Wednesday 22 January 2014

Shopping and cow racing...

Hi there!

Well, Jan has flown by. The lady I worked with decided to leave at the end of Dec meaning it's been just me and R who works part time since then. On the 14-16th Jan was the Tamil harvest festival of Pongal which is a big celebration and warrents one or three new outfits for each Tamil and their family.

To prepare for that, on the 8th, me, R and A who works in the tailor section of Nandini headed up to Chennai for a full day of shopping. Mostly we shop in Pondy as it's much closer but for certain items (sarees, punjabi material, mens t-shirts and shirts, jeans etc) it's much more cost effective to spend the day in Chennai. We tend to go there once every 3-4 months and this was my first time.

We set off at 6am in our taxi, stopping just once at around 8.30 for breakfast. Once we were in Chennai it took quite a while to head through the city to our first destination. The traffic was so busy! By 10am we were at the first shop, a huge place selling sarees, material, tops etc. We went in and with our price range in mind started to pick stuff out.

 

 
2 hours later we stumbled out of there into the bright hot midday sun leaden down with huge bags of Indian ladies clothing and several thousand rupees lighter.
 
Next we went to a textile area known as Old Washermenpet, this is where the sweatshop export rejects end up. Huge sacks of clothing are bought by the kilo and sold off at bargain prices. Often these places are just rooms full of piles of clothing where you have to check each item for stains, defective stitching etc, I saw plenty of recognised brands from home.
 
It's not something I feel totally comfortable with, especially since Auroville is meant to be a progressive, ecologically sound place but it's the trade off for supply and demand and is very big business here in India. Demand is big at Nandini especially amongst the Tamil community but to tailor make everything to people's needs would take too much time, labour etc and wouldn't be cost effective. Already a mens shirt costs 400rs which is an adults monthly contribution, add to the fact that they want shorts, a t-shirt, underwear maybe even a pair of trousers at the same time and you end up with a co-operative that isn't self sustaining. Anyway, I still don't feel right about it and didnt feel right about taking photos at those places either.
 
I did get a pic from the t-shirt shop however:
 
 
By 7pm we were done and with the taxi groaning under the weight of our bags and sacks of clothing we made our way home, getting back and unloading the car at 11pm. Phew!
 
The next day we did our best to get all the new stock priced and put in with the old stock ready for the onslaught of the Pongal shopping frenzy.
 
Sure enough the Friday and Saturday were manic, especially with just two of us. We closed on the final day of Pongal, the Thursday as did many other businesses which freed me, C and K up to attend the celebrations in Kuilapalayam, a nearby village. The main event being the cow race, which I saw during my first visit to India 6 years ago.
 
We arrived at 10am just as the market area was setting up - we had a look at the wares, mostly super cheap plasticy toys, plastic and stainless steel homewares and food stands.
 
 
Then we headed to the village square area and watched the place gradually fill up with people of all ages and races. People lined every available space on roofs, balconies, in trees etc. Kids clutching their new cheap plasticy toy, ladies in their finest sarees and punjabis with beautiful flowers in their hair, men in their jeans and shirts, hair slick and shiney with oil and baggy clothed backpacked tourists, camera in hand waiting for the spectacle. We recognised quite a few Aurovillians too, mostly those with kids, which was nice for K to have some partners in mischief.
 
 
Candy floss seller - a regular sight along the beach in Pondy:

 Bag seller, a regular sight everywhere you find tourists: 
 
Then came the cows, each one lead through the throng to a huge cheer by their owners/entourage. Nearly all were painted/decorated with baloons, bananas, flowers, bells etc


 


 
 
 
 
The only undecorated cow :)
 
Once most of the cows had passed by, C turned to me and said, "it's a shame that they're not having the usual banana fight", just as the first banana got thrown. It's not as bad as it sounds as the local bananas are tiny but they tend to spatter on impact. I got a rough film of the madness which you can see here: Pongal Banana Fight
 
Apologies for the poor quality, but you hopefully get the idea...
 
