Diary of ganesh nadarhttp://villagevoices.rediffiland.com/Diary of ganesh nadaren-usannual day and temple festivalThe village temple festival and the school annual day

The quarterly exams were over but holidays were not declared. The school had to celebrate its annual day on October 4th. The children would be practicing dance and drama. At least the selected ones, the rest would just laze around and play games.

They needed two chief guests for the annual show. They decided on the district education officer and Mudit Jain the President of DCW.

The headmaster knew the DEO and the village reporter Ganesh knew Mudit Jain. The DEO agreed immediately. Mudit did not know. He told Ganesh that he would let him know. The villagers were not willing to wait as invitations had to be printed and sent all over the country.

They kept harassing Ganesh till he said yes. He was confident that Mudit would make a special trip from Bombay just for him. He was wrong. Mudit refused citing work.

So the school Correspondent S.Rajarathnam decided to make do with the DEO.

The temple was all decked up. The land around the stage in the field was smoothened, raised, cleaned. Sankaran who paid for the stage also paid for the land leveling. Murugesapandian was in charge. His wife was the Panchayat President.

Then the posters for the event came from Coimbatore. The first controversy started. Ganesh wanted to know why individual names were printed on the poster when the event was a village one.

Murugesapandian clarified that the names of the donors for the band in the evening were printed. Senthil is a contractor. A building contractor. He belongs to the neighbouring nalumadi village. As he has constructed lots of houses here too Prabhakaran asked him for a donation. He agreed and so his name was also on the poster. No problem with that. The problem was that his village was shown as PanickaNadarKudieruppu.

This the villagers did not like inspite of the fact that Senthil was the grandson of the Bathakaraiswamy temple which was going to witness its annual festival now.

People were waiting for Rajaratnam to come to complain. Lights had been put up all over the village and also decorative arches.

The villagers waited for the people to come in from Bombay, Madras, Coimbatore, Bangalore and Bhilai in Chatishgarh. The festival is on October 2nd and the annual day on 4th.

More on that after it happens.

]]>Mon, 01 Oct 2007 04:36:00 +0530http://villagevoices.rediffiland.com/blogs/2007/10/01/annual-day-and-temple.htmlcoast guardtoday i visited the coast guard station in mandapam. there is a very friendly commaniding officer. his name is janardhanan. he says that he is not concerned with LTTE orrefugees. any one found in the sea without a valid reason which means fishing only. they are checked bodily and handed over to the local police.

if they see any suspicious activity or behaviour. again they dont take any action. they inform the police. there is a coast guard vessel in the palk strait and Gulf of Mannar at all times. 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.

the LTTE nor the Sri Lankan navy can take on the might of the Indian Navy so we have to understand the problem of the Sri Lankan Navy he says. they have banned fishing in this area. so when they see any boat they ask them to stop. if they dont and try to flee they have no choice but to fire. as the LTTE is active in this are anyone running away will be supsected to be LTTE cadre or sympathisers or helpers.

Indian fishermen have a very good rapport with the LTTE. They sell diesel to the LTTE and also pay toll to them to fish in their area. the toll is also in the form olf diesel.

Fring on Idian fishermen will stop only if our fishermen can inform us immediately. we can retaliate very fast and very hard. The Tamil Nadu Government has promised to provide phones and GPS facility to all our fishermen in this area. this will help a lot in case of firing and also in case they have any mechanical failure in the boat or bad weather.

The sooner this is done the better it is for the fishermen. They are going to get Id cards too but they must carry them on their person at all times when they are at sea. this will keep them safe from our navy and the Sri Lankan Navy if they are apprehended by either.

]]>Mon, 27 Aug 2007 10:57:17 +0530http://villagevoices.rediffiland.com/blogs/2007/08/27/coast.htmllady president and lady councilor33% reservation in the village panchayat

Prabhakaran had been panchayat President, then Murugesan. They were followed by Rajarathinam. Then the Government decided to give women 33% reservation at the Panchayat level. They had failed to do that at the assembly and parliament levels.

So my village was to have a lady as panchayat president and a lady councilor for the Union panchayat. Panchayat raj is Three tier in Tamil Nadu. At the first level is the Panchayat President with her ward members. Then there is the block level Chairman with his Councilors. At the top is the district Panchayat with district councilors.

Indra won the post of president with a margin of only 95 votes. Dhanalakshmi became councilor with a larger margin.

