Pongal

I have the opportunity to be in India at festival time. That is not hard. Indian people celebrate a lot – festivals are especially important  in Hindu traditions.

This time the celebration is Pongal. Pongal is the  Tamil Nadu celebration of the harvest.  Think harvest festivals and Thanksgiving rolled into one. People in my class have been preparing for Pongal all week: practicing dances, cooking food, and going shopping for a new Sari to wear. It is a time to dress things up, dress up ourselves, and eat the bountiful harvest.

The Hindu celebrate pretty much everything. When I was in Bangalore in October, the Puja (another word for festival) was 9 days in which all things created were celebrated. One day was the celebration of machines. During Pongal, people make offerings to the Gods and pray for rain, in their often dry riverbeds.

Pongal (which literally means “Boiling Over”) is a 3 day, Tamil Nadu based, celebration that officially began Friday. While at school, on Friday, dancers from around Tamil Nadu came and performed. There is dancing and storytelling all around the city this weekend. I am hoping to get to a park today. Pongal is wonderful; it’s colorful and it tastes good. A common activity is the making of Pongal, a sweet sticky rice dish.

Today, Sunday, the remains of the feast are given to the cows and Oxen that work so hard. They are dressed and paraded about in celebration of their hard work, and given special foods. And tomorrow, there is more dancing and people gather on the riverbanks with yet another sumptuous meal to eat.

Yesterday I was fortunate to be invited to a Pongal feast. I was with people who had been friends for 40-50 years. It truly was enriching in more ways than one. And last night we went to dinner at a boathouse along the Adyar River, and listened to Tamil/English/Hindi fusion.We also had a lovely Pongal feast on banana leaves (natures take away plates!!Very common here and very eco friendly)

I waddled home, full in more ways than one. Happy Joyous Pongal to you all.

Getting around Chennai

Oxen and cows are still used by the villagers to bring in materials and food from the country

For the last two weeks, I have been negotiating the (very) busy streets of Chennai, primarily on my own. Chennai is a huge city of winding and cluttered roadways that often have no street signs or proper signals. Traffic is almost always congested  and drivers often drive on the wrong side, or down a street the one wrong way to get to another corner. Crossing the street – well, I have learned that one is either going to make it or not, and as a general rule, the drivers miss you even if its by inches. One has to be alert and aware to walk or drive  here.

I am staying in the Ministers area (Raja Annamalai Purnam) where the Ministers (India has a Parliamentary system of government, thus Ministers) work and live, and it is a distance to get to …anywhere. I walk as much as I can, and take auto rickshaws to most of my appointments and classes.  Given Chennai has an erratic road system, with a variety of species(Oxen, Goats, chickens and dogs are the most common) that walk or run on it, at best, it has taken me most of the 2 weeks I’ve been here to develop any kind of internal map of the city, not helped in the least by the Rickshaw drivers who often do not know where they are going either. While I bought a map and I find it helpful, showing it to a driver or pointing out landmarks is often fairly useless, as most rickshaw drivers cannot read maps. So I have been trying to find the best ways to say the district I am in by using the shortened common name. (Raja Annamali Purnam is too long… So everyone says, “RA Purnam”.) People know my street, not by the name, but by the fact that the Ministers live on it. So, I say, “I live on the ministers road.” That took a few days to figure out.

I find that I often need to take a deep breath and keep going.

traffic is congested in all parts of the country.

I get excited when I meet a driver who quotes me the price I expect to pay- or even better- KNOWS WHERE HE IS GOING! I feel like Ive scored when that happens!

Whatever the reason, haggling with auto rickshaw drivers is a process that isn’t always how I want to start my day. Or end it. With traffic being what it is,(constant, weaving and cutting off, and smoke and fumes) I find that the need to negotiate a fee a tiring process. But once it is done, I can sit back and smell the diesel.

So I am learning, slowly, to get around and to recognize landmarks. I am learning to stand up for myself a little bit more, and to negotiate, even when I’m not sure what to negotiate for…  Getting around is certainly a process, but the challenges are not insurmountable.

One festival celebrates all machines. This rickshaw is decked out to honor it's hard work.

