Blogs from Velankanni, Tamil Nadu, India, Asia
October 16th 2007
We were planning to go for a pilgrimage to Velankanni for last couple of months. We couldn't get convenient tickets in Mysore- Tanjore Train and the trip got postponed. Last week we decided not to wait anymore for the tickets and decided to drive down. My one month old Maruthi Zen was also a big inspiration for doing the same. Searched in the net and got 2 routes. The first was Bangalore - Trichy- Tanjore- Velankanni which is 475 Kms and the second was Bangalore - Thrivannamali - Neyveli - Punruti - Chidambaram - Karrakkal - Velankanni (430 Kms). Although longer, we decided to try the first one because of the familiarity with the route. We started from Bangalore on Saturday, October 13th at 5 AM. It was very tough to cross the Electronic City in ... read more
Our trip to Vellankanni fom Bangalore
Published: September 26th 2007Asia » India » Tamil Nadu » Velankanni
September 26th 2007
Our trip to Vellankanni was a piligrimage to "Our Lady of Health - Basillica" - Vellankanni. We tried for tickets with the Air bus companies but found that thay were all booked for one month. We decided to take the plunge in our own vehicle ;) We started off at 4:00 am from Bangalore going through Hosur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and Salem.I love getting a peek into the countryside whenever I am travelling, so we ended up taking a less known route from Salem to Thanjavur. We travelled the road from Salem via. Attur, Perambalur, Ariyallur and Thiruvayur befor we reached Thanjavur......Sure got a peek into the country and even got a 60km saving from the usual one, but the price we had to pay was terrible - the road some place after Attur till Thanjavur, is ... read more
May 11th 2006
OK – so how to summarize 3 months of fieldwork and experiences in India? A task I find near impossible now that I'm starting this 3rd and very late letter. So what has happened? I have experienced some major swinging of my psyche, I have thrown Malinowskis rules about fieldwork into the toilet, I have attended the most crazy and ecstatic ritual so far in my life, I have finaly seen a little bit of North India, I have made good friends in Velankanni, I have near died from heat, I have got slightly drunk on fermented palm wine, I have attended several marriages, I have been to a babtizing – the list goes on and on. I'll try to say something about a few things, no idea about what right now, but I'm sure something ... read more
May 5th 2006
What's this? After being urged to get some pictures out to the public I decided to find somewhere to host the pictures instead of uploading a few on an email. While I'm at it I think I will copy and paste my two group emails as well, maybe just maybe a third, and rather late, mail will be posted here as well. I'll have to see whether I can understand this thing or not first ;) And who am I? Um. If you dont know me and happen to drop by this blogg here is a short introduction: I'm a norwegian student doing research for my masters thesis in social anthropology at NTNU - Norway. My research locus is Velankanni - Nagapattinam - Tamil Nadu - India. My focus is the after effects of the ... read more
February 16th 2006
Vanakam! Naan sandocham padugiren! Yepedi jirokinge? Meaning: “Hello! I feel happy! How are you?” which is about as far as my Tamil skills have progressed, I also know how to say “I want two cups of tea” for some strange reason, as well as my head hurt, and please speak slowly... Tamil is ladden with retroflex and dental sounds, and the vovels are just wicked... I'm now in my fourth week in Velankanni, the little town where I have just started conducting my fieldwork for the masters thesis in social anthropology. Since my last letter I have traveled down to Velankanni together with Harri Albert, my Indian selfproclaimed protector/father and good friend (whom I know from my first stay in Pondicherry, he worked at the guest house as an employee of Swami, he stayed for one ... read more
