Kerala State

I left Tiruvenmali two days ago. I was glad I had spent so much time there but I was ready to leave. I was taking an overnight train to Kananghad, which is a town in the state of Kerala. The train left from Vellore (about two hours by bus from Tiruvenmali) at 10:45 pm. I was meeting a friend that I had met the previous month on the train. We would be traveling together for a couple of days.

Getting to Vellore was uneventful. The bus was easy to find and everything went smoothly. While on the bus I observed a verbal fight, that at times, looked like it might become a physical one. While the whole thing was carried out in Tamil I think I got the gist of it. An older man was mad at the bus conductor because he believed he was being overcharged. The conductor got angry. Both men were yelling at each other. Most of the passengers were on the conductors side. The old man was traveling with two women. As he got increasingly mad they got increasingly severe with him. Every time he tried to stand up the older of the two women would slap him. Finally the younger of the two sat next to him to force him to stay in his seat.

These women were dark and fierce looking. They had strong chins, and large muscular arms. They also seemed proud. They weren't going to let this man, whoever he was, behave in a shameful manner, at least not in their presence.

Eventually he settled down. The women didn't cut him any slack though, they stayed sitting next to him.

Once in Vellore I took a rickshaw to the train station. I was about thirty minutes early so I bought some coffee and some biscuits. When my train finally arrived I found my compartment.

I was traveling with a women named Emmanuel Martin. She is French but has been living in Chennai (Madras) for four years. She is studying traditional Indian music, known as Karnataka music. We had met about a month ago through the friends I had made in Tiruvenamali. She spends, on average, six hours a day singing. Her teacher (or Guru) is one of the most famous Karnataka singers in the world. She lives right next door to him and has very little free time. However, he was out of town for a week, so we decided to go to Kananghad together.

We are staying in an ashram that is outside of Kanaghad. It's called Annanda ashram and was founded by a man named Swami Papa Ramdas. He died almost 50 years ago, however, the ashram is still very alive.

Everything at the ashram is free. Although donations are encouraged it is totally up to you how much, or how little you give. They feed you three meals a day and tea and coffee. They also will wash your cloths and help you arrange transportation.

The ashram is in the state of Kerala. When I first came to India I came to Kerala. At the time I couldn't believe how dirty and chaotic it was. However, after spending a few months in other parts of India I can't believe how clean it is. Kerala is the richest Indian state. It has the highest level of literacy and the best social infrastructure. The streets are amazingly clean (especially after coming from Tamil Nadu). Kerala is also the only communist state in India. It's odd driving around and seeing the communist arm and hammer. I'm so used to associating that with bad cold war era things. However, in Kerala it seems to be working out OK.

Emmaunuel will leave tomorrow to go back to Chennai. I will stay at the ashram for a day or two longer and then go to a place called Gokarna. It's south of Goa and has beautiful beaches. I plan on spending the last couple of days there before I fly out of Mumbai on the 17th.

It's getting really hot here. Most days at least 90-95 degrees. I wake up in the morning feeling sticky and sweaty because of the humidity. It's going to be quite a shock going from this kind of weather to the rain and cold in Holland.