Back in India

I arrived in Chennai early this morning (3 a.m. early…) and am settling in. I am discovering that things feel familiar to me. It’s the first time I have not been met at the airport, so I hired a taxi to take me to a hotel (one I haven’t been in yet… Very nice). I also discovered that driving at 3 a.m. is a breeze compared to any other time of day. I actually saw the road, and flashing lights along the sides that I have never noticed.

Today I have gone shopping, and worked toward buying a phone, but got held up in the need for a real photo, so it will have to wait until tomorrow. Then I had my first auto rickshaw, bargaining, and getting lost experience. Chennai is big, and often the taxis drivers don’t know where things are. Getting a map is challenging too, although I intend to work on that.

I am here for a month. This time I am teaching a 3 credit survey course at Sella Maris College. I am working through George Washington University. While Magdalene Jerarathanam, of the East-West Counseling Center, in Chennai (centerforcounselling.org), and I are not planning any projects right now, I am hopeful that she will come and offer her expertise in a presentation about her work integrating arts based therapy in her clinical psychotherapy practice. I have a couple of other people who might present as well. One is Michael Watson,who will present from the States via Skype.(Topic to be announced…) You can see his blog at michaelwatsonvt.wordpress.com.

I am looking forward to this, and all the complexity of getting around. It is going to be a journey for sure. Stay tuned.

Connecting in the cold

I have been home a week now and just getting settled back into work. It is cold these days- I am wearing layers of fleecy things and wrapped in scarves.  I am aware (as I often am after a trip) of what it is like to be home- I am glad to be back with my garden (have already been out raking leaves) and how isolating it can feel. In part this is due to warmth, or the lack of it. We close our houses up and become more insular. We have to work harder to see people on a daily level. In a day I can potentially go without seeing anyone-  Other days, I see clients, then go home. It takes effort to reach out and touch someone.

As a native New Englander,  a stereotype that is given to us includes being – “Stoic, distant” quiet” “stand offish” ones that actually I don’t like nor feel applies to me- Yet here I am feeling the edges of it myself. I like to hide in my home-  I admit to hermit like qualities within myself. I like to hide when its cold. My home is warm and friendly, while the world outside on so many levels is cold and unfriendly. I find that it takes much for me to pick up the phone or to interact- I would much rather nestle in with my work and  a good book.

While in India, One heard people chatting and saw people all day long. One engaged all day long.   It is quite the conundrum actually.I find that while I don’t miss the clutter, the dirt or the pollution of India, I really miss the sense of social interactions that happened daily, minutely at times and reminded me of the need and desire for human connection. often I spoke with people I didn’t know. It was easy. It was warm.

Today, with much intention, I socialized. With the gallery owner, while she took more art. With an artist friend that I print with. With Herb, my colleague and partner in crime (He and I began the Bangladesh project in 2003). Coming home tonight,  I emailed with a friend from India.It was warm and connective.

Note to self: Connecting is a human need. And,  Warmth is generated with connection.

Right now I’m feeling pretty warm.

Festival time in India

While my last training was going on (a wonderful creative and very spontaneous psychodrama/Playback theatre training in Bangalore with the Yours Truly Theatre Company) Festival (Puja) was also going on outside our windows. Noisy, inventive, crowded with worshipers from all over, Hindus come to offer gratitude for everything that exists. The festival lasts for 9 full days into nights. On Saturday, one was to worship all machines. So everything from laptops to cars were cleaned and decorated. Traffic is hard enough, but bring in a few extra million people, and add some chrysanthemums, incense and (very large ) banana leaves to your windshield, and driving truly becomes a process of clear mind (hopefully) over matter.

Firecrackers by the thousands went off at once and at times we would stop the training so as not to scream at each other.

Last night, we came to Mysore (home of the oldest palace) and throngs of people were in the street. The palace (across from our hotel) was all lit up and Hindi music was playing. cross from our hotel, street vendors selling material, saris and other traditional things worked in the dark until it was just too hard to sell anything- Lights are not provided. But the mood was very festive. Think Mardi Gras without the drinking (that I could see anyway).

This morning it is calm. It is cooler here in Mysore- Karnataka State- More in the mountains. We are going to stroll in the Palace Gardens and go to an art  museum at one of the smaller palaces- a little more doable than the mammoth larger palace- which we can’t go into anyway this week, as the King is here with his family to celebrate the Puja.

