Day 8: More Chennai Stories

We explored more of the cultural stories in Chennai, beginning with DakshinaChitra, a cultural and heritage museum that showcases artifacts like authentic historical houses, cultural Thappattam dances, and authentic South Indian cuisine. The historical houses showcased the living quarters and furniture pieces that would typically be found in the region decades ago. I noticed that the door frames were low and visitors had to stoop to step over the threshold and into the house. Kritika explained that this required the visitor to show deference to the homeowner; acknowledging that they are in the homeowner’s space and will show respect.

As we walked into the facility, we encountered a kolam; a traditional ritual involving the creation of an intricate design on the threshold of the house. A kolam is created with colored or plain rice flour and it is used to symbolize the bond between nature and humans, as animals and ants eat the rice flour. The kolam is also a medium of prayer for positive and good energy to be imbued upon the house. One of the akka ladies (akka  means aunty in Tamil) offered to show us how it is created, and she quickly whipped up a kolam design on the floor. The ease and speed with which she created indicated practice and belief; a story that I would have liked to to access, in my bid to understand how stories make up the community ethos. We also got the same akka to create mehndi art on our hands. Mehndi art is created by extracting the dye off a specific leaf, then mixed with a paste and stored in conical containers. Now, I’m sure this tradition has stories that identify it as part of the fabric of Indian culture, however, I have not discovered them yet. Stay tuned for stories from long ago! We ended the day with lunch at a local restaurant where we sampled a traditional South Indian meal on banana leaves and ate with our hands. Kritika swears that food tastes better eaten by hand…. I think I agree.