Indra's husband was earlier Councillor. Then he became the Vice President under Rajarathinam. This time he had wanted to stand. As a woman was needed his wife stood. He did all the talking, canvassing and bribing voters.

Even in Dhanam's case her husband did all the canvassing. He had stood for councilor elections twice before and lost. First time he lost his deposit. Second time he lost by only 30 votes. This time around his wife won with a good margin.

The councilor election is contested on party lines. Dhanam contested as a DMK candidate and won. One of the reasons for her victory was the free color tv scheme of the Government. Voters wanted her to give them a color tv.

After the elections the councilors elect the Chairman. Dhanam got 1 lac from the chairman to vote for him. He was a party candidate and she had to vote for him. He gave her the money to offset her election expenses. She was so happy that she went and adopted a baby girl.

Murugesapandi is Indra's husband. He does all the panchayat work. Indra stays at home and looks after her child Soundarya. A particularly beautiful child. Coincidently both the president and the councilor have adopted children.

Indra attends all the grama sabha meetings where Murugesapandi stands guard outside. Indra is a talkative lady but where the panchayat is concerned she is quiet. Wonder why?

Dhanam does not do any work in the village. She attends the monthly meeting of the Union council. She gets bus fare for that. She has not asked for anything from the Union for her village. She is too quiet for that.

All in all it was a foolish idea of giving women reservation. The husbands do all the work anyway. They could have stood and won the elections themselves and do what they are doing now legally.

Sad state of women, and 33% reservation.

]]>Sat, 04 Aug 2007 05:07:36 +0530http://villagevoices.rediffiland.com/blogs/2007/08/04/lady-president-and-lady.htmlThe Holy month of Aadihi 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

]]>Tue, 17 Jul 2007 12:29:51 +0530http://villagevoices.rediffiland.com/blogs/2007/07/17/The-Holy-month-of.htmlA Month of Bhajans
The Tamil month of Margazhi falls between December 15th and January 15th. It is a religious month for Tamilians. In my village two changes take place unique to this month.

In the morning women in the village sweep the street in front of their homes and sprinkle it with water. A few old timers mix cow dung in that water. This happens throughout the year.

In this month, they draw Kollams in front of their homes early in the morning before Sun rise. The Kollam is a design drawn with white and colored powder. This is drawn on the street in front of the main door of the house.

In old times Kollam used to be drawn with rice powder. This was meant as food for the ants, which would thus not come into the house in search of food. These days nobody does this, at least not in my village.

There is a Kollam in front of every house in the village. At 5.30 am a group of men and boys start from the Ganesha temple in the village. They walk through the entire village singing bhajans (devotional songs). They carry small musical instruments to help them.

The youngest is a boy only 8 years old. The eldest is a 60 plus man. As they pass through the village, they stop for a while at every kollam. In some houses they are welcomed with tea or coffee. Some villagers give them snacks.

Village elder T.Murugiah Nadar says that these bhajans were started more than 50 years back by his late elder brother Velusamy.

They come back to the temple at around 7 a.m. The trip takes about an hour and a half.
There is a special early morning pooja or prayer after they come back to the Ganesha temple. The daily morning pooja is sponsored by one of the villagers.

Devotees are served with 'Payasam' which is a rice based sweet and also Channa. Sometimes white Channa and sometimes black. Young boys who take part in these bhajans run home as they have to go to school. The half-yearly exams are on.

The other village folk who attend this morning pooja then go to the Kamakshi Amman temple where another pooja takes place. The third pooja takes place at another Amman temple. By the time all these poojas take place it is 9 am in the morning.

If you eat the 'Prasadam' at all the three temples, it is enough for breakfast.

The bhajans will go on throughout this month till the night before Pongal. This is the harvest festival in Tamil Nadu. On the night before Pongal at midnight, the Lord 'Ganesha' is decked up in all his finery.

He comes into the village on his special chariot and visits every home. An Elephant leads this procession. Then come the men and boys who sing the Bhajans. The lit up chariot of Lord Ganesha again stops at every kollam.

Kollams on that day are colourful and more exotic than those drawn throughout the month. Villagers receive the Lord with special prayers in front of their homes. The Chariot goes back to the temple after 4 am in the morning. At Sunrise 'Pongal' starts.
]]>Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:19:56 +0530http://villagevoices.rediffiland.com/blogs/2006/12/18/A-Month-of.htmlA Village sweetmeat
Every state in India has its favorite sweetmeat and every village has its own special dish. In my village its murrukku or chakli in Hindi. Any hour of the day if you land up at somebody's house they will serve you with murrukku.

