Today Ajeesh and DS were to attend a Headmaster's conference in Kattappana. Kattappana also had an ISDN-connected cybercafé with reasonable PCs running XP. (All but the server have had their CD drives removed.) So I went with Ajeesh and DS to Kattappana and blogged here while they attended the conference to tell the delegates about their project: an anti-plastic litter/clean-up project which would also involve Periyar's deputy director somehow. Also, DS asked me to talk for 15 minutes at it. Errrrrrrrrrrr - nervous but I was happy do it!
Lunchbreak was a visit to the police canteen. I resisted temptation to bring out my cuddly pig and ask her where her uniform was but didn't enjoy the experience at all. I continued writing the essay and then returned with Ajeesh and DS to Nedumkandam. I also found a mention of Nedumkandam online here. You can also get to a reasonably honest road map. (This one seems a little better.)
DS, Ajeesh and I returned to Nedumkandam. I'm not quite sure where we picked up Deepa, DS's recently-returned-from-the-Gulf wife. (She's a nurse and had been working there for quite some time, much to their mutual dismay, but had just found a job in a local hospital.) After calling in at DS and Deepa's house to pick up some stuff Deepa wanted, we also called in at her mother's sister's house. This lady's daughter was due to be married on Sunday and I was invited to attend - got a very fancy invitation too, so I couldn't diplomatically refuse. However, I'd been to enough weddings. I wanted to go to Jaya's but I couldn't because it would happen 4 days after my visa expired and my flight home left India. So going to others seemed a slight to her and I wasn't (and still am not) keen on matrimony anyway. I was even less keen on being the only non-Malayalam speaker at a huge social gathering, especially an important event in someone's life at which it would have be so easy to say the wrong thing. (I think most Keralans would have just smiled at my mistakes and then tried to help me extract my errant pedal extremity.)
Back at the house, Ajeesh and I compared Indian and UK cultures and how aspects of each others affect us. This gives me a handy opportunity to correct something I said earlier: 'If a woman is awake and available, she'll do all the domestic work.' Well, I've seen Mr Babu (Ajeesh's neighbour) carry a box of groceries on his head up the hill, even though he could have asked for a lift in the car. Also, I think I'd twice seen Gopalakrishna (Ajeesh's dad) iron his shirt and dhoti since I made this comment. I think it's fair to say that women's roles were supposed to centre on domesticity while men's roles were supposed to centre on external and finance-related matters. I think you know how I feel about this.
© (except the blatantly ripped-off bits) Random Bozo 2006