Happy New Year - AND Papa Burning
In Pondicherry, we found that some restaraunts had private parties for the christmas eve holiday. So in Fort Cochin Tiffany had the very wise idea to stop in at the Malabar house, one of the fancier
"home stays" in town, to see if their restaruant had a special event for New Year's Eve.
Indeed they did, and while the price per person seemed astronomical, it wasn't any more than we would have paid for a nice new year's dinner in the US, probably less. This begged the question ... was it going to be a nice dinner? We hadn't been so lucky in Pondicherry, when we "splurged" on dinner at the fanciest restaraunt in town (still much less than the new year's eve per-plate), well, let's just say we got food poisoning, without going into detail. More specifically, we've found that how agreeable a meal is to our stomachs is not at all proportional to the cost of the meal.
So, we broke out our fanciest duds. Which aren't quite what they would be at home... I had some dark jeans and a very nice madras plaid shirt with ribbonlike threads in various colors that I had been fortunate to find in Pondicherry. I spent the equivalent of about $15 US and I think the shirt now my nicest including what is at home. I have some running-type shoes that I had to wear but at least they are darkly colored.
Tiffany, in her typical style, was not to be restrained by this backpacking lifestyle. She broke out a beautiful black dress from the bottom of her suitcase, saying only "I just thought it wouldn't get wrinkled" as I stood aghast. she paired this with her new silver ganesh earrings from pondicherry and, cleverly, with the Guess platform flip-flops she's been wearing around town, which went surprisingly well in black and white.
So we trotted just a couple of doors down to the Malabar House. I wasn't ready to arrive exactly at our scheduled time of 8:00, so we arrived about 8:10. A maitre'd rushed up to the hotel desk as we were arriving and said "Mr. Skalet!??" and once I confirmed he whisked us past a beautiful small swimming pool bedecked with floating candles in coconut shells for this night, to our table, which was front and center! a table for two perhaps 4 feet from the stage, with tens of tables much farther away. I must say we did look the part of the important and fashionably late couple. This was looking like a good night. Traditional Keralan drumming was already going on onstage, with 6 or 7 men drumming rigorously. Our guidebook describes the traditional drumming as 'piercing' and I don't think I can say it better. Another acquired taste, perhaps.
The food started arriving soon (along with some dancing onstage) and we were impressed, with a very nice gazpacho and a fresh vinagrette salad that was a special treat (it's tough to find a nice western style salad here), on into a seared fish main dish that was just wonderful, a "noble" use of the fresh fish available in south india as far as we are concerned. Dessert was a little array of chocolate and a lime mousse tiffany nicknamed "sprite fluff". We certainly felt that we had made a good choice to splurge on dinner.
Once we had finished dinner it was approachng midnight and we participated in a basque tradition (the hotel manager is a basque woman) of eating one grape representing each month of the coming year. The 12 grapes are delivered wrapped in a leaf-pocket.
Next, we were paraded outside the front of the big house to see a few fireworks, and the ceremonial "Burning of the Papa". This ceremony is not to be missed. The basic idea is this: You start with a 10-15 foot tall Santa Claus doll, clothed in a full western style red suit and thick black belt along with the typical beard and red hat, and boots. This doll is made up of wood and tinder, and at midnight is lit ablaze!! It almost instantly becomes a standing bonfire splashing flickering orange on all around. As the flames die down a bit, however, the standing human form still engulfed in flames was a difficult sight for us to celebrate!
We have some pictures from new years that I would love to post but we just don't have the capability here in the mountains in Munnar; we will post them in about 5 days, until then let your imagination run wild!
"home stays" in town, to see if their restaruant had a special event for New Year's Eve.
Indeed they did, and while the price per person seemed astronomical, it wasn't any more than we would have paid for a nice new year's dinner in the US, probably less. This begged the question ... was it going to be a nice dinner? We hadn't been so lucky in Pondicherry, when we "splurged" on dinner at the fanciest restaraunt in town (still much less than the new year's eve per-plate), well, let's just say we got food poisoning, without going into detail. More specifically, we've found that how agreeable a meal is to our stomachs is not at all proportional to the cost of the meal.
So, we broke out our fanciest duds. Which aren't quite what they would be at home... I had some dark jeans and a very nice madras plaid shirt with ribbonlike threads in various colors that I had been fortunate to find in Pondicherry. I spent the equivalent of about $15 US and I think the shirt now my nicest including what is at home. I have some running-type shoes that I had to wear but at least they are darkly colored.
Tiffany, in her typical style, was not to be restrained by this backpacking lifestyle. She broke out a beautiful black dress from the bottom of her suitcase, saying only "I just thought it wouldn't get wrinkled" as I stood aghast. she paired this with her new silver ganesh earrings from pondicherry and, cleverly, with the Guess platform flip-flops she's been wearing around town, which went surprisingly well in black and white.
So we trotted just a couple of doors down to the Malabar House. I wasn't ready to arrive exactly at our scheduled time of 8:00, so we arrived about 8:10. A maitre'd rushed up to the hotel desk as we were arriving and said "Mr. Skalet!??" and once I confirmed he whisked us past a beautiful small swimming pool bedecked with floating candles in coconut shells for this night, to our table, which was front and center! a table for two perhaps 4 feet from the stage, with tens of tables much farther away. I must say we did look the part of the important and fashionably late couple. This was looking like a good night. Traditional Keralan drumming was already going on onstage, with 6 or 7 men drumming rigorously. Our guidebook describes the traditional drumming as 'piercing' and I don't think I can say it better. Another acquired taste, perhaps.
The food started arriving soon (along with some dancing onstage) and we were impressed, with a very nice gazpacho and a fresh vinagrette salad that was a special treat (it's tough to find a nice western style salad here), on into a seared fish main dish that was just wonderful, a "noble" use of the fresh fish available in south india as far as we are concerned. Dessert was a little array of chocolate and a lime mousse tiffany nicknamed "sprite fluff". We certainly felt that we had made a good choice to splurge on dinner.
Once we had finished dinner it was approachng midnight and we participated in a basque tradition (the hotel manager is a basque woman) of eating one grape representing each month of the coming year. The 12 grapes are delivered wrapped in a leaf-pocket.
Next, we were paraded outside the front of the big house to see a few fireworks, and the ceremonial "Burning of the Papa". This ceremony is not to be missed. The basic idea is this: You start with a 10-15 foot tall Santa Claus doll, clothed in a full western style red suit and thick black belt along with the typical beard and red hat, and boots. This doll is made up of wood and tinder, and at midnight is lit ablaze!! It almost instantly becomes a standing bonfire splashing flickering orange on all around. As the flames die down a bit, however, the standing human form still engulfed in flames was a difficult sight for us to celebrate!
We have some pictures from new years that I would love to post but we just don't have the capability here in the mountains in Munnar; we will post them in about 5 days, until then let your imagination run wild!
posted by Andy | 2:48 AM
2 Comments:
Hi Andy!
You are such an awesome writer! I just loved your description of Tiffany getting "dolled" up for New Year's Eve, and just happening to have a little something in the bottom of her backpack for such a special occasion. Loved your description of "Sprite Fluff" too. That burning of Santa Claus at midnight makes me very sad to envision--I'll bet it was hard to see in person as our Santa Claus represents happiness, family and fantasy. Love, Mommy Moore
Only Tiffany can pull out a little black dress while hiking around India! I'm sure her make-up was perfectly hip, too.
Love the pics. Especially of the tea factory.
Life is not as exciting here in Arizona. Oh, wait, Fredy went golfing this morning.
Love, Tamara & Daisy
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