Not only is it easy to make but it does not need to be kept in a fridge. All you need to do is to keep it in an airtight container. Here people normally use the biscuit tins you can buy from your regular grocer. Richer people can use a stainless steel container or one of the innumerable airtight containers available in the market.

There are two types of murrukku. One is sweet and is called acchi murrukku and the other is the normal murrukku. To make acchi murrukku you have to buy an acchi, which is available in all South Indian vessel shops.

For the normal murrukku you have to buy a murrukku maker from the same vessel shop. It's a hollow cylindrical container with a press on top. The bottom is hollow. There are small plates with holes on them. Some have circular holes and others have star shaped holes. You can use the sieve you want depending on what shape you want the murrukku to be.

For the normal murrukku you need one kilogram of raw rice, a quarter kilogram of white udad dal, 2 table spoons of salt, Jeera one table spoon and 2 table spoons of white till.

Clean the rice and soak it in water for an hour. Pour out most of the water. Then grind it wet in the mixie.

Clean the udad dal and put it in the kadai on the gas. Heat it for a while. Grind that dry in the mixie.

Mix the rice powder and udad powder with water. Knead it together. The Jeera and Till also have to be warmed in the kadai and then ground in the mixie.

Add the Jeera powder, Till powder and salt to the Rice-Udad powder mix. Knead it together with your hands for at least 15 minutes. You should have a soft paste.

Put refined oil in a kadai and warm. After the oil gets hot, put the paste in the murrukku maker. If you want to have smooth murrukkus use the sieve with circular holes. If not use the one with star shaped holes.

Hold it above the hot oil and press. You have to make a circular motion as you press down. The paste will come out as strands into the oil. Cut the strands with your hand when there is enough for one murrukku. You can fry five murrukkus at a time or less depending on the size of the vessel.

The Murrukku will be ready in five minutes. Take them out before you put in fresh paste. The oil should be hot but should not boil. If it starts boiling, reduce the gas.

The murruku will last for a month without spoiling. If you keep it in an airtight container it will retain its crispness.

For acchi murrukku you need 1 kilogram of raw rice, quarter kilogram of sugar, 1 coconut and three eggs.

Clean the rice and soak it in water for an hour. Then grind it in a mixie. After that filter it through a sieve. You have to use only the finely ground powder.

Break the coconut and cut out the tender coconut. Grind it in the mixie. Add water to it. Take out the coconut paste a little at a time and squeeze it in another vessel. This is coconut milk.

Break the eggs and add it to the rice powder. Add a little water and mix it well. Add the sugar and coconut milk. Knead it well for at least 15 minutes.

Put refined oil in a vessel and warm it. Once it's hot, put the acchi on the paste. Press half of it inside. Then remove and put it in the oil. The paste will separate from the acchi and fall into the oil. Depending on the size of the vessel you can fry about five at a time.

Do not let the oil boil, but keep it hot. Store the acchi murrukku in an air tight container. It will not spoil for three weeks. It remains crisp and tasty. As Saif Ali Khan would say ' You just can't eat one'.
]]>Fri, 21 Jul 2006 16:18:12 +0530http://villagevoices.rediffiland.com/blogs/2006/07/21/A-Village.htmlThe Cauvery won't come to Tamil Nadu
For twenty years the borewell near the dhobhi ghat had supplied water to Panickanadarkudieruppu. It was near the red sand desert that bordered the village. The water was very tasty. Many villagers said that it was as good as the drinking water in Mumbai.

There were taps at regular intervals on all the roads and even in the small by lanes. 10% of the villagers had house connections. For a house connection you paid a 1000/- rupees deposit and 30/- rupees every month for the water.

One day the water turned salty. Village elders said that they were expecting this. The borewell had been dug to a depth of more than 200 feet. Trees near it had begun to dry and die and thus the elders had suspected that the water table was drying up.

Another small borewell was dug inside the village. A hand pump was installed there. The water was good but not as tasty as the earlier source. The Panchayat President Rajarathinam wanted to dig a deeper well here and build a tank.

