Weekend Rituals

Saturday and Sunday have come and gone, and I feel grateful for the weekend. It's amazing how restorative a small break can be - last Friday I felt so tired I wasn't sure how I would be able to participate and concentrate on this week's classes, but the two days off created a lovely space from which I have been happy to return to my note taking.

On Saturday I ran several errands around town, and at sunset made my way to the Kapaleeshwarar Temple in Mylapore. David and I visited this temple in 2009 but reached it with a car and did not spend much time walking around the area. On this occasion, I arrived at the temple by foot, through the "back entrance": the entrance that looks out onto a large water tank. It's hard to catch the light from the hazy sunset on camera, but there was a very soothing feeling as the sun went down and people looked out at the water.

As most of the other temples, the one in Mylapore has its share of vendors off everything you need for your pujas (religious rituals). There is always at least one mound of jasmine on the stands, which makes the air around the temples smell sweet and inviting.

A first glimpse of the main tower of the temple.

Socializing under a portico within the temple's grounds.

Although Kapaleeshwarar dates back to the 7th century CE, the stucco figures that cover its gopuram ("gateway tower") were built in 1906. While I don't find the figures individually beautiful, the overall effect of the composition is wonderful. I imagine this is how the Greeks could have sculpted Mount Olympus with all its gods, goddesses, and various attendees.

Main entrance to the temple, with hip neon signs.

Flower vendor at the front gate: transaction in action.

From the temple I walked over to the Bhartiya Vidhya Bhawan, a performance center for Bharatanatyam dance. I had heard of a free dance festival taking place and was happy to get a chance to see another performance while here. Unfortunately the theater space was too much like a fridge in temperature: after 30 minutes of literally chilling, I decided to make my way home.

Outside the streets were buzzing with the early evening energy. 

 I finally bought a few custard apples that evening. I was told to look for the ones with "large eyes" (the divisions on the peel), yellow in color, and soft to the touch. They are delicious!

On Sunday, 4 of us (Adi, Jacqui, Miguel and myself), decided it was time to pay homage to another Tamil place of worship: the movies. We set our minds on going to see a Tamil romantic comedy and made our way to what we discovered to be... the Majestic Mall!

In the background, Majestic Mall (also known as Express Avenue Mall).

From L to R: Jacqui, Miguel and Adi. They are also hair models, on the side.

Mall interior... everything was so quite! And clean. We were a little in shock.

We followed a false lead to the wrong theater, and walked away wondering: 5D?

It turns out that we were not the only ones interested in watching a movie on a hot Sunday afternoon. We finally arrived to the movie theater only to find out that every Tamil movie until 10p was SOLD OUT. It burned. To recoup, Jacqui decided to get a coffee. She got it in a cup "to go" and mentioned she felt very at ease holding the cup and walking around with her right arm bent at 90 degrees - it brought her back to NY. Here she is, caught in action as she exercises self-service at the cashier's.

We left the Mall and headed for the local Auroville Showroom, the the best alternative to visiting Auroville itself :-) Here is Miguel shopping with us.

 

We hopped on an auto and headed back to Sangeetha's for lunch. When we arrived, we found the new area of the restaurant had just opened up (deeeeelux), and we celebrated with Thali.

This triptic is dedicated to Jonatan, Adi's husband.  

Hands and mouths attacking our Thalis.

Adi, Jacqui and I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at 6th Main Road. 

Post shopping stretching.

Terrace ladies Adi and Jacqui.

Jacqui and I headed back home around 6pm. On our walk back we passed the local Ganesh temples and heard children's voices singing within. We stepped inside the temple for a quick listen and came across a lovely group of young women singing and rhythmically keeping the time by clapping their hands on their thighs. They were accompanied by a slightly older man on the drum and a young woman on a violin. Super!

Today is Tuesday. For the past two days I have gone back to enjoying our classes without feeling weighed down by the overload of information and experiences. The approaching end of the program is making me savour these last days and I feel grateful for the opportunity of such a full immersion at KYM.

Wishing you all a week filled with learning,

B