Where in the World is Jazmin Guerrero: The 3 Amigos

Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka - while I've spent time in each state (obviously TN is what I know best) but I've never seen it the way I did while I was traveling with my Oberlin Professor Paula Richman. In fact most of the places I went to I had never been to before: Kancheepuram in North Tamil Nadu, Thrissur (actually Irinjalakuda which I still am not sure how to pronounce) in Kerala, and both Manipal and Honnavar in Kerala. Each place I saw a new theater style prominent in South India and each one showed us a performance of the Indian epic the Ramayana. In Kancheepuram it was Kattai Kuttu, Irinjalakuda it was Nangiar Kuttu, and in Thrissur it was Yakshagana.

The most unique part about this trip was being able to travel across South India over the period of two weeks. Sure I had done it before but not like this. We spent time at people's homes, watched dance narrative performances in each state, and ate home cooked meals everywhere we went. So what does that mean? Basically I was able to see the country change across borders, I was able to taste the difference in all the food, smell the changes in the air, listen to the different speeches - experience this place I've been in for 2 years in a whole new way.

What I loved most about it were the jokes - almost everyone had some kind of joke they cracked on the next state. Not in a we're-definitely-superior way but just how people crack jokes on New Yorkers or Texans. Which got me to thinking, after hearing about South India from a variety of people (including the teacher from North India who was traveling with us) I can now appreciate that state borders are much more than mere ideas. The people change as much as the terrain does and I've only seen at the very least a 1/4 of this country. But here are some of the things I've noticed so far:

- Madurai, sorry to say, smells like poo. This isn't even a Tamil Nadu thing as I discovered, just a Madurai thing. Kerala smells like coconut oil and Karnataka (at least the parts I saw) smells like fish. I'm not sure what it is with Madurai but it definitely carries eau de excrement; a favored past time of those here is to guess what made that crap. It's just lucky we have the smell of burning trash to cover it up.

- After this point I will not suffer another chapati made in South India. For a long time I have carried a hatred of this thin bread, mostly because it reminds me too much of a badly made tortilla and that just angers me. The North Indian teacher assured me that I was very much capable of loving chapati, so long as they were made by someone living above Bombay. According to a variety of sources chapati is just something South India can't get right.

- Likewise under no circumstance should I ever order dosai in North India. As South Indians can't make chapati, North Indians can't make dosai. Good to know these things and personally I'd rather stick with the dosai any day.

- I've never felt more comfortable around the opposite sex than in Karnataka. I don't know what it is about that state but I didn't experience any sketchy leering or uncomfortable come-ons like I've had elsewhere. Casual friendship with the opposite sex was more than a dream, it was very much possible! Before I would have thought that was impossible unless they were city boys but in Karnataka I was proved wrong. Tamil Nadu isn't so bad but the boys there still stare, not quite like they do in Kerala, more like they keep forgetting they've seen a woman's chest before and continuously have the same melt-down upon making eye contact with a woman. As for Kerala, well, there's a serious case of machismo going on over there that would make los hombres en México very proud. Yet the majority of our company in Karnataka were men and there was no uncomfortably long stares or rude questions. I even made pretty good friends with the Yakshagana Troupe leader's two sons.

- Tamil in Northern Tamil Nadu is a whole different beast. Listening to people speak in Madurai you get the feeling that someone's shooting a machine gun at you - each consonant hits you bam, bam, bam! I assumed this was just how the language sounds but I've never been more wrong. Around Kancheepuram all of a sudden I couldn't understand a word anyone was saying. The way they spoke it was like smooth liquid pouring out, there was no harshness to it and instead it flowed with a calmness you don't hear in southern Tamil Nadu (at least not that I had noticed). It was so different for a second I thought they were speaking a whole other language. It was smooth and listening to it reminded me of feeling silk slip out of your hands, it was so effortless.

- Turns out everyone outside of Kerala makes fun of the fact that majority of the Malayali's living there at some point make a mass exodus for the greater opportunities elsewhere. One such joke - when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon the first thing he saw was a Malayali with his little stall shouting, "tea, tea, tea!" For some reason I found this hilarious and so did some of those in Kerala agreed. According to one of the performers we met in Kerala, "No matter where you go you will always find someone from Kerala and they are probably going to get their before any other Indians."

- Similarly everyone outside or around Tamil Nadu love to make fun of Tamils for their obsession with getting up early. And when I mean early I mean 4 in the morning early. Many families get up around this time or at least the mothers do in order to cook for their family. Again I assumed this was something that happened over the country and was even under the impression that cooking must seriously take that long. Turns out I was wrong. As one person put it to me, "I have no idea why they get up that early! I stayed with a Tamil family once and I remember at 5 in the morning listening to them ringing bells and burning something. But then nothing happens until 10:00! What do they do in between then?" My thoughts exactly. Despite nothing opening up in Madurai until 10:00 A.M. you'll find people up and running by at least 5. And what are they doing for those unaccounted 5 hours? Eating, drinking tea, reading the newspaper, shuffling around, possibly cooking, more tea drinking, going to the temple, more tea drinking, etc.... I'm somewhat reassured that the entire country doesn't follow this model because otherwise I would truly feel like a sloth for sleeping in until 9.

- Driving through these North Tamil Nadu and into Kerala is a wonder of beautiful landscape. Despite the drive lasting around 8 hours it was well worth the things we saw. From beautiful hills pressed against bright green fields of rice or clear blue lakes to small houses beautifully decorated with unique paintings. There was something very tranquil about exploring the landscape without any interruption and without having to interject yourself into the surroundings.

Here are some pictures of the amazing performers I saw while travelling with Paula Richman and the beautiful snapshots I was able to get on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.