How to tie a lungi

In response to my post on Mundus...this is what my friend Sunitha has sent me

Kerala 4: Places to visit: ernakulam, kochi, pothundi dam, nelliampathy , paniyeli poru

 Three places are hugely advertised by the Kerala tourism in Palghat- silent valley which is actually at about 40 km distance from palghat, Malapuzham dam which is close to the palghat town and tipu’s fort which is apparently in the heart of the town.

 only a limited number are allowed entry in silent valley everyday and thus we missed the bus by almost a month.

Pramod decided that we take a car and go to the less frequented Nelliampathy forest. It was lovely but forthe harrowing jeep ride on something which is not even an apology of a road. It can be back breaking and is an advertisement for Mahindra jeeps because they can survive several rides on that track. Once you go inside the trails at Nelliampathy forest you can be assured absolute solitude for the time your jeep driver allows you there but that limited time is really well spent and all the hard work is worth it. We missed the other three advertised places.

Enroute to Nelliampathy

View from Pothundi dam with our posing for the camera enroute to Nelliampathy, you can also see Pramod in the back ground trying to fix Allepey houseboat the next day which he tried the whole day and failed

At pothundi dam with Sunitha

A picture of the dam with my phone camera

Enroute to Nelliampathy

The next day we wanted to go to Allepey and spend a night on a houseboat but the prices at year end had hit the roof and bookings were difficult to come by. So we decided to go to Ernakulam which is the twin city of Kochi. you can stay at Ernakulam and keep going to kochi on the ferry which takes about 20 minutes and offers you some beautiful sights.

view from the ferry

view from the ferry

view from the ferry

view from the ferry

view from the ferry

view from the ferry

view from the ferry

view from the ferry

view from the ferry

view from the ferry

We stayed at YMCA, the accommodation is modest but safe. The rooms are decent and clean. In any case we were not looking for any luxury here so this was okay. Also because it was very close to the heart of the Ernakulam town.

The next day we went to Paniyeli poru( around 40 km from ernakulam), not many people knew about it. This visit was a treat. We passed through many rubber and coconut plantations to hit the main entry of Paniyeli poru. Flowing water breaks into three streams creating an impression that they are in a conflict with eachother. The day we went it also rained so the air was slightly moist and had a different fresh feel to it- there was silence broken mostly only by the sound of the flowing water and birds. There was a trail into the forest and we followed it quite far. We hardly saw anyone here except for the forest guards.

The next day was dedicated to buying gifts for friends. Nothing much to report.

Kerala Part 3: The Mundu Country

The famous Gandhian loincloth, the dhoti, worn by men in rural North India has a distant cousin, the ‘Mundu’ in Kerala. Dhoti is slowly disappearing from the urban Indian landscape. If you see the earlier Hindi films you will see top stars like Dilip Kumar wearing dhotis  but today with some education and urbanization, the north Indian male shifts very quickly to trousers and jeans… so the dhoti remains alive only in the villages. Pyjama ,Kurta is still quite in vogue in urban North India which is worn as a sleeping dress or even as an evening dress for special occasions but the dhoti has mostly gone missing in action. In the east, however, in Bengal you can still see the Bengali bhadralok endorsing it.

Well, what is it…just a piece of cloth really which is tied around the waist in varying styles

A confession- in several of Habib Tanvir’s plays I have to wear a dhoti and it really gets me so stressed that I start dressing up almost an hour in advance than I usually do because I have to find a dhoti specialist from one of the rural actors in the troupe. Thankfully, there are quite a few of those in the troupe. I think why dhoti bit the dust was because it has a slightly complicated process to wear and you have to practice to get it right. Nothing like that in the case of the ‘Mundu’, the distant cousin of the dhoti which still is quite alive in both the urban and rural Kerala- and I guess it is the most convenient thing to wear in the land where it really pours during the monsoons.

So you can wear the mundu full length on formal occassions

Or     just                                    like that...

 

 In the market... at a shop...queuing up...at the train station... 



Smoking at the train station...well this one could be reprimanded...




And then there are the coloured ones...





Or short ones...almost as if the intention is to show off the legs...

 

 

 

 

There are mundus which are coloured...my friend tells me they are more towards the 'working class' mundus...so the mundus have a class divide too...the white ones are more for the elite...but then some of the colours are beautiful...

Mundus respond to other preferences too...some like it tight...but some may prefer it loose...

 

Well this one is a right leaning Mundu...you get to know of the character of the man too by the way he ties his mundu...he likes to be neat...

Mundus are convenient...they can be readjusted...used to wipe your hands...or simply just occupy them...I am told that sometimes when people get angry...they just open the mundus...an extreme expression of the anger, wouldn't you say...but savour some of the hand held mundus...





both hands held





readjusting on the move





don't worry , not an angry mundu...just getting readjusted





wish could capture the full readjustment process in pictures...but here this one is just getting converted from a long full size one to a smaller size one...and ......these are getting readjusted on the move...you see this a lot on Kerala roads and markets...so the mundu is an amazing dress....you can keep readjusting it based on your current needs...



 





this formal mundu is changing itself into an informal one... 



aah and the ones below are just hand held for the sake of it...

one size does not fit all...nor does it work all the times...there are mundus tied full length...short...and there are the ones somewhere in between...

Finally there are the ritual mundus...'muthuppans' , indigenous godmen...or rather messengers of gods themselves...in urban kerala...reversing the class and caste divide...wear dresses which are colourful...ritualistic...ornamented...obviously the mundus they wear will be colourful too....

Well, mundus are inseparable from kerala's everyday life...they are part of the tradition...and they will survive...