Saturday, 2/20/16 - Vazhani Dam, Cheruthuruthy Potter's Village, Periayanamepetta Pooram Festival |
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We woke up at around 6 a.m. I went in to the bathroom to take a shower, and found that there was no water. I called the reception desk, and the clerk couldn't understand "no water". Uh-oh, that's not a good sign. That's great; no showers in 100 degree weather.
I looked out the window and saw some local woman washing in the Nila River. The water level was very low; a large swath of riverbed was bone dry. Some guests from the hotel were doing yoga on a stone patio overlooking the river. Although we had originally planned to do yoga each morning (until the hotel messed up the reservation), we were very glad that it had fallen through. Practicing outdoors in the heat and humidity (and without the ability to shower) would be a nightmare, draining us first thing in the morning. Now that I had woken up early but was unable to shower, I decided to go to reception to try to upload yesterday's photos to Facebook. I correctly assumed that wi-fi traffic might be lighter in the morning than the evening, and I wound up having no problem uploadiung my photos. Mukul came in to reception and inquired about the lack of water in the rooms. He was told that the maintenance person wasn't here yet. "Is he on his way?" Mukul asked. They then made a call to him (was this the first time they had called?) It was now 45 minutes after we first reported the problem. Mukul joked that the maintenance man probably had to commute from Kochi. I contacted our Facebook friend Dany. He is from this area, and we were hoping to get to meet up with him tomorrow in Guruvayur. I got his contact information so that Mukul could call him and set up a plan. I went back to the room at 7:40. The water was back on! Craig had just gotten out of the shower, and I jumped right in. We were about 10 minutes late for our 8 o'clock breakfast date with Mukul, but considering the water problems, that wasn't too bad. At breakfast this morning, Mukul gave me a string of jasmine flowers to wear in my hair like the women of Cheruthuruthy. Today, I was wearing my salwar kameez from Rajasthan, so the flowers completed the look perfectly! We enjoyed poori, bhaji, coffee, juice, and chapatthi from the buffet. We also ordered scrambled eggs, which were served in a scoop on top of a piece of toast, with a slice of cucumber and a literal maraschino cherry on top. We left the hotel at 9 o'clock. Along the road, we passed two trucks each carrying an elephant in the back. I guess I never thought about how these elephants must be transported, and it looked rather incongruous. We had to stop for a train crossing. This is always interesting in India, as it is such a stark contrast from home. At home, railroad crossings are all automated. Lights flash and gates block the road less than a minute before the train arrives. Drivers are quite impatient, and sometimes stupidly will drive around the gates, racing the train, sometimes with disastrous consequences. My office is near a commuter rail station, and someone once actually ducked underneath a train rather than wait for it to depart. All to save a few seconds? Here in India, everything is manual. A person will hand-crank the gate many minutes before the train is expected. The road remains blocked until the train passes, whenever that may be. Vehicles queue up, but many motorbikes and smaller vehicles creep to the front and jockey for position as if they were at a starting line. But mpbody crosses until the gate opens (and then it is a free-for-all). Two trains eventually passed by, and we were on our way again. Our first stop was the Vazhani Dam, constructed in the 1950's to catch runoff water from the nearby mountains in monsoon season. The water level was very low at this time of year. There was a gauge to measure the height of the water, and the current level was actually below the first marking on the scale. It was a very nice area with a walking path. Although the sun was very hot, there was a strong breeze when we were standing on the dam, which made it more comfortable. The sun was incredibly bright. We saw lots of birds (including plum headed or blossom headed parakeets courting one another) and some Malabar black squirrels. These are two-toned squirrels (also known as the Indian giant squirrel) which live in tree canopies and can jump up to 20 feet between branches. They are important to the ecosystem because their waste distributes seeds. We could see them lounging in the trees near their large nests. This was a nice, peaceful area. Many young couples were spending time together here, away from the prying eyes of the community. Back in the car, we stopped at a roadside stand for some coconut water fresh from a green coconut. They also had a mechanical sugar cane press, and Sadanandan enjoyed a glass of fresh sugarcane juice. We all enjoyed the refreshment, as it was so hot and humid. Next we went to Cheruthuruthy Potter's Village. Families in this village produce pottery from local clay. We parked under a single bodhi tree in the middle of a dirt lot. Shade is a valuable commodity in this climate, and you take advantage of it whenever you can. We approached a house / workshop where four generations of a family are active in the pottery craft. The men worked outside, shaded from the sun by tarps which were attached to the front of the earthen brick