A Day Around Madurai: Jasmine, Puppets, Sungudi


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January 23rd 2017
Published: January 23rd 2017
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I spent a lively hour sipping a cucumber drink and talking with Rukmini Thiagarajan, the daughter of the man who purchased, renovated, and developed the historic property now known as Heritage Madurai, several kilometers outside the center of town. Now directing the management of this five star resort, she offered her driver and car one day so that I could visit places and people around Madurai that I would not have seen otherwise.

Her driver, Venkateshan, has worked at the Heritage Madurai location for forty years, and is almost an institution. His kindly smile and careful driving delivered me first to Nilakottai, a place outside of Madurai known for the patches of jasmine grown on family farms. I wanted to meet and talk with women who picked those luscious buds that are daily bound for the markets in Madurai.

It wasn’t the height of the jasmine harvesting season. But we did find a field with six women plucking away that early morning. Among them was a young woman who was studying to be a teacher. She picks the buds for two hours in the morning, then heads off to college. During that time she can harvest about one kilogram of buds, for which she gets about 80 rupees—just over a dollar. The work is an important source of income for all the women who pick daily.

They moved steadily along the belly-high bushes, reaching for the plump buds that would open that evening if left on the bush, and dropped them into plastic bags they wore around their waists. My back ached just watching them. The older women said that any back pain they experienced was just from old age. Some of the women were in their 60’s, some were even older. Weaving among the bushes and each other, they seemed to work as a team to clear all the ripe buds.

In another location, two women were picking a bud called arali, which comes in both white and red colors and does not have a fragrance. That family’s jasmine bushes would not yield flowers for another couple months, so they would have to earn a lower income from the arali buds in the meantime.

Later that morning we met a 58-year-old traditional puppet maker and performer, one of the last in the Madurai area. Today he has nearly 500 puppets, some of them over 100 years old, made by his father and grandfather. He makes them from goat skin leather, which requires removing the hair, cutting the leather, and hand painting. He gave me a private performance. He strapped on a wooden shoe, and clap! clap! clap! made punching and hitting noises as good deities battled demons. He sang and made special voices, and brought those puppets to life as they enacted scenes from the Hindu epic, the Ramayana. He likes his work very much, he said—he presents shows to schools and other venues. And he reported that his son is learning the craft to continue the tradition.

Sungudi is the tie-dying craft practiced by Saurastrian people, who are traditional weavers. They brought this skill from their native Gujarat, from where they first migrated nearly 800 years ago. I was fortunate to meet Ramesh and his wife, Vasumathi, who practice this craft in their home. In 2010, he said, only about five old women in his community still knew the craft. So they taught others, and now about 15 people create sarees, scarves, and shawls that are hand tied in beautiful patterns and colored in natural dyes of indigo, rose, and other colors. They even export some of their products to New Zealand.

Ramesh and Vasumathi like to tie as they watch television together. I could see why Vasumathi describes it as a meditation. First a pinch of fabric, then a firm winding of thread around and around the pinch, then a quick knot, and snap—the thread is cut, and she’s completed a knot. Over and over again, the same movements. She can tie 300 knots in an hour, Ramesh ties 200. After they tie the marked fabric, they dye, then remove the knots, leaving the undyed white fabric dots in the traditional patterns.

They both enjoy the work, knowing that they are preserving their heritage. And they also enjoy teaching others about the tradition, explaining and demonstrating every step of the process. I enjoyed learning about yet another secret tucked away in the streets of Madurai.

The final surprise that day came when my driver, Venkateshan, told me he has been composing devotional poetry and songs for the last eight years. He presented me with pages of his handwritten compositions. All with a gentle smile, and a face that belied his 68 years. Someone at the hotel told me he was over 70 years—whatever his age, he didn’t look a day over 52 and a half—and his easy company and kind nature were all a special gift that lovely day.

Thank you Rukmini, and thank you to the extraordinary staff at Heritage Madurai for providing me a wonderful day and stay in your fine resort!


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24th January 2017

lots to learn
Looks to me like you are getting a whole new education in different cultures, and sharing it with us. Thank you for this gift.

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