the elaborate facial expressions and eye movements up close. There was one young man who was incrediby talented and I couldn't take my eyes off of him. He was so expressive as he contorted his face and danced. The German woman did quite well also. Her eyebrows were very expressive and she clearly had been studying diligently. We saw students learning to apply Kathakali makeup. Students start off by applying the makeup to clay pots. The students in this particular class are between the ages of 13 and 16. All of them were boys except for a single girl. They applied the mineral powder-based colored make-up to the pot, and then applied the necessary prosthetics with a glue made of rice paste. Once they have mastered the technique, they will be able to practice on their fellow students. The final class that we observed was another young ladies' classical dance class (Mohiniyaattam). Their teacher pounded out a rhythm on a desk, and they danced an elaborate sequence. As we watched, we noticed many similarities in their choreography to yoga poses. They did a mermaid pose where they were balanced on their knees. At times their movements were very staccato and rhythmic, other times they were very fluid. It was captivating. After observing the classes, we were shown to the theater built in 1976 where all of the students give their debut performances. The building had rather a Polynesian look to it from the outside. Through intricately carved oversized wooden doors, we emerged into an airy space with rich wood floors and ceilings. Black granite pillars run the length of the building to the left and right of the stage. They are carved with 108 figures demonstrating the 108 poses which constitute a "dance Bible". We were able to go backstage, where there are colorful murals depicting the legendary stories which make up the compendium of Katahkali performances. We walked around the stage and noticed a large brass oil lamp. It was a beautiful theater, and we could imagine how it must come alive with the students' first public performances! The drumbeats must make the walls shake. We went into a small museum of Kathakali costumes. It was time for lunch, and Mukul asked us if we wanted to eat here. We said that sounded good, and the three of us sat down in the canteen. This is where the students and staff eat. We were each given a segmented metal tray. Servers piled our trays with spiced tapioca, cauliflower and potatoes, rice, dahl, a spicy, relish-y salad, and an extremely hot lemon pickle. It was very tasty, authentic local cuisine. The servers made the rounds and would refill your tray. It was essentially an all-you-can-eat vegetarian lunch. There were no frills, but it suited us just fine.  We had a beautiful room (#302) in a wing that was originally a maharaja's house. We were at the end of the corridor, so we had an end room with a gorgeous view of the Nila River and its green riverbanks. We had a sitting area overlooking the river. The opposite wall was mirrored to reflect the view across the bedroom. The air conditioning was really good, but unfortunately, there wasn't any air conditioning in the bathroom. I tried to log into the wi-fi to post a Facebook update on our morning's activities. After several calls to the front desk, it seemed that the router was in the reception office (a separate building), so there was no real in-room wi-fi. There was a seating area in the office where you could use the wi-fi, so I figured that this would be sufficient for my needs. After a couple hours' rest to cool down from the brutal heat of the morning, we left the hotel at 3:45 p.m. to attend Periayanamepetta Pooram, a Hindu festival taking place in Kattukulam. We drove through picturesque countryside featuring pepper vines, rubber trees, and teak forests, etc. We also passed aqueducts which date back to colonial times which are still in use today. Sadanandan wasn't sure exactly how to get to the temple, and when he stopped to ask some autorickshaw drivers or locals on the street, they didn't seem to know either. It was a circuitous route down winding rural roads. It didn't seem promising that we would find the place. We passed many brand new, fancy, tropically painted bungalows, even in the very rural areas...probably the result of money made overseas and sent home from the Gulf. We knew we were heading in the right direction when we came upon a makeshift "roadblock" of young men in traditional kalli mundu sarongs and bright orange turbans. They were making a joyous pilgrimage to the temple, and asked for a donation. Mukul was amused and gave them a small amount of rupees. They were so excited and started to cheer. They even gave us a receipt so that we wouldn't be hassled again. How professional, LOL! They were all very cheerful and friendly to us, posing for photos and even inviting us to join their procession. But since they planned to take around six hours to get to the festival on foot, we politely declined their kind offer. We passed several of these groups, some of whom were preparing large floats in effigy of water buffaloes. When we got close to the festival, Sadanandan parked the car and we joined a stream of people walking down a side street to the temple. Some were walking by themselves, others were part of a procession. We saw several groups of drummers marching toward the festival while they played. We attracted a lot of attention as the only foreigners there, and everyone was quite friendly to us, smiling, shaking our hands, and asking where we are from. Children were equally curious and shy, but a smile broke the ice and we had fun making new friends. Vendors were selling food, drinks, toys, and devotional