Say Yeah for Tamil Nadu

I get to experience some great events daily while living in Tamil Nadu and even though there are many frustrations too I thought it would be nice to reflect on some of the minute moments that make me smile.

Waking up in the morning sweaty and hot and being given a small steel cup filled with the milky sweet goodness of Indian black tea is excellent. Sometimes spiced with ginger or cardamom this sweet, spicy, creamy mixture, piping hot with frothy bubbles, slips down my throat and tickles my tastebuds. Knowing the milk is fresh that morning and hoping all the impurities have been boiled away only makes it more eventful.

Going to a fruit vendor who only sells about 10 varieties of fruit and seeing the small plantains hanging from the ceiling, the pomegranetes stacked into pyramids and the papayas with the green peel hiding the brightly colored orange inside sprinkled with small jet black moist seeds that look like peppercorns and knowing that this tropical produce was taken from local trees makes me happy.

Sitting around on the floor eating a delicious dinner of rice and dal (lentil) sambar (vegetable sauce) and having a power cut, being left in total darkness and hearing the buses drive by and the rooster crowing and the goats bleeting, knowing you are surrounded by people who care for you like one of their own is nice in an unexpected way.

Driving on a motorcycle through a busy city with cows coming into the road and horns honking incessantly and then turning right and all of a sudden you are in a beautiful agricultural paradise. The paddy fields line up squarely with the ground nut fields and they are cornered by tall stalks of sugar cane. Mountains made of huge quasi circular boulders line the skyline along with palm and banyan trees silhouetted against the sun outlining their long majestic fronds and wavy drooping branches like the curly locks of my sisters hair. The only movements are the wind flashing against your skin as the bike avoids the potholes, speed bumps, and rocks of the road and the women in saree's with sharp machetes slicing clusters of the vibrant green paddy stalks and gathering them into clusters.

Walking alone is always an adventure, but one time returning in the evening and stopping at a sweet shop I stood under a awning and just oogled at the display. Orange squiggly sugar molded into balls looking like thick spaghetti, cinnamon and clove spiced cake with a dollop of chocolate frosting, a white gelatinous rectangle with chunks of green pistachio, a pink jelly roll covered with shredded coconut and filed with a swirl of white icing. Having the help of 3 or 4 men all sitting outside eating sweets and drinking tea to tell me the costs I paid 10 cents for a small piece of spice cake given to me by a boy of about 10 years old who promptly placed it on a square of newspaper and onto my palm.

Being able to wash your own dishes and put them away when you are staying at a families home and suprising the housewife only to hear her sweet giggling when her daughter explains what you did.

Taking a bath in a bucket and pouring the first cupful of tapwater over your head when your sticky skin has been hot and sweating for the past few days. The cold feeling runs down your back as you instinctively arch and tip your head back to quickly do it again. The water flushes the floor and peeks between your toes and under your arches only to collect around the drain deciding whether or not it wants to enter.

Having a risky tamil-english coversation with a stranger and waiting for the question of my marriage to arise. Seeing the shock, suprise, and questioning all covering her face when I say I am unmarried and visiting India alone.