February Adventures

In February, we spent several weeks in Madurai at the home of Sheik Dawood and Bathu Begum--parents of Ismail.   The girls enjoyed living in an extended family and delighted in Shahrukh, the youngest grandchild.  I enjoyed the spectacular food cooked by the talented woman of the household.   From Madurai, we took a quick trip to Coimbatore to visit relatives and received a tour of clothing factories from Hasina's nephew.  (see Isabel's blog entry)

The girls and I went to a village temple festival with anthropologist Sara Dickey and her family.   The excitement and energy of the festival trumped the oppressive heat and provided me with many photographic opportunities.   The girls were not thrilled to find themselves even more of a spectacle than usual but they did get to see a village.  (Not all field trips have to be fun do they?)  The photo album "Madurai and More" contains many portraits from our trip to the village.  You will notice babies and children with black smudges on their faces.  The smudges serve to mar the perfection of the children and protect them from the consequences of envy or admiration.  

Catherine

P.S. Clio's birthday was celebrated back in Chennai.  We spend the day south of Chennai at the Crocodile Bank.  Despite the heat, it was enjoyable.  After viewing the crocs, we visited the puppies we had met three weeks earlier at our stay at the Tamil Nadu Hotel. (see Clio's blog entry) 

 P.P.S.  The girls and I leave Chennai on March 24 for Switzerland to see Melinda and family.  We will all travel together to Corsica.  We will arrive stateside on April 14th. 

To view pictures from our latest adventures, click on the slideshow entitled, "Madurai and More".