statues. When we arrived at Periayanampetta Bhagavathy Temple (probably less than a mile's walk from where we had left the car), we found a spectacle the likes of which we could not have imagined. A procession was lined up at the top of a large staircase, preparing to descend. Within the procession were larger than life water buffalo effigies, musicians playing horns and cymbals, and actual live elephants adorned in gold and being ridden by three men each. Down in the plaza at the bottom of the steps was the temple. Dozens of men carried a very tall, topheavy float in clockwise circles around the temple. It was not easily manouverable, and at times they swayed it from side to side so forcefully that it seemd like it would collapse. This reminded us of the devotion with which Guatemalan Catholics shoulder incredibly heavy religious floats on Good Friday. The thing gained so much momentum that we were always on our guard in case it suddenly went careening out of control. People went into the temple, and a holy man rested a sword on their heads to bless them. A man prompted his toddler to shake my hand, and two young men talked to Craig. We smiled and said hi to everyone, and the reactions were amazingly positive. The first water buffalo effigy and three elephants descended the stairs to the plaza below, where we were standing. Soon they were standing near us. Once again, we were on guard, in case anything caused a stampede of the animal or human kind. Elephants are so majestic, and we were humbled by them. Their trusting trainer actually sat on the ground underneath a standing elephant! That underscored how much reciprocal trust there is between elephants and their mahouts! Then the men on the elephants' backs stood up, just balancing with no safety precautions. The elephants stood still and were fed in appreciation.  As we walked back to the car, we made many new friends. A simple but very friendly man approached Craig and shook his hand. He wanted to communicate, and gestured to Craig. It turned out that he wanted to invite us back to his house. Craig thanked him but tried to explain that we had to leave. The man held onto Craig's hand and the two of them walked hand in hand until the man reached his house. He waved as we continued to walk toward the car. We saw an adorable baby. She was initially scared of us, but her mom prompted her to wave. I took a photo and when I showed it to her, her face just lit up. Soon she was blowing us kisses. Groups of people who were watching from the balcony of their house called to us, waved, and gave us the thumbs up. The sun was setting and the sky was turning a beautiful orange. The moon was also visible. A group of girls asked us our names and where we are from. We asked for a photo and they initially shyly declined, but their father encouraged them, and they eventually agreed. Mukul bought us some fritters (pepper as well as banana) from a vendor. We ate them in the car on the ride back, and they were delicious! Now that Sadanandan knoew where the temple was, he knew of a more direct route back to Ottapalam, a small city between the temple and Cheruthuruthy. Once we got to Ottapalam, we hit a lot of traffic. Even in these more rural areas, rush hour is rush hour. We passed a bus terminal and four buses were trying to exit the terminal and merge into the gridlocked traffic. When we got to Cheruthuruthy and crossed the bridge near our hotel, we noticed that there was a puja taking place on the riverbed below the bridge. Sadanandan pulled over and we got out of the car and walked to the side of the bridge to watch. A large group of people were gathered on the sand. We could see a bright spotlight and some burning torches. Several people were dressed up as deities. I saw a trident, so I assume that its weilder was Shiva. We could hear drums and cymbals. An elderly gentleman who was walking by spoke to Mukul in Hindi, explaining that they were worshipping a goddess. We looked up and saw fireworks in the black night sky. It was an unexpected treat to see this puja. There are always celebrations going on in India! We had just left one and here was another.  For his meal, Craig had beef curry, which he absolutely loved. I had a local kerala specialty called coconut dry fry. I had never had anyting like it and it was quite tasty. It was beef dry rubbed with curry and chilies and then fried up with pieces of fresh coconut. It was served in the shape of a mandala with red and green peppers around the edges and onions on top. We also each had chappathi. Sunita called Mukul, and told him that Sara kept going to our room with her owl toy ("Aoooo" as she calls it) asking where we are. Awww! She's such a sweetie. After dinner, we went back to the room. I wrote up a Facebook post and chose photos to go with it, and then went to reception to upload them. The internet was very slow and my uploads kept erroring out. I was frustrated because it was such a great day and I was eager to post the details to the people back home. Defeated, I went to bed at around 11 o'clock. Kerala Kalamandalam River Retreat Kattukulam |
 Thimila classes  Mohiniyaattam class  Kathakali Veshum class  Practicing Kathakali make-up on a clay pot  Mohiniyaattam class  Performance Hall  In front of the Performance Hall  Roadblock on the way to Periayanamepetta Pooram  Drummers in a procession to Periayanamepetta Pooram  Buffalo effigy on its way to Periayanamepetta Pooram  Buffalo effigies and elephants  Float outside Periayanampetta Bhagavathy Temple  Elephants  Elephant eye  Mahout trustingly sits underneath his elephant  Friends we met while leaving the festival 
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