T N Highs

My visit schedule was two days in Madurai and two days in Salem.

The outskirts of both the districts and the way to surrounding villages had a lush green appearance because of the acres of paddy fields, sugarcane crops, fruit orchards and the coconut palms. Looks like the state is busy producing food abundantly. That’s quite an encouragement for the growing food insecure population.

The highways are a plus point of the state. They look well maintained and are quite wide. I loved the Volvo bus ride from Madurai to Salem, the many places that we passed by. There were numerous residential schools, training institutions, higher study institutes etc lined up all the way till Salem. The town roads had concrete pavements, which acted as speed-breakers,  made provision for water seepage and also provided a neat look to the town. It called for less annual maintenance too. 

I was impressed by the women in the villages. They meant business. Most of them were part of the self help groups and they did well in terms of saving, accessing matching grants and benefiting from all schemes of the Govt. They lent money to people in need within the community at low interest rates. They were into income generation programs too.

Met quite a few PLWHAs and it was encouraging to see how their lives have changed from a discriminated and stigma affected lot to people who lived with dignity. One thing that really stood up was that they kept themselves updated on all the new medicines and research that came up on this and were inquiring about it to the staff of the organization.

The freebies of Tamil Nadu’s political parties has been a topic of debate for sometime now. Almost all the houses had colour TVs, free gas connection, all the school going (9^th grade above) and the college going young people have laptops, free bicycles,  , and so on…The freebies are promises kept by the political parties in their manifestos.. The issue may hinge on what a freebie is, what constitutes a social security net, and defining the thin line that separates the two.

The sudden increase in the levels of education in the state is surely contributed by the schemes like granting Rs 500 a year for girls belonging to SC/ ST and most backward classes studying in Class III to V and Rs 1,000 to those in Class VI to VIII, or free bus passes to all students. Free sanitary napkins are distributed to girls studying in rural schools. It was encouraging to see that Tamil Nadu is actively promoting the scheme under which a girl belonging to the BPL category can get marriage assistance of Rs 20,000, and another under which she can get one or two grams of gold for her mangalsutra.  These are linked to her educational qualifications. This acts as an added incentive for the parents to educate the girls at least till 10^th grade. 

Madurai and Around

On de-boarding the train in Madurai Junction Railway Station, early Monday morning last week, I was couldn’t help but notice the neat, modern and traveler friendly railway station. The availability of many facilities viz travel amenities shop, battery cars for aged and disabled, purified water. ATM kiosks etc were noticeable. The station also had escalators and those were functional too. Later I learned that the station is the headquarters of the Madurai railway division of the Southern Railways and is an A1 graded train station by the Indian Railways for being one of the top 100 booking stations in the country.

From the day , the escalators were inaugurated in Madurai Junction

 The train reached earlier than the arrival, so I had to wait outside till someone came to pick me up. While I waited, the cab drivers kept on offering to drop me to my place of stay, which I myself didn’t know. Knowing my hosts, I had conveniently packed my bags and had arrived in the town confident that they would make arrangements to pick me up and so they did.  

This was my second visit to the town and this time on I decided that I have to observe the life in and around Madurai, a little more closely. During my last visit, I had visited the famed Minakshi Temple. Madurai is also called the “Athens of the East”, probably because of its historical significance and antiquity. The city has preserved its ancient looks along with modern facilities.

I was put up in a hotel just opposite the famous American College.

The American College, Madurai

Curious, I googled the history of the place and an article read  “It is narrated in legend that Madurai was originally a forest known as Kadambavanam. One day, a farmer named Dhananjaya who was passing through the forest, saw Indra (The king of the gods), worshipping a swayambhu (self created Lingam ) under kadamba tree. Dhananjaya, the farmer immediately reported this to King Kulasekara Pandya. Kulasekara Pandya cleared the forest and built a temple around the Lingam. A city was soon planned with the temple as its centre. On the day the city was to be named, Lord Shiva is said to have appeared and drops of nectar from his hair fell on the town. So, the place was named Madurai - mathuram meaning "sweetness" in Tamil.”

The following days, I visited various villages with the staff of the host organization and met several people and groups around Madurai. The visits were interesting and there are many experiences I would like to relate here in excerpts. Hoping that it will make an interesting read.

Blogging and Baking

Yes, I have decided to start blogging again. It’s some time since I did anything which I really enjoy doing. I am thankful to Dr. Ramani (http://ramani-fieldnotes.blogspot.in/) for inspiring and almost coaxing me to begin blogging again.

The last time I blogged, I was in Hargeisa, Somaliland and it was during May 2011.  Since then, we have gone places. We moved to Kerala to my parents’ place and then moved to Noida, near Delhi and now we are in Bangalore.

When Ramani called up the other day and while we chatted I happened to mention how much I miss all the places that I have lived in. That’s when she told me that I should start blogging about my experiences in the different places and the life there. She also said that I should start baking.

She also mentioned how she is enjoying baking off late. I remembered how often I used to bake while I lived in Windhoek, Namibia. Blogging and baking can give one a high- we agreed on it. We also did discuss about how the old traditional oven bakes better than the new ones. I called up my father the same evening and asked if I could take his 25 years old oven. Off late it is lying idle as he is not allowed to bake anymore. Both my parents are supposed to avoid sugar due to their health conditions. Therefore, no more cakes and biscuits in the house and I get the oven.

I decided to start blogging from today. My parents are arriving here next week and so is the oven. So, I start baking the same day next week. Hoping to blog about it also.