Local Politics

Today was a long driving day from Mamallapuram to Thanjavur. We got a late start because one group member claimed to be ill (or possibly overslept?).

As we traveled south we notices that the land became very flat (with mountains visible in the distance to the west) and increasingly arid.

No rice is grown here. The cash crop is cotton. They also consider corn (maize) to be a dry weather crop. It is harvest time now, and we saw a lot of very sick looking corn that would have done much better with some late, Iowa rain.

We crossed several bridges over wide “rivers,” but the river beds were completely dry. In one place we even saw a dam, all flood gates wide open, with no water visible either above or below the dam.

Jayalalithaa photo upper left (the rest are all men).

It is also election season for local offices, and there are political billboards and posters everywhere. Most of the posters include a photo of a woman named Jayalalithaa (her full name is much longer, but we can’t even pronounce this much). She was a movie actress who later went into politics and served six terms as the “chief minister” of this state, Tamil Nadu.

Local political rally

Jayalalithaa died in office just over a year ago, at age 68. She has near sainthood status here, having been a populist who initiated many programs for the common people. One of the most symbolic was turning a huge state government office building, that had been commissioned by a rival party, into a free medical center. It was still under construction when her party came to power, and she brought about a redesign from offices to hospital rooms.

It seems that several parties and a wide range of politicians are claiming to want to carry on her policies, and so her photo is everywhere — even on posters from opposing candidates.

Along the way we also saw a large number of large, fairly new (or still under construction) building complexes out in the middle of nowhere. These are “technical and engineering colleges.” Here, as in Britain, a “college” is a high school or prep school. Only top students pass the exams to get into the top universities. Yet every parent wants their sons and daughters to become doctors, engineers, or computer programmers. Thus, education is big business in India, and most of these are for-profit schools promising to prepare students for STEM careers.

We stopped for lunch at a place called “Aswin’s.” This started out as a family business, making and selling cakes, candies and other sweets. It grew into a chain of vegetarian restaurants and candy stores. Judging from the parking lot (where a uniformed attendant was directing traffic and enjoying blowing his whistle WAY too much), it is very popular.

After lunch, our tour leader arranged for us to tour the adjacent factory, where treats and snacks are prepared, packaged, and sent out to retail locations all over Tamil Nadu. We had to remove our shoes and socks to go in, but we were assured that the factory was “very clean.” By Indian standards, it was. But inspectors in the U.S. would have had a heart attack.

Everyone wore street clothes, though most had on hair nets. Everyone was barefoot, and groups of women sat on the floor making candy with their bare hands. In another room, women were grabbing fists full of snacks with bare hands and shoving them into plastic bags, which were then sealed. No wonder photos weren’t allowed in the plant!

Finally arriving in Thanjavur, we found that we are no longer enjoying Radisson Resorts. The hotel is fine, but much more like what we had been expecting all along — your basic Asian tourist hotel with few amenities.

Our tour leader took us on a brief orientation walk around the neighborhood. We are a ways out from the city center, but it’s still a bustling place with lots of traffic. One of the things we saw along the way was an “all women’s police station.” One of the female officers came out to chat, and explained that they deal with domestic abuse and child trafficking issues.

After a bit of a break, we gathered in a hotel meeting room for a demonstration of traditional dancing. Our expectations were low, but the dancers and musicians were really quite good — professional level — although the dance teacher was a bit full of himself.

Dinner at the hotel was better than average, and once again we over-ate. There are fireworks booming tonight, perhaps for the big political rally being held in town prior to the elections. Hopefully that will cease before bedtime