Village elder Chellathurai Nadar objected. 'You saw what happened at the dhobhi ghat. All the trees there dried up. This too will happen here. That well was at the village border. This is in the center of the village. Here too all the trees will dry up'.

So a small pump and a small Syntex tank was installed here. This was enough for a few houses but not enough for the entire village. The Panchayat had to look for water elsewhere.

The next hamlet Kila Naulumavadi was within the same Panchayat. There too the borewell water had turned salty.

A new spot was selected near the river. The water was found to be good. A new borewell was dug. Water from this well was pumped to both Panickanadarkudieruppu and Kilanalumavadi. It was enough for both villages.

Water usually comes for three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening. When there is a marriage in the village, they inform the man who operates the pump. Then water is supplied for 24 hours.

Last Wednesday i.e 31st May, 2006 there were two marriages. One in Panickanadarkudieruppu and the other in Kila Nalumavadi. So both villages needed water. After starting the water pump the operator fills the Kila Nalumavadi tank. Once that is full he opens a valve in the delivery pipe and water flows to Panickanadarkudieruppu.

On that particular day the villagers in Kila Nalumavadi village refused to allow the operator to open that particular valve. So there was no water in Panickanadarkudieruppu. The Panchayat Vice-President Murugesapandian said ' When two villages within the same Panchayat cannot share water peacefully how can you expect the Cauvery to flow into Tamil Nadu'.

In the middle of the night the villagers went and opened the valve themselves. Both marriages had enough water for all their guests.

Now the Panchayat is locating two new sources of water for the two villages. Each already has it's own tank. Once this is done then there will be no quarrel over drinking water.

For two years there has been water in the river. Thus all wells in the village have been full. When a fight over water could start in these times of plenty villagers shudder to think what would happen if there was water scarcity.

Elders say that this village has never experienced drinking water scarcity. The only time there has been no water is when the water pump motor was under repair or when the Electricity played truant.
]]>Mon, 12 Jun 2006 11:38:44 +0530http://villagevoices.rediffiland.com/blogs/2006/06/12/The-Cauvery-won-t-come-to-Tamil.htmlThe Village shop
Panickanadarkudieruppu is a small village in the Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu. Like most small villages it is self sufficient in its own way. Today let us visit a shop that supplies most of the people with almost everything that they require for their day to day needs.

Mohan runs the village shop. He was working in a shop in Mumbai for Seventeen years before he got married. After marriage he decided to settle down in the village and run this shop. It's the only shop of its kind in the village.

When Mohan goes out to buy products for the shop, his wife or his younger brother sits in the shop. He doesn't employ servants.

Jaggery is the fastest selling item in this shop. When there is a festival in any of the village temples it sells as much as 20 kgs a day. On other days it sells 2 to 3 kilograms. Though the village is small there are more than ten temples here. So almost every month some festival or the other is always on. Sugar averages 5 kilograms a day. The sale of raw rice goes up during festive occasions.

The latest item here is jam. You get a packet for one rupee. There is sweet jam and sour jam. During school time more than 50 packets sell every day. Children eat it without bread.

Villagers interested in health food buy Bajra and Ragi powder here. The two rupees Clinic plus sachet is the most popular shampoo and for those interested in herbs there is Shikakai powder in one and two rupee packets. Hamam and Lux are used for bathing, Power and Rin soaps for washing. A few buy the small Vim soap for cleaning vessels.

If you have unexpected visitors at home there is no need to worry. There are biscuits, Chaklis (sweet and spicy), Chikki, Athirasam (a South Indian sweetmeat). Mohan says ' I sell 25 to 30 packets of Chakli every week and the 3/- rupees biscuits packet goes fast'.

Mohan makes more money on temple pooja products like turmeric, kumkum, incense sticks, camphor, coconuts, bananas and till oil than grocery.

City folks who come here for their holidays often ask him for different kinds of soaps, shaving creams and bigger size washing powder packets. 'No! problem' says Mohan, he buys it in the nearest bazaar and delivers it the same evening.

The shop also serves as a minor medical shop. For headache he gives you Saridon and Anacin. For fever Metacin and Novalgin. He has a tablet for stomach pain too. In Ayurveda there is the 'Anjal Aluppu Marunthu' which rejuvenates you from all pain and exhaustion. There is a more bitter medicine too that cures all fevers. Both these Ayurvedic medicines have to be boiled and eaten. There is also 'Omam' water that is a cure all for all stomach ailments.

