Friday, November 20, 2009

Our last day in Pattiveeranpatti, November 19th

We woke up this morning very sad about not being at Bethania and missing all of our brothers and sisters. But we had a pleasant surprise when after breakfast we left for a "farm" visit. We hopped in the van with Vijayasarathi and Rajan, Vijayasarathi's sister's husband, and went to his land a little bit outside of Pattiveeranpatti. We first went to see the rice paddies. He was surprised we didn't know much about paddies and was excited to teach us about it all. We first saw where a huge water tank was that was partially filled with well water. He showed us where seeds had been put in the soil a few days ago, still resting on top of the dirt, and how it will be watered by flood irrigation. We saw where the saplings will be transplanted in a few weeks in an adjacent field.

We then went over to where the young rice was about to be planted. As we drove up to the paddy, we were greeted by a dozen of workers, mostly toothless women dressed in sarees, who all made these yelling sounds as arrived. Rajan said they do this to show how happy they were to see new people and to be able to start the cultivating. They stuck their tongues out and made this crazy screaming noise. The women then set out the tied together rice plants in front of us, and as with tradition, Rajan and Vijaysarathy had to give them money before they could pass. The women were all friendly, smiling and laughing as we took off our shoes and stepped into the mud, our feet and ankles submerged in the squishy mud beside the women. One woman handed out the small rice plants and we stuck them into the mud in lines, while they all laughed. It was so much fun. Rajan scolded Kelsey, saying she was pushing it in the mud too deep, or not deep enough so that it wouldn't stand straight. Think I need more practice before I become a paddy planter! Rajan says that he pays his workers three times more than other workers get because they are so efficient. He says they were very excited to hear that Americans were coming to start the planting today! We took lots of pictures and smiled with them, as they laughed at our lack of planting skills.

Rajan explained us all about the cultivation of rice as we bounced along in the jeep, the beautiful blue sky above us and the coconut trees blowing in the breeze. We passed fields of maize, lady fingers (a long, green Indian vegetable that we ate at Bethania a lot), cocoa plants, Tamarind trees, onions, papaya trees, banana trees, sugar cane and of course field and fields of coconut trees. This area is very famous for their delicious coconuts. We passed through more beautiful, colorful bustling little villages with waving children. Just made us miss all our Bethania children even more. All of the girls in their school uniforms and braids just like our girls. We passed so many smiling children. 'Hey, he looks kind of like Muruganadam!'

We stopped at a beautiful river on our drive, and got out to wash the mud off our feet from wading in the rice paddies. It is where Pattiveeranpatti and neighboring villages get their water from. It was full of big, slippery rocks, and refreshingly cold water. Rajan used to take his little grandkids here to swim when it was hot he says.

We went with Rajan to see a huge dam, with beautiful waterfalls in the green mountains rising all around us. There were three little boys sitting on the dam who lived in the nearby village, so we sat with them for a while, took pictures, and talked, just missing our brothers and sisters at Bethania so much. While admiring the impressive dam, we met the head Engineer for all of Tamil Nadu, visiting from Chennai. He was very excited to see foreigners visiting the dam, and wanted to talk about impressive dams he had seen in America, like the Hoover dam. We talked with him and his wife for a while, who were very friendly, and took the obligatory photos with everyone around. The view from the dam was incredible though, a big lake on one side, the water flying down into a river in a valley beneath us. The green mountains rose up all around us, so tall, impressive and beautiful beneath the blue, blue sky. Vijayasarathy and Rajan were very happy to have met the Chief Engineer of the state, and we talked for a while about how much the state of Tamil Nadu and India as a whole has developed in such a short time. The poverty rate in Tamil Nadu has dropped by 20%, and Rajan says no one is starving anymore, but the politicians are still corrupt which ruins things.

After leaving the dam we went up to see Rajan's estate, his expressive face, grey hair and matching grey mustache bouncing around in the jeep with us as he told his stories. We first walked to see the 40 year old mango trees, with the unripened mangoes, still green. He told us about all the different types of mangoes that grow in this area. He grows a lot of papaya up there as well. We went to visit the family that lives on a tiny, one-roomed hut on the land, surrounded by ducks and chickens and coconut trees. It was a husband and wife and a really adorable little girl, who we sat at drank coconut water with and ate tender coconut with. Rajan explained that even though they live in a little hut, they still live well, have a TV and their son goes to school back in Pattiveeranpatti everyday. It was so nice and peaceful. Rajan insisted that we both drank the water right from two green coconuts that had their tops hacked off with a machete right before us. We then scooped the coconut meat right out of it and ate it with our hands and Rajan and Vijayasarathy walked around the land in the hot sun, inspecting the Tamarind tree and giving us some to eat straight off the tree. It was sour but good.

We came home to a delicious lunch of borotas, sambals, coconut chutney, and lots of fruit. The saportas are rippened now from the tree in the yard and are delicious. We have been eating sweet Mandarin oranges from the coffee estate, bananas, and fresh papaya from Rajan's farm. So delicious, we will miss this food so much!

In the afternoon, we played a bit of tennis. It was just for fun, and we laughed at how bad the man designated to be our ball boy must think we are. We kept him busy by us hitting a few balls over the fence though.

We spent the evening packing and talking with Chandra and Vijayasarathy about how much we will miss it here! This feels like our second home, and our Indian family here has been so kind and generous. We will miss our Amma and Appa so much! It still seems surreal that we will be leaving this life tomorrow. No more peaceful villages, coconut in every meal, chickens and cows outside, Tamil lessons or our new family we have discovered here. Aaahhh!!!

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