Day 1 - Reaching Sethumadai - Hunting for a job and place to stay!

After a fantastic pleasure trip with friends to the Kolli Hills, I boarded a bus directly from Namakkal to Coimbatore on the night of 26th December. After staying the night at my aunt's home, I boarded the bus to Pollachi the next morning where me and Manoj planned to meet. From there, we were to take a bus to Sethumadai and begin our experiment. As I sat on the bus to Pollachi with my backpack, munching on a few pieces of cucumber, I thought of what we were about to do. Me and Manoj, the two of us, were about to practically do things we've always been wanting to do. All those plans in paper and animated discussions of what we'll do when we have the time or the money or the means. No more just talking. We were giving life to our thoughts that very moment. 5 days of going incognito, in a sense, and living the village life. Curious? Hell, yeah. Excited? You bet.

I glanced at the Thirukkural on the bus - “Iniya Ulavaaga Innaadha kooral, kaniyiruppa kaai kavarndhattru” ("Why should we use negative words when there are so many positive/good words to express the same?"). I didn't know its meaning then but learnt it byheart just to pass my time till I reached Pollachi. Somehow byhearting classics, even when I don't totally understand them, leaves me calm and filled with a sense of well-being. I was wondering on this and debating in my mind if knowledge is essentially a good thing or a bad thing, when the bus reached Pollachi. Manoj was already waiting. Together we finished the curd rice my aunt had packed and borded the bus to Sethumadai. With Manoj, I need not repeat plans and impress upon him the purpose of the visit. I could trust him to be sensible and do the right thing, which was a big plus on an experiment like this.

As we boarded the bus, we were aware that we had to make friends as soon as possible if we were to have some chance of getting a job for a week and a place to stay for free. The people in the bus too, were very friendly. So, after a few smiles and warm enquiries, we found ourselves chatting with half of the bus, explaining why we were going to the village and supplying curious questioners with information on what we do and where we come from. There was a particular gentleman, called Ponnusamy Chettiar, travelling with his aide Maniyan, who quickly grasped our intent and asked us a lot of interesting questions. When we reached the village, he said to us with a smile and fatherly affection 'You guys stay here and have some tea. I'll make sure Maniyan gets you a job and a place to stay for a week.'

This was the tea shop at the village centre, where he left us. Later we understood that tea shops here were a parallel to the coffee shops of the city. This particular tea shop was a hang out for the middle-aged and was owned by Kirukku (Madman) Palanichaamy.

As me and Manoj actively eavesdropped and sipped our hot tea, we learnt that Kirukku Palanichaamy was a very gentle old man. When Maniyan returned after talking to a few people about our job, he gave his mobile phone to Palanichaamy and said 'Your daughter wants to speak to you.' The old man's face lit up like a bonfire and all the men smiled and nodded understandingly. 'Palanichaamy is so proud of his daughter!' said one. 'He damn well deserves to be' remarked another 'having brought up such a well behaved and independent woman. The man did back-breaking labour to provide for her, now she takes care of him'. And the others grunted and nodded in agreement. Palanichaamy handed the cell phone back to Maniyan. Maniyan said to us 'Ok let us go talk to the land-owners'. The trip had begun! After being denied a job by two people, the third one agreed to give us a job. He was sceptical about us in the beginning, not trusting our intentions but anyway told us report back for job the next day. Since he didn't agree to give us accommodation, Maniyan said we could stay in the Rice mill of his boss. We agreed gratefully.

This is the mill where we stayed.

Maniyan asked us if we needed some mattresses. 'No, it's alright sir. We'll use the sack bags lying there. Thanks for everything.' we said and then were left alone. The day's job was done. We had a job and a place to stay! We spread out the sack bags and folded some of them to serve as pillows. And when we stretched ourselves, we observed that one pillow was fatter than the other. There was an immediate rush for the fatter pillow and me and Manoj ended up having a wrestlemania match. I guess you'll know from the picture as to who won it.