For the smokers there is Sayeedu beedie, Gold filter, Gold Flake and Scissors. On normal days one packet of Wills Navy cut sells in one week and on festive occasion the same sells five packets a day. So normally Wills is not available here.

For cooking, palm oil sells the most. Followed by till oil, which is used to light lamps. Coconut oil sells the least. When a temple festival is on packaged Gold winner Sun flower oil is in demand.

Mohan normally has ten varieties of vegetables. He keeps one kilogram of each in stock every day. On Tuesday and Friday people do not eat Fish in the village so he increases the stock by 50% on those days.

In a week he sells 10 kilograms of Toor dal which is used for sambar and 30 kilograms of Udad dal which is used for making idlis and dosas.

There are only 5 families which buy on monthly credit from this shop. Almost everyone avails credit for one or two days when they need to. Mohan says that the villagers are very honest about clearing his bills. So he doesn't have to buy on credit either.

He has a fridge in his shop which he keeps on for about three hours in a day. All cold drinks are manufactured and supplied from near by Kurumbur. Soda costs Rs.2.50/- and a cold drink costs Rs.3.50/- a bottle. When there is a temple festival on, he stocks Pepsi and also keeps his fridge on the whole day.

All stationery products are available as there is a school in the village. Ball point pens sell here for two to five rupees and the costliest fountain pen is available for twenty-two rupees.

Vijayan is the most popular coffee powder. Tea doesn't sell much but it is available in one rupee and 50 grams packets. For spicing up your food he has the entire range of Shakti masala which includes Briyani masala, chicken masala, mutton masala and fish masala.

At festival times he stocks white and colour powder which is used for Rangoli patterns in front of homes and in front of temples.

In short Mohan supplies everything that the villagers need throughout the year and more when there are visitors or festivals.

The shop opens at 7 am in the morning and closes at 9 pm in the night. In the afternoon it remains closed from 1.30 pm to 4.30 pm. If anyone needs anything urgently Mohan is available at all times.

]]>Mon, 22 May 2006 20:02:16 +0530http://villagevoices.rediffiland.com/blogs/2006/05/22/The-Village.htmlA temple festival in the village
There is a Murugan temple in the village hospital compound. Murugan is the second son of Lord Shiva, younger brother of the Elephant God Ganesa. This temple's yearly festival was to be held on the 13th of May, 2006.

The village Doctor Das took charge of everything as the temple was within his area. He first arranged for the painters. The painters wanted 2000/- rupees and Das offered them 1500/-, they finally agreed on 1700/- rupees. They made a list of the paint they required.
Das sent the list to Ganesh with the hospital nurse Dhanam.

Ganesh gave the list to the paint shop in the village bazaar in Kurumbur. Ramanatha Pillai promised to send the paint to the temple in two days. Ganesh then went to Alwarthirunagari which is 10 kms away.

There he went to Bhai's shop. This shop is owned by a Muslim. He has all the requirements for a temple festival. Communal harmony at its highest. Bhai did not require any list. He knew everything that was needed. All Ganesh had to tell him was the budget. They both agreed that a thousand rupees would be enough.

Shivan in the meanwhile gathered firewood for the occasion. He also made arrangements for four banana plants that would be needed for the decorations. Two would be tied on the hospital gates and the other two at the temple entrance. He also brought husk from the rice mill for the holy fire.

Eral is another 10 kms from the village. A cloth shop here supplied all the new clothes for the Gods in the temple. New clothes were also bought for the temple priest, the visiting Brahmins who would perform the rituals, the musicians and Das the organiser.

A Pandal contractor was brought in to put up the decorations. A man who hired out speakers and mikes was brought in to play religious songs on the festival day.

On the 12th Ganesh went to the temple to meet Das. The grocery merchant had sent everything. The vegetables had arrived. Bhai had sent his things. The Pandal had been put up. The temple had been freshly painted. Everything seemed O.K.

Ramar the man who would conduct the festival arrived on time. The first thing he noticed was that there was no Ghee. Das immediately sent his son Karthick to get Ghee from the nearest shop.

The next complaint was from the helpers who were making Panchamirtham. This is a concoction of five fruits which is served as prasadam at the end of the festivities. Their complaint was that the quantity of the fruits was less. Village elders advised them that the quantity of each fruit was not important and they should just add more bananas to make up the quantity. But the helpers were not happy, they said the taste would suffer.

