Kerala - first time in India

[Keraulophone]

Greetings from the tea estates of Munnar, close to the Tamil Nadu border, at a height comfortably above Ben Nevis. Even then, the temperature is 30 deg C. I’m being generously guided by an Indian university friend from fifty years ago.

[french frank]

Gorgeous! Lucky you! .We have a local eatery: Dev's Kerala restaurant (aka Kev's Derala), which is very good. Hope you're eating well too!

[Keraulophone]

Hope you're eating well too!

Breakfast this morning in Munnar: wheat puris (most choose huge rice dosas) to dip in mint, tomato and coconut chutneys, potato on the right. Washed down with hot water.

[french frank]

Yum, must remind myself whether Kev serves something similar (any excuse!).

[Old Grumpy]

Breakfast this morning in Munnar: wheat puris (most choose huge rice dosas) to dip in mint, tomato and coconut chutneys, potato on the right. Washed down with hot water.

Mmmm

From what I remember Keralan dips/spices are quite mild?

Can't be doing with even medium hot, misself.

[Keraulophone]

From what I remember Keralan dips/spices are quite mild?

Yes, they are mild or a little piquant with green chilli (finely chopped) and fragrant. With freshly made fruit juices (pineapple is common) in addition to the hot water, the taste buds are dancing early in the morning.

[Keraulophone]

Yesterday one million women came here to Trivandrum for the Attukal Pongala festival. (In 2009 the 2.5 million pilgrims [in a city of 1.6 M residents] was a Guinness world record for a women’s meeting.) Groups like this one lined the streets offering food and drinks, first to the female deity, then to passers-by, whether Hindu or not. With so many local Christians and Muslims, there is a brotherhood of cooperation and respect. For example, churches postponed their morning services to the evening and accommodated the ladies as they prepared for the festival. A Brahmin priest, set up in a nearby shrine full of fruit, came and sprinkled their offerings with holy water. Sights, odours, sounds and tastes to remember.

[Old Grumpy]

Yesterday one million women came here to Trivandrum for the Attukal Pongala festival. (In 2009 the 2.5 million pilgrims [in a city of 1.6 M residents] was a Guinness world record for a women’s meeting.) Groups like this one lined the streets offering food and drinks, first to the female deity, then to passers-by, whether Hindu or not. With so many local Christians and Muslims, there is a brotherhood of cooperation and respect. For example, churches postponed their morning services to the evening and accommodated the ladies as they prepared for the festival. A Brahmin priest, set up in a nearby shrine full of fruit, came and sprinkled their offerings with holy water. Sights, odours, sounds and tastes to remember.

Thanks KP - what an encouraging post in this divided world!

[Serial_Apologist]

With so many local Christians and Muslims, there is a brotherhood of cooperation and respect. For example, churches postponed their morning services to the evening and accommodated the ladies as they prepared for the festival. A Brahmin priest, set up in a nearby shrine full of fruit, came and sprinkled their offerings with holy water. Sights, odours, sounds and tastes to remember.

It's so good to be hearing this - there has been so much about Hindu nationalism of late feeding an unquestioning chain of negativity.

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks KP - what an encouraging post in this divided world!

[Keraulophone]

It's so good to be hearing this - there has been so much about Hindu nationalism of late feeding an unquestioning chain of negativity.

Kerala appears to be a most tolerant state, home a large Christian community (thanks to St Thomas) in a country divided 70:30 Hindu - Muslim. Modi and his BJP does not hold sway here, where there has been a communist state government for many years. He is indignant at Kerala’s rise (it has the highest literacy rate in India due to its excellent state education provision) and Delhi has withheld its full share of central funding for major projects in the state, despite maximising taxation from Kerala.

Neighbouring Tamil Nadu, with more than twice Kerala’s population, has a similar disregard for the Hindu nationalists of the north. Modi tried to make Hindi the only official language but the four southern states wouldn’t have it; that would have intensified Hindu nationalism, with its associated effects on civil liberties and local conflicts, often sparked by spurious claims for antecedent religious sites. English remains the official second language by which states with diverse languages (over 100 in India) can communicate on official business.

Modi’s support is strong in the populous north and the BJP is on track to win the general election in May.