house. The father placed a mound of moist clay onto a potter's wheel, and deftly demonstrated the way that he shapes it into a cylinder.He then works the top of the cylinder into a pot, removes it from the wheel, and continues to shape as many pots as he can from the clay. It was amazing to watch him fashion four pots in rapid succession from one single lump of clay. After being shaped on the potter's wheel, the pots are dried in the sun. At this point, they have a large hole in the bottom. When they are dry enough, the grandfather uses a mallet to seal up the hole, shaping the bottom of the pot into rounded perfection. The rhythmic pounding of the mallet onto the clay was mesmerizingly percussive. The pots are then dried in the sun some more. At this point, they are ready to be tinted. We were led inside the brick house. The mother was seated on the floor, hand-coloring the pots with ochre. Her son looked over her shoulder before heading outside to split some firewood. After the tinting, the pots are fired in a red brick kiln which is fueled by the burning of omnipresent coconut husks. We appreciated this family letting us see how they earn their living in a traditional manner. This family produces 100 pieces of pottery per day!  After touring the house, we went across the street to Namboothiri's Vegetarian Hotel (not really a hotel, but restaurants are often called that here). Sadanandan ate with us, and we all had a traditional Kerala vegetarian meal. The servers placed a large banana leaf in front of each of us, like a placemat. They then came by with various dishes in metal canisters. They spooned portions of each onto our placemats in a very visually appealing placement: vegetable yellow curry, pickled lemon, okra, purple yams, delicious pumpkin, brown rice, stewed tomatoes and yellow peppers, a tangy sweet tamarind sauce, yogurt, and a warm pudding made of rice and reduced milk. It was delicious! The servers were on standby and, as we finished our portion of any food, would offer us more. After lunch, we headed back to the River Retreat Resort for a short siesta in the cool air conditioning. I was very hot and sweaty following our morning outing, so I can only imagine how tired and uncomfortable Craig was. We wanted a chance to rest up prior to returning to Kattukulam to observe more of the Periayanampetta Pooram festival. At 2:30, we left the hotel. On the way to the festival, we stopped in at a heritage house: a Brahmin residence which was 150-200 years old. The architectural features are lovely, as is evidenced by the fact that there was a couple having their engagement photos taken there. There was heavy, dark, rich wood used for support columns, soffots and roof beams, and carved trim. A nice performing stage was flanked by murals depicting Hindu mythology. Shuttered windows looked out on an interior courtyard. Doors had fancy brass hardware, and there was even a trap door to close off access to the upper levels. After exploring the mansion, we went into another large building on premises. The interior of this building was in disrepair, with graffiti-covered walls and bars on windows. There was, however, a cool metal spiral staircase. They always catch our eye, since we have an oak spiral staircase in our home. We went back outside and followed a path to a gorgeous palm-tree-lined lagoon on the property. There was even a private Hindu temple on the premises. This was certainly a swanky residence back in its day. After this stop we continued on to Kattukulam. We drove past canals which were established by the British, and are still beatifully maintained. Local kids were cooling down in the heat of the day by swimming here. We knew we were getting closer when we passed by processions of men in costumes, on their pilgrimage to the temple. When we got to the festival area, Sadanandan parked the car in a strategic place so that we could make our exit later when it became even more crowded. We noticed some posters in the Malayalam language advertising the festival. They contained photos of the large float that we had seen being paraded around the temple yesterday, water buffalo effigies, etc. This was all familiar to us now, and we were eager to return to the festival grounds to see what today had in store for us. As we walked down the small dirt road to the temple area, we could tell that today would be busier than yesterday. Many people of all ages were walking toward the festival grounds. We had gotten such a warm reception from locals yesterday that we greeted everyone we saw with a hello and a smile. They waved, said hello, gave us the thumbs-up, shook our hands, etc. Everyone was so friendly, and they seemed genuinely proud that foreigners would take an interest in their festival. They obviously wanted to give us a warm welcome. I heard one young man ask, "Selfie?" and thus it began...a fun afternoon of posing with the locals. Everyone has a smartphone, and once they saw that we are amenable to being photographed, more and more people would approach us. They would either take a selfie with us, or pose with us while giving the phone to their friend. We always enjoy meeting people and acting as good will ambassadors from the United States, and we had a lot of fun. When we got to the Periayanampetta Bhagavathy Temple, we noticed that the whole area was a lot more crowded than it had been yesterday. Many more water buffalo floats had arrived since last night. They were all