Next the cook Muniamma said that there was no Chillie powder for the Tomato rice. One young boy went to get that.

The holy fire was lit and amid chanting of mantras the fire was fed with everything Bhai had sent. Finally a coconut enclosed in silk cloth was put in the fire. A lot of the assembled villagers threw coins into the fire.

On top of the temple tower is a Kumbham made of five metals. Holy water was poured on this. While this was happening it rained gently. All the villagers were happy. It meant that the Gods were happy with the pooja i.e. prayer. This is called Kumbhaabhishekam.

Then the Gods were decorated and they were clothed in new attire. A special pooja was done inside the temple. The visiting Brahmins left.

The villagers sat down in the temple for a meal of Tomato rice, Payasam and Panchamirtham. Payasam is sweet and is made with rice, jaggery, some ghee, dried grapes and cashew nuts.

After this most people went home. A few stayed back to clean the temple.
]]>Tue, 16 May 2006 17:15:19 +0530http://villagevoices.rediffiland.com/blogs/2006/05/16/A-temple-festival-in-the.htmlThe River and an ATM
There had been water in the river for the last two years. Everyone was very happy with this but there was a problem. Weeds had crowded most of the river. Usually for three to four months the river used to go dry. The weeds used to dry up.

The villagers decided to do something about this. There were three bridges over the river within the village limit. So cleaning had to be done within this area. The PWD officials were told and they dutifully shut down the sluices in the Kadamba tank.

Water level dropped, but there was still two feet water. To drain that would take too long. So Tractors were driven into the riverbed. Two tractors between the three bridges. The tractors could not pass under the bridges as there were too many pillars.

For three hours the tractors kept going up and down the river. The villagers were satisfied that most of the weeds had been uprooted by the giant tractor wheels. The tractors came out.

A call to the PWD and water started flowing again. The weeds which had been freshly uprooted got stuck between the pillars under the main bridge near the village bus stop. More weeds got entangled here and blocked the water completely.

The water overflowed the banks and entered the village. The villagers got excited because this had never happened. They ran for their lives. Then they decided to sit in dharna on the road. In a little while two buses and a few small vehicles were stranded on either side of this impromptu road blockade.

Some one phoned the police station. The police arrived and decided that this was a civil problem and called the Tahsildhar. The Tahsildhar came and made them get up from the road. He then phoned the PWD who shut the sluice again. Water stopped overflowing.

The he asked a few youngsters to get into the river and pull out the weeds from under the bridge. This was a tedious task but they did it to please the Tahsildhar. Water started flowing. People went back home.

The wife was complaining that the dog was stinking. With the help of the shopkeeper I managed to catch it and tie it up with a rope. It came unwillingly with me to the river. It went to sleep on the bank. I had to pull it hard to get it into the river. I was irritated as this was not the first time that I had brought it to the river.

I gave it a good bath. At the end I decided to give it a good ducking to clean its head and ears. Suddenly the road went limp. The dog sank. Shocked I pulled it out immediately. Murugan who was bathing at that time declared 'You killed the dog'.

I ignored him and started untying the rope around the dog's neck. Praying fervently I started massaging his stomach. I pressed hard and water came out of his mouth. He gave a snort and started breathing. Murugan volunteered 'Why don't you give it artificial respiration?' I gave him a dirty look and carried on with my massage. I thanked all the Gods as he lifted his head slowly.

He licked my hand. I felt very bad. I would definitely not lick the hand that almost drowned me five minutes back.

I finished my bath and went home. The dog could not walk so he stayed behind. Murugan promised to keep an eye on him. I told the wife what happened and told her that next time she should bathe the dog under the house tap.

She told me not to worry and assured me that he would come home when he was hungry. An hour later he did come charging in straight to the kitchen.

I needed money and decided to withdraw money from my ATM. It's a ten minutes walk to the bus stop. I took a bus to the bazaar. There I boarded another bus to Thiruchendur that is 18 kms from my village.

In Thiruchendur I had to walk 20 minutes to reach the State Bank of India ATM which is near the famous Murugan temple there. I took out cash and came back home. The whole exercise took me two and a half hours.
]]>Wed, 26 Apr 2006 12:02:16 +0530http://villagevoices.rediffiland.com/blogs/2006/04/26/The-River-and-an.html