Can This Luggage Be Saved?

Okay, I admit it. I had to go out and buy another soft-sided bag. Things are bulging, things are straining. But it's all coming back - allovit!!!!

So on the last of the things I brought to work on - finished DH's red socks that I ripped out twice in disgust some years ago when they "didn't fit right." I ended up doing the cuffs and heel on 2's and the foot on 1's and amazingly enough, he likes the fit this way. Long as I don't have to start 'em again.... What's that rule of three thing that keeps cropping up!!!!



Since I was gifted with some acrylic fingering in various colors while I was here, I used it for hair scrunchies and baby hats. One of the drivers that takes David to and from work recently announced his wife gave birth very prematurely. The baby girl is 3.5 pounds and they thought she'd have to stay in the hospital for months. However, she is home and doing well now. I thought I'd knit a preemie hat, but half-way through I remembered reading on the KnitList years ago that in NeoNatal ICU the babies often have tubes on the top of their heads and that they have to take the hats off to check the tubes. The babies understandably get cross at this as there's a sudden cold draft and they were after all trying to sleep. This would be their first introduction to "There is NO sleeping in hospitals!" So the lister said she made the hats without decreasing at the top and made them like a drawstring purse so that they could be opened up and tubes messed with and then closed back up. This made sense to to me so I tried doing the same thing. I did decrease some and then put in a yarn over at each decrease point (6) and made a little I-cord drawstring. Looks pretty silly when all is said and done. More holes would have helped it gather evenly - 6 makes it turn into a weird triangle on the top. I Googled knitted preemie hats (after I finished - duh!) and no one seemed to be making them this way so apparently it's not a needed thing. The good news is the hat fit her perfectly so while she's still small I quickly made a second one to use up the yarn.





Temple Visit

On the weekend we drove down to Chidambarum to visit the very famous Nataraja Temple. We chose a very good day as Pongal was over, Republic Day is not 'til Thursday, and it was not terribly crowded. Our driver found a very good guide for us and we walked around learning all we could. Before the temple was built, a famous king came to bathe in the special healing waters on the original site and it is said that his leprosy was instantly cured. In gratitude, he built this temple and successive civilizations added on to it. It covers 40 acres!!! The temple is huge and is the site of one of the more famous Shiva temples in South India where Shiva came to earth personally to show the 108 different dance steps that are used in Indian classical Dance called Bharat Natyam. We were able to attend several outdoor performances of Bharat Natyam dance during the International Yoga Festival that met here some weeks ago. Some of the dancers were nine to twelve years old and yet they were already very graceful and knew all of the complicated hand movements that are particular to this style of dance. The Bharat Natyam school of dance takes much from yogic postures and traditions. Before the dances started we had to watch various yogis and yoginis transform themselves into human pretzels. With each demonstration the announcer would describe what the asana was good for and how if you mastered it there was no possibility of cancer or disease coming to you in your lifetime. Breathing correctly with each movement is an integral part. I think if I’d started maaaaybe 45 years ago it would be possible to do some of the asanas. DH calls them “bendy people.” I can see a practical use for yoga. If I could just twist into the positions, I could wring myself out like a wet sponge on a hot day and start over with a dry body and clothing. Barring that, it’s come back to the hotel, air dry, try and reassemble the sweat-soaked hairstyle and consider a shower and a change….the second shower and a change…

Here are pictures from the temple - a most incredible place. On festival days these huge chariots are pulled through the town by hundreds of people.


A close-up of the work on the chariot.



One of the smbuilding'sings's statuary. They repaint the figures on a regular basis and have changed over to chemical paints versus the older vegetable dyes.





A likeness of the temple's founder and his main administrator.



These statues are the temple priests - it's very old but the priests look pretty much exactly like this today - they wear their hair in a knot on the side of their head and wear exactly the same type of decorated cloth on their lower body.



There are four "gates" (North, South, East and West) onto the temple grounds, and each one is a 7-story building with painted sacred figures on the outside and carvings on the inside. We were told that it could be "arranged" for us to climb up into the buildings if we liked. We declined and apparently most foreigners do - the cobras who live in the buildings because the birds and rats are easy prey there seem to be the main deterrent! Plus, on a hot day, climbing narrow stairs with low ceilings.....nah!



Here is one of the other gates. Each building has different figures on it and various civilizations over time have added onto the base buildings made of stone.



A close-up of some of the building's figures. The colors are amazingly sharp and clear.



Carvings on the inside of the gate buildings show Shiva in some of the dance positions.









Goats and cows are donated and live on the temple grounds - the priests feed them. I was surprised to find this cat there too - I haven't seen many cats in Pondy.



With hopeful optimism I hope to post again tomorrow Dear Readers. Heaven knows I've got the pictures for it! I haven't heard from anyone that the day of smaller pictures was easier loading than the medium-sized pictures so feel free to give me feedback!