lined up facing inward toward the temple. Families were sitting on stone walls, having staked out a spot from which to watch everything. We walked around admiring the effigies. There was one other (very large) group of western tourists in attendance, but they were sequestered on a roof deck watching the proceedings from a distance. That is not our style, which is why we consider ourselves travelers rather than tourists. It's the culture that really interests us, and we want to interact rather than observe. This is not a zoo, it is a living breathing culture. We watched a performer balancing on a slack line. Just then, a group of young men from the village which made one particular water buffalo float called us over and asked Craig to sit in a chair on the front of the float. Craig climbed up carefully, holding on so that he wouldn't lose his footing. They photographed him with their phones, and then asked me to get up there as well. There was no other seat, so I perched next to Craig. At this moment, Sadanandan had returned from parking the car. He wasn't sure where to find us, but he looked up and saw us on that float and started laughing. Then young men from a different village tried to get Craig to sit on the front of THEIR float. The first group told them no, that Craig was theirs. It was apparently a good-natured rivalry. Nevertheless, Mukul kept an eye on the situation, should it escalate. Mukul suggested that we make our way back to the road. More than 50,000 people were expected at the festival today, and more were arriving every minute. Soon it would be difficult to exit via the narrow access road. We knew that he was right, but we were having so much fun that we were reluctant to go. We were high on adrenaline from handshakes, selfies, and smiles. Though we are rather introverted at home, we are unnaturally outgoing while we travel. We love pushing the boundaries of our comfort zones, as it allows for more authentic interactions. We were like salmon swimming upstream as we made our way up the dirt road toward where the car was parked. Processions were continuing to arrive. Some men were wearing costumes which reminded me of tribal Africa. Their dance was rhythmic. They wore large headdresses. Some dancers wore masks and had skirts fashioned from peacock feathers. Men played drums and horns. Other men had colorful conical floats resting on their shoulders. Ths idea is that the men spin while they walk, causing a whirling dervish type of effect. That must be incredibly exhausting and dizzying. At this point, most of them were just walking without spinning. But I think that our presence energized some of the pilgrims to some degree. Many gave us the thumbs up, and some of the men started to spin again as they passed us. Mukul found us a safe vantage point from which to watch the procession for a while, and bought us mango creamsicles from an ice cream vendor. The whole situation seemed surreal. A bus drove by and two men reached out the window to shake Craig's hand. Pilgrims seemed invigortaed by our presence, and started jumping up and down, whistling, and shouting. They called Craig into the procession to dance with them. He was, of course, happy to oblige. He was immediately encircled by the group. A couple of minutes later, well-meaning locals ushered him back to our safe spot, because there were three elephants were approaching. We love elephants, and it was energizing to see them pass by us so closely! We could see the sun setting behind the majestic beasts. Additional dancers in elaborate costumes came by. One was dressed as Hanuman, and another was the Kathakali demon. Other people were dressed to look like altars to various Hindu deities.  When we reached the car, Mukul got in touch with Dany (our Facebook friend) and made a plan to meet in Guruvayur tomorrow. We are so excited to finally get to meet him after 4+ years of virtual friendship! When we got back to the hotel, we had dinner. Craig got chicken masala, I got paneer masala, and we had kerala paratha as our bread. Mukul and Craig split a Kingfisher beer, and I had a vanilla milkshake with ice cream. Yum! Once again I had trouble with the internet at night. It's funny, I've always been perfectly fine with no internet access on trips like this. But lately I've gotten spoiled. When internet is available, I like to post updates to Facebook. A lot of our friends say that they travel vicariously through us, and we like to share our adventures in near-real time when possible...especially on days like this which have been so eventful! But tonight it was not to be. I eventually gave up and left the reception area and returned to the room. Knowing that the water situation here seems to be as vulnerable as the internet situation, we decided to shower tonight in case the water was out again in the morning. Once bitten, twice shy. Vazhani Dam |
 Morning at the River Retreat  Vazhani Dam  Vazhani Dam  Father uses a potter's wheel at Cheruthuruthy Potter's Village  Home of Padmahooshan Vallathol Narayana Menon  Lunch on a banana leaf at Namboothiri's Vegetarian Hotel  Brahmin heritage house  Selfie with new friend on the walk to Periayanampetta Bhagavathy Temple  Buffalo effigies at Periayanampetta Pooram  Boy balancing on a slack line  I join Craig on the buffalo effigy float  More new friends  Procession: Horns and spinning floats  Dancer  Elephant procession passes by 
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