We arrived in Palani to greetings from Anand, his wife &endash; Vidya, her parents, Sriram's wife &endash; Lakshmi, and her parents. Hindu's practice various rites during the growth of a child. They are named several days after birth in a ceremony where the baby's name is written in rice by the father, the father gives the baby its first solid food, etc.

I was here to witness a tonsure (??) &endash; first hair cut. The baby's hair is allowed to grow until it reaches 9 months old, then it is shaved off by a Temple barber. It's supposed to be very auspicious. I videotaped the event for the family then we attended Temple for a Murugan puja. Here is a pic taken right afterwards.

The temple in Palani is very old and has many monkeys living on the grounds as it is located at the top of a hill. The rest of the surrounding land is incredibly flat. There are a number of legends that I will not bore you with as I have already gone into some depth about religious rituals. There are 2 ways to get to the top of the hill &endash; stairs and a "lift". It's sort of like the inclinators at the Luxor in Las Vegas, but on a metal cable pully system like the old sky cars at Disneyland, however, closed in and more secure.

As you know, from the last e-mail, I began to question whether I should continue to observe any religious practices (not as in watch, but as in doing them or participating myself).

As the Murugan abishekam (bathing ritual of the diety) commenced, every last hair on my body stood up (y'all know that's an awful lot of hair) and tears came to my eyes. (Heck, I'm getting teary-eyed now just remembering it). So, I figured that that was the first sign that I'm not done.

When we sat down for lunch Anand and Vidya talked to me about the situation at the airport. Anand knows me from Temple and knows that I am a reliable person. However, Sriram is his brother-in law. Sriram claimed to have been at the airport from 11:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. Seetharama and I left after 12:15 a.m. having waited for more than 2 hours. Anand, Vidya and I chatted and I conveyed what Seetharama told me which is that there is only one Singapore flight from the US. It arrives at 9 p.m. and has done so for the past 10+ years. My name was on the passenger manifest. After much arguing between Vidya and Sriram (excuses, explanations, etc.), it turns out that Anand gave Sriram the wrong incoming time. So despite some rather tense moments, the air was cleared and we all moved on to the adventures of the day.

We drove several hours in a van with 9 of us + a baby and driver stuffed into it to Madurai to visit more Murugan Temples.

Quarters were close and cramped but the conversation was lively. Their English is better than the folks that I stayed with the last time, so I did not feel left out in the slightest. The baby, Abhinav, took a shine to me, or rather my beard and hung out on my lap from time to time. He was predominantly held by the men in the family which is a rather new experience for me given the predominantly US custom of having the kids spend more time with their mothers, particularly in the early years. Anand is an incredibly devoted father and it shows. I've never seen a baby seek out his father over his mother at this young of an age (9 mos). That is something that happens much later.

Anyway, we went to 4 Murugan temples in Madurai, each more incredible than the last, but none as incredible as the one in Palani. One of the priests in LA called Palani to make sure that I'd made it there and reiterated that I should go to his village. That's not very likely.

We started the trek back to Coimbature (in the very direction that we had originally come from) and drove for a major part of the evening. At one point we stopped to get coffee from an all night stand and I was able to make a phone call to Bof A. It seems that when I used my ATM in Singapore, the blocked it. I was not able to remedy the situation and only had 150 rupees (approximately $3.50 US) to my name as I got a refund from the Hotel where I stayed in Kanchipuram.

After being on hold for an eon, a representative finally came back on the line and I rushed through the process of getting things unblocked. So, at least I have some spending money in my pocket. We reached Coimbature in the wee hours, where bedding was arranged for all of us. I and Vidya's father slept on the floor in the living room. Sriram and Lakshmi and Anand and Vidya shared the two remaining rooms. Vidya's mother slept on the floor in another room, and Lakshmi's parents slept either in the puja room or on the roof.

Thank goodness that I am able to sleep anywhere under any conditions. Actually, I like sleeping on the floor and was one of the first ones up despite having arrived close to 2:30 a.m. Telling time is hard for me as I do not have a watch nor do I tend to wear one. In fact, but for the approach of Sivaratri, I would have no clue what day it is.

The family was friendly enough to me, but became more so when they saw me studying Sanskrit materials which I brought with me in preparation for Sivaratri.

The short of of it is that I have made some incredible new friends. Lakshmi's parents have insisted that I come stay with them on my next trip and they will show me the countryside. Vidya's parents have extended a similar invitation relative to Bombay. Anand may be travelling here alone with some other friends from Temple for religious gatherings and I am keeping an open mind about travelling with him, although at this very moment overwhelmed would be the best descriptor.

We hung out during the day and that was the first opportunity that I had to use the internet.

We did a little shopping, but I purchased nothing. There was a little more drama that had nothing to do with me, but amusing to watch. We rushed to the train station and made it there with not much time to spare. Having been partially consumed by mosquitos, I took an antihistamine which made me sleep rather well in addition to side benefit of stopping the itchiness. I practically lived on them the last time I was here. At least this time I remembered to bring repellent.

I discovered 2 things about sleeper cars. The Indian style restrooms smell a hell of a lot better than the western ones on the train and it's better to use them at the beginning of the trip than at the end.

Cont - India4