Back at it

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Hey all!!!! Its been more than a while, and, while noteworthy things continue to happen, I dont know if anyone is still reading/subscribed to the blog, or was when I stopped writing in December. So.... with that out of the way.... where to begin???

1) Jellikatta- This is famous (I hadnt known about it) festival that takes place every January in a village outside of Madurai. It is the harvest festival, which means... sugarcane.... lots and lots of sugarcane. Basically, throughout the days surrounding the festival every major street in Madurai was lined with 10 feet tall stalks leaned up against buildings being bought, sold, eaten, spit out. So... to eat sugarcane you must...1) Sink your teeth into the bark and pull down to remove a strip out of the hard, inedible outer layer. 2) Take a humungous bite making sure to do ti quickly so that the juices dont spill out in the process. 3) Chew until all the juice is gone. 4) Spit out the leftovers on the ground/floor/rug/you.get.the.point.but.i.mean.you.just.spit.ANYWHERE.and.EVERYWHERE
Throught the course of 3 days I had so much sugarcane that I am a little reticent to ever have more... its kinda like mom's home-popped, burned, salted popcorn from childhood. I appreciate the effort, but, if you can imagine there to be a lifetime quota for a food such as there is for a day (found on the back of a container in a little box) both popcorn and sugarcane are at around %260 daily/life-ly value. In a week I probably ate around 10 meters.

Okay, Jellikatta. For anyone who thinks the running fo the bulls is an unnessicarily dangerous activity, Jellikatta is not for you. This si what happens. All the bull owners from the surrounding villages bring their bulls to this village where the competition is held, about 250 bulls in all. They erect a narrow (10 feet wide) path in the middle of village, once we got there, there were so many people you couldnt really discern what the town must normally look like there were somany people. They put up fences and bleachers for the spectators. Between two buildings there was a 3 -4 foot wide opening which the bulls ran through. In front of the opening the enclosure was bowl shaped, but got narrower, and narrower as it dissappeared out of sight.

So this is what happens. 40 young men stand right in front of the door fighting to be directly in front of it so that they can be the one to grab hold of the bull. The aim to "show bravery" by holding onto the bull for the longest time. Each time someone "shows bravery", they get a neon yellow shirt. So ghet this... these bulls dont meander through the door.... they explode out swinging their head angrily. And these arent normal bulls.. no! These bulls are drunk and their horns have been sharpened for better "piercing"! Normally, the bulls would run out and most of the poeple outside the opening fighting for position wouldnt grab hold.. but one brave soul would grab hold and ride it for about 50 feet on its sojourn down the path. Its crazy and scary, especially when they are holding on from below. But what is really, really, really, really scary (and i mean just forme as a spectator, I cant imagine what its like as a competitor) is the times the bull get disoriented. In these cases the bull stops running turns around in circles and doesnt know where to run. It thinks its trpped and all the spectators on all sides whistle to confuse it more. A scared bull,means an angry bull. Thats when they start going at people. Imagine a bull being in a pen 40 feet by 40 feet with 40 men just loooking to level somoene. There are few things as scary as a bull charging into a mass of people. Thankfully onyl a few people get hurt and no one died... one of the few times in history. You see, this was the first time they erected a barrier betweent he spectators and the competitors...!!!!! Crazy. Every time soneone got trampled 4 men would immediately make a strecther out of their arms and shoulders and run away down the passage. They were very speedy about it... but tome it almost felt more like they were taking them away speedily more so that the person's injury wouldnt damped the mood of the festival than to ge tthem help.

Anyway.. i have to go soi cant fully explain it... but i must say this... there must have been over 50,000 people in that village... and i couldnt have seen more than 50 females. I had this feeling that at any second the crowd could explode into a riot. I had no reason really... but its almost like i could smell the testosterone in the air. In fact, almost all occasions when there are huge amounts of men, without any women around, at least in my opinion,are like that science experiemtn with mouse traps where if you set one off.. then the whole room full of them will go off too. I dunno, maybe im crazy... if you write comments... then Ill know people are reading!!!

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Comments

[Priscilla]

this bull thing
Seems llike only men enjoy the bull harrassing. I hope that like the sugar cane this experience satisfied you for life. You lived through them both. I'm glad. PBB

[sally]

yes im reading
Nate, it is so good to hear your writing voice again. I missed it. think of you often, daily. Much love, Mom

[tad]

so, i'm still reading.. Keep writing, because it's interesting!

[Becky]

Now you know why my job is so exciting! However, I try not to harrass bulls or cows. Glad to have you back on blog.