Monsoon Blues

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My moves this week have been mostly dictated by trying to escape from the rain and trying to ensure I find tv (and maybe even beer) to watch the footie. I've managed quite well, mostly thanks to a chance encounter with Katy and Ingvill - 2 MA students from Kings, who also took me to the only proper beach I've seen so far. Of course we couldn't swim in the sea - it was way too rough, but we did managed a couple of cocktails :o).

I didn't come 6000 miles to be rained on so I left Kochi and headed South instead of to Goa as planned. I'm now in Trivandrum - Kerala's capital city, and it's surprising to be somewhere that really is a fully fledged city - with shops and highways and people speaking English.

Whilst the monsoon may be thwarting my tourism plans, for others it is more serious. Monsoon is a bleak time for Kerala. The economy suffers as tourism drops (I haven't yet been convinced by the Keralan tourist board's insistence that staying on a houseboat during the monsoon is a great experience and I'm not sure others have) and people end up living hand to mouth. Death and destruction is commonplace. In one month 94 people died, their thatched houses collapsing under the deluge of rain. 50 houses have been destroyed and 750 partially damaged. Traffic power supplies are disrupted, roads turn to rivers of mud and winds can pick up to 36km/hour uprooting trees and tearing electrical posts from their holdings. Crop destruction can run up to hundreds of thousands of rupees with rubber and banana plantations being decimated and fishermen chose between losing revenue or losing their lives when they venture out to sea.

Yet once again, Indians seem to take even this in their stride, They use the monsoon season to prepare for the rest of the year - harvesting rice, doing up their boats/rickshaws or homestays ready for the tourists who start to appear end July/August. And like the end of any long bleak period, they prepare for 'Omam' a celebration in August full of flowers and songs and dance and feasting.

The news reports this week have included a furore about a Muslim actress, Jaimala, who caused a controversy by accidentally 'defiling' the god Ayyappa's idol at Sabarannila. She went to pray for her Hindu husband's recovery from an illness and accidentally got pushed into the area where the sacred idol is kept and might have even touched it. Women are of course considered unclean due to the fact that they bleed each month, and that a non-Hindu has defiled the idol is particularly offensive. 'The Hindu' reported that The 'Travancore Devasworn Board' (TDB), the Hindu authority overseeing the case 'had taken oath in front of the sanctum sanctorum and had sworn before Lord Ayappa that remedial measures would be done without fail'. What these remedial measures will be remains to be seen.

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Photos

on the beach
it's a tough life

friends
Katy and Ingvill

indian religions
India is a mix of colours and religions

Comments

[Jim]

Ah!
The haircut finally revealed! The beach looks fantastic. Sure it's not Brighton. Keep topping up that tan...

[Grim]

Waves!
Look at the waves! Wow, looks amazing. x

[laetitia]

very wet ??
Hello Susie Great to see where you are now. It seems raining a lot I am leaving at the end of the month in Kerrala, here it is still dry and not too hot. I really enjoy my long time in Pondichery but looking forward to discovering a bit more about this country. Take care when are you leaving for Africa?? Laetitia

[susieg]

the waves
were indeed amazing, as we, our towels, our drinks and a mobile phone were washed out by one just after that photo was taken....

[Hu]

Only in that particular temple
Women are not allowed only in sabarimala because the God is a BACHELOR". Other temples they are.