I attended a Malayalam Mass at 7.15am on Sunday morning. Because of my age I get a chair but everyone else is either kneeling or sitting on the marble floor or standing. Everything is sung and it took 2 hours. I sat and meditated trying to make sense of a culture so smitten with ritual and iconic symbolism. Some ask where is Jesus Christ in this endeavour. The two week celebration of the third century martyr, St Sebastian includes pop-up junky shops, coloured lights, music and Mass broadcast all over the district, millions of dollars worth of fireworks and a throng of people lining up to make an offering to the saint so he will grant their petition. They bring a paper plate, decorated and painted, containing a small golden arrow as an offering. In return they get a small handful of roasted grain in their hand. They almost ignore the mass going on. If they want to keep their plate they can pay an offering of money to redeem it.
On Sunday evening the community went all out to make India/Australia Day special. They erected two tall bamboo poles and rigged them up as flag poles. The courtyard was ringed with Indian and Australian bunting. The area in front of the flags was delineated with lines of grey ash.
We started with Mass and then had a flag raising ceremony. As the flags were released a shower of flower petal confetti was released. We sang the two national anthems and enjoyer some photos.
The Australia quiz was a hit and took 2 hours. In between each of the six sheets I did a little item. I showed them some Australian money, I sang “Waltzing Matilda” and explained that it was about a tramp who committed suicide rather than go to prison for sheep stealing. I am not sure they understood the pathos.
Tuesday was the beginning of the regular week and it was a joy to plan and execute a lesson as part of the program. We are doing definite and indefinite articles, something missing from the languages here. Nouns must stand lonely and usually do in the writing of my students. We have also started a reading program where I have printed off the online books I kept from last year. I need them to be reading at a level they can understand rather than shaking their heads and saying, “Yes Brother”, in response to my queries about their comprehension. The head shake means “yes” but I know it means, “I haven’t got a clue but I don’t want him to know.” They really like the books and I will print some more for the faster readers. I am sticking to non-fiction for the moment.
I am becoming more adventurous with my motor bike excursions around the district. On Sunday I went 20km to Aluva (Alowa the way they say it) to buy some guitar strings. The music shop was closed and would be closed Monday for Independence Day.
Then it was closed yesterday as the whole state was on strike. Go figure, a 4 day long weekend just like us.
Today I have continued instruction on the correct use of “articles” following the three rules.
Then, to break up the lesson I spent the last half hour teaching them the correct techniques for reading in public.
The lesson this afternoon where I hear and discuss their reading has been cancelled due to a project to repair a tank and fix the water supply system. Annoying, but I get a chance to do a few other things like teach guitar and update my journal. I will go out later and investigate another road I saw yesterday down which I have yet to explore.
