53. MY 9th TRIP

Link: Post 18 - North vs South
Post 30 - Friends

Never in my wildest did I expect to be back in India so soon after my return. It was a chance too good to pass up - re-visiting Madras and covering a wide swathe of Tamil Nadu State, and in the right company too. I'm thankful for the freedom to be spontaneous and be a little crazy.

It's been 5 years since I last visited South India, with one very quick visit just 2 years back to help out some fisherfolks affected by the Asian Tsunami.

The 2 weeks confirmed for me that the South of India is a nicer place to be, to stay longer, its people more sincere and accommodating. I've made some good friends in North India but my experiences out in the streets and with casual acquaintances and those associated with the charity left me with truly bad impressions.











When the going gets rough, the tough finds a cool spot on some worker's bed to unlax

What's left of a fishing village after a cyclone hit it on 26th Dec 1964, same date as the Asian tsunami of 2004

































The ancients carved these monuments out of the huge boulders found in this place. People are naturally creative, our very core is Creativity. Ancient peoples were apprenticed at a young age to their Masters. 
Their work can be seen all over the world - silent, beautiful, speaking volumes of gentle peoples from the past.

Feeding time at the zoo, ashram, I mean. Free meals everyday for these folks, chiefly men, who live near the ashram, they come all dressed in saffron robes, looking like sadhus. Its so easy to look like a monk, nun, priest, imam - just don the right colours, beads, turban, beard, shaved head or uncut hair and one gets full board.

Public bathing and washing dirty linen in public (!) is commonplace. It's alright to bathe in public but its not alright for a male and a female to hold hands. It's alright for 2 guy buddies to hold hands walking down the street but not a male and female to date and hold hands!!!??? Poser - which is dirtier - the body temple or the mind?
















FOB - like a refugee from nearby Sri Lanka - I had jumped off a fishing boat only to splash into the sea. I was soaked but the merciless sun dried me into a prune in no time.

Like lovers in the throes of passion, a neem and a bodhi have their trunks entwined

I love old trees. As a Tree of Life - as the human grows old - his/her trunks and limbs become gnarled and wizened.

In Tamil Nadu, I covered by train and car, at least 3000km. It was tiring but I got to meet loads and loads of people and checked out 5 centers run by a friend's spiritual organisation. 






















I never planned or expected it, but at one spot where we stopped for the night, was the ashram of Sri Ramana Maharshi. I explored his wisdom as part of my studies but never planned to visit his place but lo! there it was - quiet, peaceful, with good, light energy surrounding the area....not as commercialised as some other centers.

The Indians, whether from North or South, enjoy having guests stay over, even more so when they're from overseas. They love cooking for their guests and watch as I eat, I think they're fascinated at how I'm able to eat their food without any problems when they themselves have never tried anything different other than what they eat all the time. Or is it because I'm eating with a teaspoon. When I asked for a spoon, they scramble to look for one, the only spoon they would have is a teaspoon. I make do as eating with my fingers is something I've not mastered.

 



North and South India are like 2 separate entities and never the twain shall meet. Those from the North look down on those from the South, those from the South don't like them much either but are too polite to voice too much (Did I not make the observation they are more accommodating?) Strong words like 'hate' have been used by certain folks but these folks have never made any friends from the South nor have they ever visited and neither do they want to, said one. Both sides are not encouraged to learn one another's languages as second languages in their schools, so I suspect it's a communication and ego problem in which they will never meet.

They don't cook nor eat one another's food, I find that odd. Practically everywhere else I've been in the world there's no division foodwise - food is enjoyable and creative and fun to learn and prepare but there seems to be a huge mental block with the folks in this country....and mind you, its not just about the food and their 2 main languages Hindi and Tamil.....let's not even think about their other languages/dialects

Of late, there's a debate in our Parliament about our migrant Indian population from India not mixing with our Singaporean Indians who are chiefly, originally from South India and Tamil-speaking, so it appears I was quite spot-on in my observations and deduction.
 
If a Chinese like me can have Indian friends in which we communicate in English, what's stopping an IT professional from the South communicating in English and making friends with a finance professional from the North and vice versa? 

What's stopping them making friends with Indian Singaporeans and speaking in English if Hindi and Tamil get in the way? The South Indians are a braver lot, they are more prepared to leave home and family to seek work elsewhere. There are thousands of them who don't know English but are working in Singapore, the Middle East, Malaysia, you don't find North Indians working as labourers in Singapore and its not as if they are richer or better educated, on the contrary.

Tamil Nadu was far cleaner and better developed than Uttar Pradesh, at least in the villages the folks have electricity and running water. Madras was a huge surprise, it's clean and orderly, no cows in the streets, no stepping on their dung, few city slums, wow, they've really cleaned up this place, how is it, they are unable to do the same in Delhi, the country's capital in the North?