Tuesday, February 17, 2004

The Fussy Vegetarian
Nithil�s parents at Naagarcoil were great hosts, but my food habits greatly hassled them; likewise Nithil�s friend�s parents in MuLLurthurai, the fishing village where our film is to be shot. In fact, my hosts seemed to be more worried about my food than I was. I of course tried not to appear too fussy, but I sure would have come across as some sort of creature from the pastures that could miraculously live on �plants�. BTW, the oysters were great; so I heard.
Bharath and Nithil had both warned me about the possibility of me being turned away by the smells of the seafront. The memories of the smells of Madras Kuppams suddenly flashed pass my nose. Yet for the sake of �professionalism�, I agreed to take the risk expecting the worst. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the fishing hamlets, the boats, the nets, the people etc. were all remarkably clean. Walking through the streets of the village, I did not smell anything offending. Even the Karuvaadu that was freshly laid to dry in front of me, seemed to have only a mild odour, yet that somehow seemed to send my friends into an intoxicated tizzy. In fact, the entire district of Kanyakumaari is very clean. The only dirty spots are the Naagarcoil bus stand and the tourist spot of Kanyakumaari; and they are so because of obvious reasons: outsiders.
The trip ended on a gastronomic treat. I got to attend a Christian Naadaar engagement in Kerala, and the family being a little traditional, served only one chicken dish, while the rest of the plantain leaf was filled with all the things you can think of made with coconut kernel and coconut oil.

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