I have a strict policy of ignoring my birthday, except for every ten years. And this was the year. The big 6-Oh. As in “Oh my god.”
Luckily, here in India, a woman’s 60th birthday is a big deal. Maybe because not so many people make it that long. Now I can be revered as “an elder.” Oh my god.
And it’s the custom here to mark one’s birthday by giving things to people, not the other way around. I had fun giving Cadbury chocolate bars to the few families who we’re close to. AND, at Rajan’s suggestion, we did a “sadhu feeding.” Sadhus are the holy men who wander around here, living on the mountain in huts or on the streets, spending their time “with God.”
We ordered 60 breakfast meals–”to go”– from Satya’s Cafe. Below, Rajan and Dhakshinamoorty are loading the food into the rickshaw.
Meanwhile, Lakshmi is putting flowers in my hair.
Dhakshinamoorthy and Ramesh showed up at our house at 6:30 in the morning and surprised me with a birthday saree and flowers and fruit. AND they had a new dhoti and shirt for Richard. How totally sweet of them. It was important to Dhakshinamoorthy that we wear these new clothes to give the food to the sadhus.
Here we are, below, on the road.
Rajan handed me the packets of food to hand to the sadhus and beggars who approached. And Richard took pictures. You’re not supposed to give anyone anything with your left hand, so I could only take one packet at a time.
Rajan started us out at a sadhu-hangout-temple near Ramanashramam and we went up the road from there, along the “Hill-Round road.” But we didn’t get very far before we ran out of food. I wish I had been celebrating my 120th birthday. And even that wouldn’t have made a dent. So many sadhus, so many beggars, so few birthdays.
And then we headed off to Pondicherry
We stayed at the Park Guest House. Great location, right on the ocean. Here’s me in the surf.
Here’s Richard, blowin’ in the wind by the sea.
And speaking of hot, these young men loved it that I was watching them play and taking their pictures.
These guys below are making a boat, by tying together logs. We didn’t see them, but it looked like they were actually going to go boating on this craft. This part of the beach had a bunch of these log-pairs lying around, so it must be a common way to get out on the water.
Here we are at the Rendezvous, our favorite restaurant in Pondy. I had a seafood platter to die for. And we like having Foster’s beer when we’re here.
This is the first Indian woman I’ve ever seen drinking beer. You go, girl! She was with her husband and her baby.
This place has a great rooftop space, attractively painted in green. This photo doesn’t capture its charm, but you get an idea of the structure.
The Park Guest House is one of several nice-but-less-expensive hotels owned and run by Sri Aurobindo Ashram. We stayed at another one the last time we visited, but the Park is the best. They have a meditation garden that just had surprise after surprise, little nooks with sculptures and nice plantings.
This monkey was “taking five,” relaxing in the meditation garden on break from his performance gig on the beach, on the other side of the bars.
Here he is back at work. Aw, isn’t he cute? Actually, his owner was annoyed that we didn’t give him more money for more photos. And then the monkey attacked Richard’s leg, either to bite it or to mate–not sure which.
And here I am back in the garden in my new favorite saree. No one can tell me this isn’t the best way ever to dress. And don’t you love the matching hat?
So this will my last birthday report until 2018. Oh my god, how can this be happening? I feel like I’m 25!
