kalamkari

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Sri Kalahastri
I first saw this remarkable art craft at a market, and spoke in length to the artist displaying the craft of drawing on cloth, and then painting in the colors with vegetable dye. It is called karumkali, and is based out of this town. People here are taught for generations. The man told us we should come to his town. And so, we did. It is right next to Tiruputi, and we went following our twarted trip to the temple. But, we are not Hindu, so it is ok.Right?
We wound our way through unmarked streets, following our intuition, asking directions in a language we pretend to speak and understand, and head,yes, indeed to Sri Kalihastri. We stop at the entrance of the town, where we are requested to pay 15 rupees--but, no, we are not Hindu, we do not want to go to the many temples beyond the gates--we have just gone to the MAIN temple of pilgrimage--we are here to see kalamkari. AHH!! HEads bob! Faces smile!! A man hops on his bike, and we follow him, until we pass him, because we are in a car, and he is on a bike. We pass him, and he catches up, pedaling quickly and we follow him to a hovel of a home, where inside we find---indeed Kalamkari. We are ushured into a small compound where young girls are painting on the porch. Inside, a woman takes us inside, and shows us where her family has been making kalamkari for generations. Her father is the living master--he draws, and teaches the designs.
They hire women from
the village, who paint in their homes on their
own time, and they sell
their pieces to this
women's coop to sell.
We see young girls
(how young) drawing
and painting (poorly)
the cloth, that sells
for very little.

The master, shown to the left, is a big follower of the new born Si Baba. He spent 6 years making the worldest biggest kalamkari which is something crazy like 60 feet or meters--or bigger than I can think of telling some Hindi story. And he gave it to the fabulously rich SiBaba guy living in Bangalore. I felt a sink in the stomach over this, and the conditions that his family lives in, but a more enlightened friend than I said, "Oh, but think of the meditation and love that evolved out of that 6 years of painting." True.They pulled out hundreds of pieces for us to look at, each one, beautiful and with the imperfect work of a novice. My friend Barbara and I bought several,and then went to see the Kalumkari school of art.

Perhaps I didn't say this clearly enough, the work is drawn free hand, and then the artist dips their brush into a pot of vegetable dye, made through an enormously difficult process of making pigment, and then painted carefully onto the drawings. We met the school master. He had a beautiful educational video on the process, we watched--it is crazy all of the steps necessary to prepare the material and the dyes to work in the process----
and then he told us how he allows the women to work for months for free, until he will then hire them for 2000 rupees, =$40 a month. AHHHHH, I have such a problem, understanding economics. These people are
committing their lives
to the art of family to the expense
of their children going to school,
(to what ends) with unquestioned faith, that this is their job. THeir purpose. Who am I to argue?

medical tourism

We left the house with the last of sunlight and turned the headlight of the scooter on as we went down our quiet street. Out on ECR (East Coast Road) it was a different story—7:00 peak traffic. Horns blaring, we patiently zigged our way down the pot hole ridden street among bicycles, rickshaws, buses with blasting air horns, and a myriad of motorcycles—“two wheelers”. Watching carefully for the bright green door of AMERICANA-TASTE THE BURGERS! We parked the scooter and clung to each other waiting to dash half way across this morass of traffic and waited on the center median—long enough, we stepped into the stream of traffic holding our hands up and holding our breath as traffic amazingly stopped for us, and entered the bright green door.
We were out to have the last hamburger or any solid food for Tim for 4 months. Tomorrow he goes in for 7 dental extracts and implants with bone grafts. It takes them 4 months to grow in before he gets new crowns on the pegs. No solid food. The burgers are made of mutton, lean and juicy, with chili sauce and jalapenos. We washed them down with mint lime sodas. There were 2 couples sitting at the only 2 other tables, eating the fare sitting close to each other. I suspected them sneaking out to eat beef, and sneaking out to be together. Young couples are as rare as hamburgers here. The air conditioner made us shiver and baliwood music blared out of the little speakers. The walls of the joint were a washed blue with water stains on one wall, and bright orange on the other. The 3rd wall was frosted glass to shield the kitchen and the waiter and cooked kept peeking out at us with wide beaming smiles. Dinner cost about $1.50 and a tip, and we waded out again into the thick humid air and noise of the ECR.
Last month Tim got a state of the art hearing aide. My friend got the same model in the US for $6,000, and Tim paid $1,200. His whole dental bill will be roughly $4,000. I think that is about what one implant costs in the US. Medical Tourism is a big draw here in India. You can buy a ticket, take a trip and have all kinds of medical treatment and surgeries for a fraction of the price, and the treatment far surpasses that at home. I got a root canal and crown for $80, and my bifocals with scratch resistant lenses for $40. I am considering lazer surgery for my eyes. I should consider their liposuction package, but I am too lazy. I see they have botox and other cosmetic surgery as well—but I lack in vanity. I can buy almost any prescription drug direct form the pharmacy. They do keep a record of it. Mine is under “Miss Lauri” and a months prescription costs about $10.
We got back on the scooter and took the back roads home—they were filled with people and dogs. Everyone is out at night when it is blissfully cool. 75 degrees so ear muffs are the latest rage as well as little knit hats and blankets and warm quilted jackets. I wear a sundress and Tim his shorts—perfect.
We’re home now. Tim is reading Gandhi’s autobiography. I will go to pick him up after school tomorrow and after his 3 hour surgery and a whole set of pegs in his mouth. Potential new gleaming teeth.

Tirumala

January 17,2010
We’ve been back from our Indonesian jaunt for 2 weekends and seized the moment before the heat returns to travel to Tirumala the world’s largest pilgrimage site. This temple sits on top of the 14 km. hill which devotees travel by foot. We traveled by car up the switch back road to the town surrounding the temple. The town was swarming with bald headed people. The chief god there is Venkateswara, an avatar of Vishnu, who grants any request made before him. Many people donate their hair to deities, and hence many freshly shaved people.
We wound our way up the forested hill with windows open and fresh air! When we reached the town at the top it had a serenity atmosphere about it even though 100,000 people had hopefully come to pay tribute. We left the car and our shoes, and cell phones and we realized the lines were snaking a very long way—in the 300r line (vs the 50 rupee line) the wait looked to be about 5 hours long to enter the temple and be in a total crush of people as we went through the dark smoky insides. Even though I need a new job next year, we took our chances and decided against waiting in line—alas missing the guarantee of our wish granted—hair intact, we wandered about the grounds just watching the people. Wishing to take pictures, all I had to do was get the camera out—and endless people asked for their photos taken.
It was blessedly cool, and although people were crowded and waiting long hours, everyone was peaceful and calm. It did have a remarkable atmosphere. The other thing very different from other temple visits, was there were no neon lights (although lots of Christmas lights for the evening) and no blaring baliwood music from 10 foot speakers. There were public toilets that were clean! Everything was clean and calm. A sort of Indian miracle in itself.
Tim bought a charm to guide him through his dental work, and I bought one for a good job. Interesting they are very similar to the Mexican milagra for the same purpose.
The temple’s history dates back 2000 years. India has many more beautiful and elegant or decorated temples—this seems to be the most beloved.