A trip to Seville and back!

I had never been to a Flamenco performance before. So when I saw P's event invitation on Facebook to this Flamenco performance by Maria Pages I was mighty thrilled. Since P is a connoisseur of arts and culture I  knew the performance would not fail to impress. So last Friday the 14 of Jan little bunny, P and myself found ourselves at the Theatre-im-Pflazbau in Ludwigshafen sitting on the second row all set for the Flamenco performance from this very reputed lady in the Flamenco field.

The whole performance was a reflection of the life in Seville a city in the south of Spain characterized by its Moorish influence and of course Flamenco heartbeat. Maria Pages was accompanied by dancers both men and women who conjured up through their dance, with their lovely costumes, song and the use of the guitar pictures of the Sevillian traditions and cultures. The stage backdrops fit perfectly to reflect the mood and the setting.

I did not understand the language but the songs were sometimes carrying a deep sad emotion reflected also in the faces of the dancers and sometimes passionate love and sometimes a child's joy. When the dancers came out with their brightly coloured dresses with large polka dots and lots of frills, I could not help but burst into laughter when little bunny asked me why they were dressed up like Marienkäfers (ladybugs). I found out later that these costumes were very typical reflecting the influence of the Gypsies on this art form where they sewed small round mirrors into their dresses to ward off the evil eye.

The choreography was beautiful each piece enhanced with the use of special accessories like the Castanets the clappers the dancers hold in their hands or the small colorful fans and not to forget the very typical red or black Flamenco shoes. In fact there was one piece dedicated to the red Flamenco shoes with white polka dots where with the use of lighting it felt like the shoes were cavorting and dancing all by themselves on the stage. Maria also transformed us into a bullfighting scene right out of the Plaza de Toros de Maestranza the historic bullring of Seville, she was half bull and half bullfighter..very beautiful indeed.

At the end of the performance P encouraged little bunny to stand up on her chair and clap hard as a standing ovation to the artist and her entire troupe who captivated us with their enthralling performance and for taking us on a virtual tour to Seville and back!!

Almost like a day in Spring!

Last weekend we had brilliant weather!  I mean technically we are supposed to be in the middle of peak winter weather, but looks like we have brought back some great weather back from our vacation. Since we are back, from the beginning of Jan we have been having some sunny Spring like weather.

Last Sunday morning we decided to go to the Heidelberg old town or Altstadt for brunch followed by a stroll through town. Looks like a lot of others had the same idea, the place was bustling with activity and everybody seemed to be in a jolly old mood.

It was lovely to walk over the Old Bridge and little bunny insisted that she cycled all the way which was great. It felt like I spotted the color red in everything that I saw. The red Porsche driving down the bridge, the red blankets on the chairs waiting to warm its seaters, little bunny's red winter jacket, the red tiled rooftops, the red satin ribbon around the wrought iron boards everything looked just lovely and red.

This young man doled out some free music for everybody walking on the Old Bridge.

I really wish that the next weekend which is around the corner is also going to have some promising weather.

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig, Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

With the dioxin scandal being so rampant here in Germany I was definitely not going to buy a fat pig, but today being a Saturday is when I usually shop for groceries for most of the working week. As I was walking through the aisles of vegetables filling up my veggie supplies my mind kept wandering back to our vacation time in India and one of my visits with hubby's Mom to a local market or Sante.

It was a pleasure to see rows and rows of vegetables of all types, sizes and colors. Little bunny's standard question would be 'Mama do we get this back in Germany?'

I remember this lady who smiled beautifully as she agreed to have her picture taken. She asked me to try on some of the beautiful glass bangles she had on display along with betel leaves and arecanut.

The sacks of red chillies looked menacingly hot and fierce and the thought of their intense flavours woke me up from my little reverie.

New Year's Resolution

After visiting the childrens Yakshagana I was all geared to sample the real fare. The Saligrama Yakshagana troupe was performing in town late at night and I went there early enough to catch the artists getting ready for their act. I could spend hours sitting and watching each of them getting ready to play the characters they would be portraying on stage. I really wished that I was one of them rather than being on the other side of the lens.

Maybe someday you never know, after all if wishes were horses beggars would ride. Some of them assumed that I was a doing my thesis on this art form, wow that was a cool idea as well. I guess when you are on a long vacation you realise that there are so many nicer things in life you should rather invest your time into. This time around I promise myself not to let go of these precious thoughts and get immersed into the regular grind of life. A good new years resolution to make and hope that it does not get broken soon!

I was jostled out of my train of thoughts when one of the elders told me that I should take a seat in the front row where they had easy chairs laid out to watch the play. I wish that I could have stayed until the wee hours of the morning until when the show would last. I guess this would have to wait until the girls are a lot more older.

Want to Buffalo race? Then Kambala it is!

I had heard a lot about it and had also read a lot about it, and they all talked about the burly buffaloes running down the slushy track. But what no one had talked about before was about the well sculpted men, tall, dark, lean and walking about with their six-packs like there was no big deal at all. All of them bare-chested wearing a very modest lungi. But for the sake of this post I will stick to telling you about the Kambala sport itself :-)

Kambala is a sport that originated in Coastal Karnataka where buffaloes race in slushy muddy tracks created in a paddy field. We were in a little town called Mulki where we took part in the local Kambala. I first found a prime position right beside the track and positioned myself with my camera lens and little bunny in tow. Somebody next to me shouted 'Move back with the child' and the race began and I literally realised how this whole race was shaping up.

The buffaloes raced down the track and I felt that they were charging directly towards me. I decided that the pavillion that they had built for the journalists was the better and safer place to stand. With the camera around my neck I did not have any problems getting up on that and could get little bunny up there as well.

 Little rabbit, hubby and hubby's Mom found a vantage viewing point as well. The drums were beating rhythmically and trumpets were reverbating in the air and the buffaloes looked menacing as they raced down the tracks. What an experience, I could feel the shiver down my spine imagining getting run down by one of them.

I figured out that the race was not just about who came first on the track but who could splash the water to about 6.5 - 7.5 high. Wow that was definitely interesting. I wondered all along how the village elders stood around the track without even getting a single stain from the muddy waters on their pristine white dhotis.

A great experience and definitely want to relive this again the next time I am in town.

Adventure in the deep seas

My cousin brother MC was our pillar of support and strength during the days we  spent in Kerala. So when I asked him if there would be any chance at all to go along with the local fishermen on one of their morning fishing trips into the deep ocean, he convinced me that it was the most dangerous thing I could think of doing.

But knowing him and his spirit I knew that he also thought that it would be once in a lifetime experience which he also had never considered doing. He actually ended up requesting some of the local fishermen at Marari if this would be possible. 

They  agreed with the condition that we would be doing this trip completely at our own risk. So that was the beginning of our boat ride into the middle of the Indian ocean. The fishermen got their little boat into the water and all of us climbed in very carefully. We were asked to remain still and to distribute our weight evenly in order to prevent any chance of toppling into the ocean!!

2 kms into the ocean and we could not see any signs of the land around us. This was the exact moment when I frantically started praying and hoping that nothing would happen. The fishermen put in their nets and also a flag indicating the spot and then continued moving into the ocean at around 3 kms from land. When I caught the first wiggling fish in my hand I was mighty excited. Little bunny decided against holding the fish with the fear that her hands would start stinking :-) 

The fishermen were so calm and composed and after pulling in their fishing nets asked us if we would like to
continue our journey into the ocean. With MC feeling a little sea sick we decided that it was time to head back to land.

 

All of us were really glad to be back on the shore and we realised that we caught about 65-70 fish and in turn the fishermen were also happy to get a gift from little bunny for all their hard work.