hi folks am sorry that have not been blogging regularly. Was out of sorts. Now back in action. Will update every week and you can know how life in a village goes on.

Like last week Prabhakaran, Selvam and a few boys from the village went house to house collecting money. The occassion was the coming of the holy month 'Aadi' which starts on July 17th this year. On that day they had arranged for a special pooja in the village Amman temple.

Not only would there be a special pooja but there would also be a food for everyone in the afternoon.

On July 17th Prabhakaran was reminding all the men he met that they had to be in the temple at 1 p.m. The women need not be told. They had all started coming to the temple from noon. The men had gone about their work.

Even when the work was over they would stay at home. They would come to the temple only after they hear the bells ringing. The bells are rung when the pooja starts.

Women were sitting in the temple and gossiping about the women who had not yet come. Even inside the haloed premises of this beautiful temple they could bitch about others non chalantly.

The Amman temple is the most beautiful temple in my village. The statues of the Gods are lovely. The murals on the walls are great. The colour combination is divine.

There is a Ganesha outside. You go right around the temple. There is a Kodi maram in the centre of the yard. It is actually a Teak tree trunk covered with Silver. It links the Godesses in this temple with the Gods in Heavan.

Then there are two minor Gods at the back. Followed by a God with a sword in hand. Then there is Kali on her Lion. In the sanctum sanctum there are three Godesses. All decked up in Silk sarees today.

The poojari is Pulogam. He looks like a young boy but actually has two married daughters. He talks to people acccording to his mood. If he is in a good mood like today he talks to everyone. If not he will igore everyone and stare past your head when you look at him. He is quite irritating and very arrogant.

He is also in charge of the Kamakshi Amman temple and so thinks no end of himself. The villagers tolerate him because his father Mada Pandaram was the poojari before him and his grandfather before that. As he was the heredity priest he did not respect any one.

But when he made a mistake the entire village would gang up on him. Only then would he listen to what they said.

The bells began to ring and the drums began to make a loud din. There is a machine these days which rings the bells and beats the drums. Earlier the village boys and girls used to do this. The Pooja started a litte after 1 p.m. and went on for half an hour.

Then he gave vibuthi, and kum kum. This was followed by lunch. Some ate it at the temple. Others took it home.

The holy month of Aadi had been welcomed in the proper way. The villagers were happy