I am nearing the end of my trip now and realizing how rich and vast this experience has been.  While I have one more training, This week is mostly about seeing temples, and connecting to India in a different way.

Appreciation for the Center for Counselling

As I enter the last week of my time in India, I want to take some time out to reflect and appreciate the incredibly hard work of my sponsor and main, very instrumental, collaborator for this trip, Magdalene Jeyarathnam. Magdalene is the Director of the Center for Counselling, (centerforcounselling.org)here in Chennai. She has worked as a social worker and counselor for the past 16 years and for the last 5 years, Magdalene and her counselors have been contracted to work in schools and NGOs to work with, and for, people and groups in deep distress. She works at the collegiate level, helping to plan and implementing counseling programs, and governmental level to implement policy to support people who have HIV/AIDS and also the GBLT population. She also just completed a 1 year  Expressive Arts Certificate program in Poona.

I couldn’t ask for a better person to work and collaborate with. Magdalene is a bridge.  Her deep understanding of the psychological needs of others, and profound empathy, coupled with her ability to bridge Eastern and Western ways of thinking, have deeply supported this process of bringing the use of Expressive Arts Therapy to India. Expressive Therapy  is clearly wanted and needed here, based on all the reactions from the trainees at each workshop. As well, Magdalene has an unbelievable ability to network! Needless to say, I am taking notes!!! Magdalene collaborates and works with her husband, Eric Miller, who is the Director of the World Storytelling Institute (storytellinginstitute.org). They frequently collaborate on projects around Chennai that range from fun and entertaining to deeply moving and with a focus on social Justice. It really has been enriching and special to work with both of them.

Expressive Therapies Training with World Vision

I have just finished a 5 day training with World Vision, a Christian based organization that works with street children, abused children, and children who have HIV or AIDS or live with someone with HIV/AIDS)

One unique aspect of this training is that there were more men than women! There were 8 men and 3 women. ages were from 27-48 in the group. However, while the group was fairly mature in  chronological age, It felt at times that the training  was like “Herding goats”, due to a lot of male bonding behavior.Of course as this was an expressive arts course, I helped to open the energy up a bit. One person in the group has HIV and is an advocate with the organization. people came from many parts of India for this training. Some traveling more than a day to attend.

With the background theme of working with Kids with HIV/AIDS or in families, we explored building trust, understanding materials, movement, song, metaphor and imagery,family work and looking at our social networks, Using puppets to embody parts of ourselves or to have conversations that are hard when we are ourselves, Playback Theatre and storytelling as  a way of helping children create a narrative that helps them make sense of their world and of their feelings in response. It was a very full week.

This group, while people understood English needed translation from my English into Indian English. Magdalene and I had to reorganize a bit, and she became my interpreter. I found that although I spoke more slowly, many of my American phrases went right over their heads. I had a hard time getting concrete enough for them. Fortunately that got better as the week went on.  I am now in the groove of speaking pigeon English. Speaking Tamil is not something that I have been able to master. There is little to ground it for me- I find that I struggle to grasp the nuances. Many people here want to practice their English. And so I don’t try very hard.

This training was important for the group in the respect that they began to frame their work in a completely different way. There was a fair amount of judgment like comments at the beginning- In working with sociometry and the way I handle sharing- this level of commentary decreased noticeably after the first day. The judgments though comes not just within their group, but from a society that refuses to accept that HIV and AIDS are in fact real and need to be dealt with. What does one do when whole families refuse to be tested for fear of recrimination? Or disbelieve that having unprotected sex is not bad if you are carrying the virus? The reality of this level of understanding is frightening to those of us who understand the deep ramifications. Whether it is religion or politics, the result ends up being that there are unnecessary illnesses and deaths that are based in fear.

An important day was when we did some work around taking on other roles- stepping into other peoples shoes.Roles included the government worker, the person with HIV, a parent, a child, a relative of someone with HIV. Many people remarked on the power of that and how little they have done so. Another exercise  reflected on how we felt physically- (mentioning that as we age we die a little more each minute) after which, participants then drew on a template of a human body.

In all, I felt deeply enriched, each person affirmed their commitment to working using more arts based work. The person who has HIV told me that she felt like  pounds of weight had just dropped away with the process and that she was able to look at herself and her work in a different way. I too felt deeply moved by the sharings. We all felt like we had learned much.