The Fishermen Get 3 Days Off

The fishermen get three days off as holiday per year in Mamallpuram. Most work a six-day week, from 3:00 AM until late evening - with a typical day including the finding, clearing and resetting of nets, line fishing, returning to shore (sometimes from 100 (about 64 miles) kilometers out), sorting of the daily catch, organizing nets, and selling their bounty at the market. On the 1 day per week off, they have some beer and relax. This is some of what we learned from a local Mamallapuram fisherman named Koalmuni.

Koalmuni was on a beach walk during his 3-day holiday, and was one of many curious Indians with whom we had conversations that ranged from bizarre, to quirky and humorous - but most often fascinating. My conversation with Koalmuni also involved an Indian who had lived in Detroit for 6 months and another gentleman who taught Engineering in Chennai. Between the Hindi and Tamil languages I'm lost - but fortunately even broken English can be quite effective. Indians are also typically very willing to translate for others as needed. During the talk, Koalmuni asked if I would talk on his cell phone to his "girlfriend", who spoke very good English and worked at a bank in Chennai. She was quite friendly and seemed to be amazed that Koalmuni was speaking with not only Westerners on the beach, but one who used to work in a bank in the United States. Very pleased with how this conversation went, Koalmuni extended unto us an invitation for dinner that very evening. We agreed to meet in town at 8:30 pm, then follow him to his home.

We were in for an interesting evening, to be sure. Koalmuni gave us a ride (from our hotel - which he surprised us by coming to pick us up) on his motorcycle to his home - and yes, all three of us rode on the bike at the same time. Please keep in mind that here, 3 on a bike is nothing. Almost every bike on the street has at least 3 people and some kind of animal or bag of food on it as well. In Mumbai, I saw an entire family and a full-size goat on one moped! A real moped, too. The guy actually peddled to get the engine going! But I digress. Upon arrival to his home, dinner was ready. His girlfriend met us at the door, but to our befuddlement, she spoke no English at all. As it turns out, this was Koalmuni's wife of 6 months . . . from an arranged marriage. I really have no idea what the whole girlfriend from the bank was about.

Before the meal, we took a quick tour of the home, which was quite comfortable and maintained a beautiful shrine to Shiva and Koalmuni's deceased mother. As with Sajad's dinner, we were treated with much respect and wanted for nothing on the table. As a fisherman, Koalmuni had plenty of fresh fish. He prepared two whole fish for me alone! We also had rice, chicken legs, and some tasty veg for Colie. "Superstrong" Kingfishers (Indian beer, Superstrong indicates alcohol above 6%, though it tasted like someone at the brewery dumps Jack in there somewhere - though Colie and I disagree on the subject, I also think "Jack" pisses in the beer, too.) were also served in their standard approximate 28 oz. bottle. The dinner itself was fantastic, and we could tell a lot of pride and work went into the preparation and serving of the meal.

Koalmundi's wife, speaking no English, worked very hard and did not eat while we did. It was difficult for us to grasp the level of subserviance Koalmuni expected from his bride, and this seem to lead to tension and near hostility between them. This was unfortunate, because she seemed very sweet and was quite a gracious hostess. Koalmuni would rarely interpret for her, though I know she was aware of and appreciated our gratitude. As with many men here, especially as one moves south in India, the male is certainly dominant and the master of the household - and quite severely so, in some cases. This component and dynamic present in our hosts' marriage made for a distracting evening for Colie - who will readily jump in with all she has at the first moment of a perceived injustice (one of the many reasons I love her!). But I was blissfully up to my elbows in fresh fish and chicken legs, expected this male domineering to some extent, and had more interaction with Koalmuni - so I didn't notice as much or as early as she did.

After dinner, Koalmuni's wife dressed Colie up in one of her Saris. She picked beautiful color combos, was quite gentle with Colie . . . but you should read more about this event in Colie's comments associated with this post. Colie would like to point out that the overexaggerated smile in the picture below was due to overextended camera delay.

After dinner, we sat on the roof and enjoyed the sea breeze and talked of the night sky and explained life in Colorado - with Orion directly overhead. I rode the motorcycle up and down the street, then we headed to the "festival". We sat a bit back on the sand and watched some truly horrific lip synching and boy-band-esque stage dancing, which was apparently the main event for the first night of the festival. The crowd did go wild when Britney Spear's "Hit Me Baby" was momentarily sampled. The real festival was in town at a makeshift shrine. We watched the repressed Indian youths do their best to - wow, I'm not sure how to explain what they were up to. Some strange mating-ritual of close quarter slam/dirty dancing - man on man styley! We keep marvelling at how the culture that gave us the Kama Sutra doesn't stand for men and women holding hands in public. Kisses are reserved for behind closed doors or the raciest, most scandalous Ballywood or Chennai films. Yet all over, men lounge about all over each other, hold hands, and do the Lambada (the forbidden dance) together at any time - an no one bats an eye.

Colie and I soon retired to our little room and enjoyed each other's company and read from our books. Again, the meal was fantastic, but the obvious marital issues of the hosts were something of a distraction. Yet another worthwhile and amazing experience in India.

-John (I'll add pictures when I can find a computer with a USB port!)(Also noteworthy: It's 6:35 pm here while it's 4:41 am right now for you! Wake up! 10 March 2008 is a great day! We head home in one month.)