Farm days - part deux

                                      My cousins who are studying in a nearby university invited me over for their Diwali celebrations. The program consisted of a mix of classic dances and Bollywood style singing and dancing. Students show their appreciation for the fine arts in strange ways in India; mostly it’s by howling and making a thorough racket. There's dancing and merrymaking in the aisles and you can always count on some guys getting drunk and having a fist fight to mark the grand finale of the program. As an artist if you can perform nonplussed in an Indian college environment, you can make it anywhere in the world. It's the same with driving in India! The ensuing dinner and open air discotheque reminded me of my college days, the bravado of the men, the coyness of the girls and the latent sexual tension in the air...

Aurovillians are a curious bunch, and you get the feeling of complete normalcy and 'shanti', but just below the surface there’s a thin sheen of insanity. Very subtle but it’s there, and something that I like as well. Normal can be the old librarian who's so grouchy and unpredictable that a lot of people avoid the library on his behalf. Somehow there's something pathetic about seeing a man shriveled up with age using the 'f'' word indiscriminately.

The roads in Auroville are mostly red earth and so when the monsoon gets going, cycling on it is like riding a wild horse. Galloping around the town at night in pitch darkness with just starlight and moonshine to guide you, its exciting stuff despite the sore bum at the end of the ride. Another small pleasure is to have the farm cat curl up in your lap when you are  flopped down in the hanging armchair. The cat's got good manners; it always puts a paw in your lap first asking for permission before jumping on board....

I also did a heat test on my capsule. Despite the name, the test is more severe on the occupant than the accommodation. The deal is you have to stay put in your residence for the whole day without any electrical devices to help you beat the heat. It got really sticky sweaty around noon for some hours but apart from that it wasn't too bad. So people can survive in the capsule, provided it's not summer. During my stay here, I have spent a disproportionate amount of time in the capsule. The sunsets are something to die for and different each day! Also spotted some wild rabbits and the lone deer.

The last two weeks it was raining non stop and the farm flooded. But it was great working and getting soaking wet. Felt like a child again. Being run exclusively by volunteers all sorts of people come and go. Most come to Auroville for less than a week hoping to mix some volunteer work with their stay to get an "Auroville experience'. Too little time in my opinion...

There was a sudden downpour yesterday evening for close to an hour.Phew!! The heat was getting way too much.As always when it rains ,I felt less restless and more peaceful.Yep, Im on my best behaviour during the monsoons.Maybe there's some truth to the saying that the weather has a large part in making us whiny,callous and indifferent.Yeah, next time you blow your top blame it on the heat!! I am all for a study to determine whether the levels of corruption,frustration and indifference in this country goes down during the monsoons.

Yesudas was in town for a carnatic recital and you bet I went.Earlier there was this attitude of "next time" whenever a show like this came but somehow these days I'm grabbing things like these at the first opportunity.It was in the very spacious and antique University Senate Hall. Its a funny thing about Trivandrum that whatever little good is there in this city is courtsey of the erstwhile royal family and that period.The show was superb but the heat was a dampener for everyone including the musicians.

In domestic matters, the kittens are all over the place.They have two cats feeding them and they never seem to get enough.They run around the place(super fast!) ,climb on sofas, shred plants, catch and tear apart coackroaches and in general make a pretty fine mess.But all three chaps are very lovable and supremly innocent.You look into their eyes and you melt.They have a couple of strange moves...one of them is the "reverse gear" ,as I call it.When you approach them they walk back rapidly in a straight line!! Then there is the "crouching tiger", where in they hide in a corner and once you reach that spot they jump out scaring themselves more than us!! Well I guess its not much fun when you describe it, but they are really adorable to watch.

Whoa!! I have been accepted into The Indian Bloggers ring .....took two weeks(or more?!).They really took their time and especially the way my blog was going(esthetically and material wise), it must have been real close.. ;)

Went to the only business ***** hotel in Trivandrum yesterday...The Muthoot Plaza .Have been there lots of times but this time went to see a friend of a friend.Hmm, complicated ,I know.He has a top job there and we had a good time.Nice ambience and very posh.The bar was flooded with foreigners.Airplane crew from 3 airlines ,everybody having a good time.Lots of business magnates around too and some people not recognisable but nevertheless appearing or pretending to be important.

There has always been a feline presence in my life...reminds me of "Rain God" in Douglas Adam's So long and Thanks for all the fish which I am reading now.lol.... I am really not a cat lover.But i respect them .They have a majesty reminding me of their wild cousins ,the tigers.There are three tiny kittens in the house now..One is grey with large white patches in between.Another is yellow and white.The third one is black with small whitish patches showing here and there.They are usually interwined like a ball of thread and their movements are slow and unsure .They always stick to each other, for warmth I presueme , so its more or like one animal with three heads and tails !!Its heartbreaking when they look at you.They just opened their eyes and the world stops when they stare at you.As the girls in my class used to say "chochweet".....

When the mother cat arrives they will be usually sound asleep.Once she starts licking them , they instinctively know it's her and start making these high pitched "keey keey" noises with their little tails sticking straight up and run and scramble around .The excitement and confusion is beautiful to watch.The mother is pretty sensitive and very alert.You sit quietly for a long time watching her feed the kids and she watches you right back.It takes some time before she trusts you enough to go to sleep while feeding her kittens.Once some kids(guests) made a big fuss over the kittens when the mother was around.She moved the kittens from that place the very next day.Anyway I don't touch or hold the kittens,an intrusion into their world I feel.It's sad though that most of the kittens never survive.Either the dog or the tomcat gets them.The tomcat kills off it's own kittens to bring the female into heat i'm told ,though i dont know if this is true.

There are three things I can't resist... nature, women and books.So blew away an appreciable amount on a Book exhibition in the VJT Hall...impressive by Trivandrum standards.Saw the snap of a very young Madhavikutty on the cover of Ente Kadha (My story)...What a pretty woman..