Wander Woman

Kerala is the land of elephants,apart from being God's own country. Elephants are privately owned and used(for lack of a better word)for temple festivals(Thrissur Pooram). Elephants are very important for temple festivals. Without them,any festival is incomplete.It made me wonder about the origins of this ritual. This was probably initiated(by some very wise men) so that elephants dont end up on the endangered species list. So, On a bright sunny day, we set out for Kodanad Elephant training camp. Here elephants are trained to transport logs and do other types of work. We were told that we could bathe the elephants and play with them. We couldnt do that because we reached at the wrong time. Still it was nice to see the pachyderms. What was a little disturbimg was the "Kraal ". This is a sort of wooden cage where the elephants are kept. We did see a baby elephant inside one of them. Then we went to the river.Periyar. One of the best things I like about Kerala is its greene...

I fell in love with the kasavu saree the moment I laid my eyes on it.Its such a great combination of simplicity and grandeur. I used to call it the Kerala saree or Mallu saree. It was much later that I cam to know that it was called kasavu saree, kasavu being the golden border that runs along the length of the saree. This is the traditional  handloom saree that Malayali women wear for festive occasions irrespective of religion or caste. I have seen women wearing this saree for temple festivals as well as when going to church. Its a completely white saree with a thin golden border. Sometimes threads of other colours are woven along the border and sometimes there are patterns etched on the pallu. But the overall look is simple. Onam celebrations Kasavu Saree My friend told me that earlier (in days of yore), women(especially women of lower castes) were not allowed to wear an upper garment and the saree was just worn as a skirt. I believe this was the just cause of a revolution and ...

I was always fascinated by this bridge since the time I landed in Kochi. and this fascination hasn't dimmed as yet. In fact I'm fascinated and amused by most things around me and I consider it a good thing in retrospect. I love this old Thevara bridge especially because a train track (bridge) runs alongside and also because it offers a magnificent view of the channel. I resented the building of the new bridge and was happy that it took almost eight years to build. So anyway, I always wondered how it would feel to be passing on the bridge with a train chugging beside you. The train has to go really slow because the bridge is very old and doesn't have railings. Found that out the other day when a train was crossing the bridge. We literally felt the vibrations even though we were on the road bridge. Now, that the new bridges have opened up, they have closed the old bridge for people and evening finds many people indulging in fishing from this br...