chartandwaters

The thrower's excellent "follow-through"; one of the larger Ganeshas making its way down the street. I wanted to see it thrown into the ocean but they were taking it too far away. Neighborhoods typically have larger Ganeshas on each block, some 8 feet high, and then one VERY large Ganesha, I believe 16 or more feet high. The neighborhoods have contests to see who can make the most interesting Ganesha. For example, you might make one all out of coconuts.

I had stopped in Pondicherry for a few hours on my way from Chennai to Velanganni. I was accompanied by Gandhirajan, a Chennai-based artist who had contacted CAFI back in March because he was interested in the Healing Arts Project. He had already given two art workshops to tsunami survivors, one self-funded and one through another NGO; he hoped to collaborate with CAFI for more. Gandhiraj would turn out to accompany me for the rest of the project as an excellent project coordinator, art teacher and translator. In Pondicherry we met a theater artist, Gobi, who would be joining us for one of our workshops.

Velanganni, which I used to spell correctly but now spell as it sounds, is a tsunami-struck town in the district of Nagapattinam. It's known for its famous Roman Catholic church and community. Chennai (formerly Madras) and all the towns I've been in since are in the coastal state of Tamil Nadu, which I'll rave about separately.

In Pondicherry I asked a local, a fairly spiritual Hindu, what he thought of Ganesha. "He's good fun," he said, and hastened to add, "I don't think he's a GOD". The latter is not a popular sentiment.