A shot of the usually empty square:
 
I'm ending today with a film of the race itself. Again apologies for the shakiness but maybe it just adds to the overall effect ;)
 
Me and C are gearing up for a night away this coming Sunday when we head off to Bangalore whilst C's mum has K overnight for the first time. We're going to a gig featuring artists from UK label Twisted Records (Shpongle, Hallucinogen, Younger Brother and Prometheus). We're seen them all bar Prometheus before in London and at festivals but to see them here in India should be interesting, I'm especially interested to see how modern India does nightlife, surely it can't be like UK nightlife...can it??? Anyway, it'll be fun. A night out together is a very rare thing indeed and it's our 7 year anniversary the following week so it seems fitting we see artists we danced to when we first got together.
 
More soon.
 
Laura

 
 
 
 
 
 

Sunday 5 January 2014

Happy new year!

Wishing you all a happy new year!

I really love Sundays, I currently work Tues-Sat so Sunday is the only full day I get with my family. Today I didn't wake up until 7.40 - what bliss!
 
It's the day that the doors all get flung open, the dusty floors get swept and washed to some upbeat music (today it was Blood Sugar Sex Magic by the Chilli Peppers) and the rugs get washed of the red earth that clings to everything. Then the day is ours, some films, snacks, maybe some time spent gardening, sometimes we go out for lunch. It's just so nice to have no obligations for one day. I always feel so happy once the house has been scrubbed of it's weekly dirt. Many people here employ an 'amma' - an Indian woman cleaner to keep their houses, laundry etc in order but I prefer to do that work myself.
 
C is currently digging out front, we're putting in more grass for now and K is playing with his lego collection which got bigger over the festive season.

We had a wonderfully different tropical Christmas. The day dawned at 6am and K followed not long after. The snack we left out for Father Christmas had to be put on a dish in a dish of water to prevent the ants from getting to it before he did!

 
Then it was time for opening a few presents before breakfast. Some from Father Christmas and a new lego set from us which C also had fun building.

 
A very different Christmas morning view:
 
Then breakfast followed by a few more presents and a celebratory glass of wine for me and C with 'Now That's What I Call Christmas' playing on the laptop. 

 
New scooter:
 
 and Hot Wheel track from C's mum:

 
 Us 3
 
Then it was off to a Swedish Christmas brunch with some extended family of C's mum's partner. It was really nice especially as K is friends with the other two boys - the eldest is in the class above him at Kindergarten. We left full of goodwill and the most amazing pumpkin pie and spent the afternoon watching a film feeling stuffed and, of course, opening a few more presents including a couple of brilliant sets of books from my Uncle and Grandma:
 

 
In the evening we went to the Youth Centre for their Dosai night which was a nice way to finish off the day.
 
On the 28th, the Youth Centre hosted it's annual Christmas Fair - this year entitled Fair Extrordinaire. K got his face painted:
 
 
 Whilst C tested his strength...
 
 ...and went on the 'Rowdy ride'.
 
K met up with his new friend A and they spent a happy few hours running about. 
 
 Fresh handmade pizza from the pizza oven
 
Capoeira
 
 Indian dance performance
 
 Tightrope walking

Climbing at dusk
 
It was a lovely day, bringing together the community and I was even chosen to help judge the junior  cake competition (was a very yummy job).
 
Next up it was New Years Eve, we went to a fancy restaurant in Pondy called Rendezvous for dinner, then came back to AV and went to a lovely chilled party for a few hours before getting K home to bed at 11ish (bit late but it was a special occasion). Then me and C climbed onto our roof and saw in the new year under the stars with fireworks going off in the distance around us, lovely.
 
All in all a very busy couple of weeks, especially with K being off school and us still working. He's goes back tomorrow and we can get back into some kind of rhythm. The Tamil harvest festival of Pongal is coming in a couple of weeks so it will get busy at my work as the major Hindu holidays warrant a new set of clothes for all the family.
 
Wishing you all a happy new 2014.
 
Laura xx