South Indian Summer

Arunachaleswara Temple at dawn, Tiruvannamalai, India

Today marks the start of a 'heat wave' here in Tiruvannamalai, South India. I had to chuckle a bit when I saw this on a weather forecast since it has already been 100-102 F for the past week or so. Today it hit 108 F with a heat index of 118 F. I didn't know thermometers went that high. We actually had a funny incident last week when a friend picked up our outdoor thermometer to read the temperature and it crumbled in his hand. The plastic has just had enough, I guess.

The Tiruvannamalai Animal Sanctuary helped us out again last week with free medicines for one of our dogs who was attacked by a vicious dog somewhere outside of our property. I found the dog (called White Dog)  the next morning on our back court yard bleeding and barely able to lift his head. He had some big gashes on his legs and head and his ears were pretty torn up. I am happy to report though that after 10 days of oral antibiotics, which we syringed into his mouth three times a day, he is back up walking around and looking much more like himself.

Next week, we are off to the US for a family event and a break from the heat.

Reflections on a Tumultuous Week of World News

Boston Marathon runners

This past week has been a blur of violent events from around the world, which I have read with a sense of shock and sadness mixed with anger. From the terrorist bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon to the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi; from the devastating earthquakes in Iran, Pakistan and China to the killer blast at a fertiliser company in a small town in Texas, so many lives have been lost or changed forever.

As an American living in India for the past two years, I was incredulous when I first heard the news of the Boston Marathon bombings. This lasted for about 30 seconds before I burst into tears as I read the news online over my husband's shoulder. I used to run marathons as purely a recreational runner and have done the Boston Marathon five times. My parents waited for me at the finish line one year and I remember the volunteers at the end of the course being phenomenal, mostly retired folks who just wanted to somehow be part of the event. It made me physically sick to think of any of them being in harm's way.

I am from Boulder, Colorado, which is a huge running town in the US and is the location of the Bolder Boulder, one of the largest 10-k races in the country. The race draws over 50,000 participants each year and is held on Memorial Day in the US. This year, I will be in Boulder for the race and plan to walk it with my husband and members of my extended family. I think there will be a big turnout this year, in particular.

I find it appalling that such a soft target as a running event would be used as a terrorist target and pray for everyone who suffered a loss or injury in the blasts. I also pray for everyone killed, injured or traumatized in the events of the past week worldwide.

Namaste~

Scenes from Life in Tiruvannamalai, South India

 Arunachaleswara Temple,Tiruvannamalai, South India 

It will soon be two years since I moved to India to take a job as director of a technical writing training program in Chennai. I have spent my weekends and worked from home part time in Tiruvannamalai, a town about four hours southwest of Chennai. Tiruvannamalai lies at the base of Mt. Arunachala and is famous for being the home of  Sri Ramana Maharshi, whose ashram is located here.

 

Sri Ramana Mahashri

My husband, David, is a writer and has lived in Tiruvannamalai for the past 36 years. He is originally from the UK. His sister, Geraldine, who is a photographer (www.wildphotographyholidays.com) made a lovely video of this area about five years ago (before I even met David), which he sent out as a Christmas card to friends.

I thought readers would enjoy this short seven minute video set to Indian music, which includes scenes of friends and their children swimming in our well, a house being constructed near ours, and some lovely shots of the garden and Mt. Arunachala during the Deepam Festival.