September 4, 2011
Noticed two different advertisements featuring the very talented dancer and actress, Shobana in the Vanitha women's magazine yesterday. But by the time she went from selling curry masala powder on page 90 to home wall paint on page 130, she had aged by 15 or so years. I don't know if an older looking Shobana implies the long lasting nature of the paint or a younger looking Shobana conveys the spiceness of the curry powder. Women's magazines can do wonders with the female image.
The same magazine had a feature on rituals in various temples in Kerala that have been reserved till dates far away into the future: years 2046, 2050, 2057 etc. The article had a bizzarely proud tone as if the idiocy of people guaranteed for the future is something to brag about. Many fateful women were seeking divine intervention for their marriage using a special ritual in a specialist temple that assures arranged marriage success. The only trouble was that the rush of devotees meant no free dates for this ritual till 2024. I am pretty sure women of arranged marriageable age now will definitely be out of that age bracket by that time. This is the only kind of dating that precedes arranged marriage. May be I am wrong and parents are reserving a date for the ritual as soon as their baby girl is born today. Sharath B & Chalamy, are you guys listening?!
Both the newspapers that are delivered home, Mathrubhumi in Malayalam and The Hindu in English, carried lead articles of their Sunday supplements about farmers. Mathrubhumi had a wonderful article on Mr. Chandran from Kodungallur, an award winning teacher in Kuwait and Kerala, who retired into his first love of farming 16 years ago. In his 18 acres of land, he grows plants and animals exclusively of the native species. 15 varieties of guava, 20 types of mangoes, more jackfruit species and so on. He believes grass and weeds must be allowed to grow freely to keep these native plants and trees healthy. Earthworms are solely responsible for tilling his land. He collects native species from all over India. A species of dwarf cow he bought from tribals in northern Kerala was mentioned twice. He was quoted as saying that for people who think money alone is wealth, he appears to be a fool who pumps money to maintain a farm of native species but they don't realize that what he has in his farm is more precious than Sri Padmanabha's treasure. He makes Rs. 30,000 a month from Heliconia sales alone. Of this he has to pump back Rs 15,000 to maintain his plants and animals. The article had no mention of a family. I was pretty sure it is impossible for a man or woman to fully exercise his or her love for nature if a family is around to split the attention.
But the article in The Hindu supplement on Mrs. Britisha Alexander proved me wrong. She is happily married with the quintessential 'Kerala husband in gulf' and has three kids who help her out with the farming along with the three regular laborers. The article was rather unfortunately titled "Hey Hoe" with a full page picture of Mrs. Alexander carrying a turkey! Besides chicken, goats, cow and turkeys, she also farms pearl spot (karimeen) fish in three artificial ponds in her land. Betel leaves and arecanuts are her main cash crop. She won the state government award for best female farmer last year. She was upbeat about the help that the banks, the improved logistics and market conditions are offering farmers.
A two and half year old boy, one of Ajith's nephews, was here for the lunch along with the other family members. He is fascinated by cars and can identify most brands on the Indian roads. Seeing him point and name the cars parked on our street, I remembered that six or seven years ago, Dusty, while we were driving down University Drive in College Station, had asked me a question that appeared totally bizarre to me. A shiny, head-turner big MAC 18-wheeler had just passed by on the opposite side of the road when she asked, "If you were born as a vehicle, what would you like to be?"
Having grown up in India, I had an imagination which could come up with answers for what animal, what tree, what musical instrument, what bird etc that I would like to be. I could even come with what curry I wanted to be born as. But this prodding for an automobile association stumped me. Vehicles had never really invaded my childish consciousness. Now, in 2011, I can see that wheels have become a prominent part of growing up in India. This baby boy, Aditya, full time car enthusiast, stole all our hearts by singing the famous old Malayalam film song "Aliyambal kadavil annarkyu vellam" in its entirety!!! His mind is a unique blend of passions for Honda, Hyundai and Malayalam melodies of yesteryears. Hats off to his parents for keeping his world open to the present and the past. Perhaps grooms of future Indian marriages will have their brother-in-laws wash the wheel caps instead of their feet in the wedding welcome ceremony!
Since Sindhu chechi (cousin) had to get some medical scanning done, she, Babu chettan (her hubby) and their elder son Vishal came very late in the afternoon. "We have already eaten," they said as soon as they walked in. They assumed that since they came late, the food was already over. Hence the lie. They didn't know that when we order for 25 people, the caterer assumes these are 25 Madhvacharyas with yoga-powered "Jattaragni" metabolism that allows enormous consumption. So if normal human beings are eating, the food lasts for 40 people easily. Such white lies are very common here. Amma went ahead and served them on banana leaves. All three of them happily feasted.
While they were leaving, I noticed the mating dance of two butterflies in the garden. A wonderful sight! As is the case with the rest of the animal kingdom, the male had more physical beauty. More stripes, more colors. Among animals, it is men who have mane. Like in the female human species from most Indian states, the female was larger but plain. Saw one of the newscasts mention a new survey stating that Kerala women lead the nation in obesity. I have seen some otherwise lovely women struggle with their weight here. Some of them are big enough dispense the hassle of seeking another person for menage-a-trois.
Back to the butterflies.Only a row of white spots for her at the bottom of the wings. He had some added reddish charm. The mating dance simultaneously had fast and slow elements that make it a visual treat. They were flapping their wings franctically but this was keeping them hovering over specific leaves and buds. The movement in the three dimensional space was graceful and slow but the wings were almost vibrating. They would ascend,descend and move sideways with captivating grace, but closer inspection shows the relentless motion of the wings.
A motion powered by the tiny hearts racing in their tiny bodies.
Hearts pumped up of amore.
Like humans in love, they were blissfully unaware of other life around them.
Only she mattered to him.
And he was her whole world.
Slowly, it is sinking in that my little sister is married!
Alliyambal kadavil annarkyu vellam: http://youtu.be/-7ULWiFf_YQ
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