Inja Holiday: Last Day in Real Inja!

We went off-piste on our last day by walking through a few miles of rural Indian countryside.


We ended up at a fishing village, far off the tourist track. There was a clamour for school pens from the children, which is a fairly standard request. Luckily, we had been warned, and so had plenty to give away. The children get so excited when you give them a pen, it's rather touching... Villages tend to be inhabited on the basis of religion. The village we went to is inhabited by Muslims:


The next village along is Hindu, and one a few miles down the coast is Christian. (The Christian communities pre-date Rome; they are known as Syrian Christians, and still hold services in original Aramaic). I did see some Roman Catholic churches as well. There is complete religious tolerance, and Keralans are very proud of this.


Rather interestingly, Kerala is a communist state. Maybe these are communal bricks?


In 1957, the state had the World's first democratically-elected Marxist government. They have been in power very frequently (but not continually) since then. Of the ruling communist party, about one-third are Hindu, one-third Christian, and one-third Muslim. They consider that their model could be put to good use elsewhere. They might have a point: Along with religious tolerance, Kerala has social issues very high on its agenda; it has the highest literacy rate in India, higher in fact than the UK (according to some sources). The state school system is extremely good, as is the healthcare and dental care.

Begging is illegal, but if you are caught you are taken away, given a good meal, new clothes if needed, and help on how to get a job...

I love it here!

Inja Holiday: Kathakali and Thali

Thali is a traditional Indian dinner served on a banana leaf. It consists of many different dishes, all served in small portions together on the leaf. Yummy...

Kathakali is a traditional Indian show, consisting of drum beats and cymbal chimes, but no dialogue. The acting is performed purely through facial expressions, hand gestures, feet gestures, and body movement. I think all Kathakali plays are based on Hindu stories, but I could be wrong.
One of the local hotels put on a Kathakali and Thali night last night. The show was based around Lord Vishnu, as you will see...

The character below is Hirnyakasipu. He is a Giant King, and is very powerful. Lord Brahma (one of the main Hindu Gods, known as the Creator) gave him three blessings:

1. He could be killed by neither man nor animal
2. He could be killed neither in the daytime, nor at night
3. He could be killed neither on Earth, nor in the Heavens, nor in the Underworld.

No wonder he looks happy:

This is Pralahda, the only son of the Hirnyakasipu:


The Giant King sent him to a guru so that he would become educated in the ways and history of the giant people:

The guru, however, had some problems with Pralahda. The boy had become a devotee of Lord Vishnu (another main Hindu God, known as the Protector). Hirnyakasipu was very angry that his son worshipped Lord Vishnu, instead of the Giant King himself. (In his rage, he gave the poor guru a beating, and threatened to kill him. Poor guru...). Pralahda remained serene and told Hirnyakasipu that Lord Vishnu was everywhere:


The Giant King laughed this off and challenged Pralahda thus: Is Lord Vishnu in this pillar? (he seemed to say...)
Pralahda answered Yes, so the next morning (at the crack of dawn, incidentally) Hirnyakasipu drew his sword and split the pillar in two; he wanted to prove that the Creator was not inside.
Boy, was he in for a shock! In a flash of light a creature, half-man, half-lion, jumped out of the pillar. The creature is called Narashima. (nara means man, and shima means lion):


Narashima is actually one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu himself.
Uh-oh, I sense trouble --- it's dawn and there is a non-human, non-animal at large. Do you think the first two blessings from Brahma have been invalidated?
Narashima grabbed Hirnyakasipu and held him in his lap. (Yikes!! In his lap?? That's neither on Earth nor in the heavens or the underworld...)

Narashima proceeded to disembowel the Giant King with his sharp claws.


Then he ate Hirnyakasipu's innards. Yum...


Lord Vishnu then makes Pralahda King of the Giants, because he has been such a faithful devotee of the Hindu God. The End.

Inja Holiday: Tales from the Riverbank

Kerala is famed for its backwaters - 250 miles of interconnecting lagoons, canals and rivers used to transport rice, spices and other goods from the south of the region to the north.

	The scenery reminded me of the South-East Asian waterways depicted in Apocalypse Now. There was a fair bit of wildlife, and an elephant on a truck... Please click a picture for a full-size image.