We get the bus to Irinjalakuda, where there is a large temple with a theatre within its grounds. Unfortunately as non-Hindus we are not allowed inside. But we do get a shop owner to decipher a Malayalam poster for the upcoming temple festival, the decorations and preparations for which are just beginning. The shop owner tells us that on Saturday there will be a Mohiniyattam performance, with the same again on Sunday followed by a Kathakali performance. Mohiniyattam is a traditional Keralan dance which is, I think, characterised by a lot of swaying.
A video showing a Mohiniyattam dance:
Next we walk the 500m to Natanakairali, a school for the arts which was set up by two of Kerala's finest performance. One, the woman, teaches and performs Mohiniyattam. The other, the man, performs Pavakathakali — an ancient form of puppetry. We speak to them and find out that there are no cultural events currently planned, but the woman does give me a written invitation, in Malayalam, to an event she is performing at on Saturday.
A video showing a Pavakathakali performance:
We get the bus to Nadavambaram, where there is apparently a small industry making the bell metal lamps that we can be found in temples and homes everywhere. Sometime you can watch the lamps being cast, but not today. We buy a small hanging lamp, plus a chain to hang it from, for Rs. 1300. The lady gives it a vigourous polish, wraps it up in newspaper and boxes it for us.
For dinner, back in Trissur, I have an underwhelming paneer and cashew cream dosa. Kate's American Chop Suey is so gloopy, sickly and bad she abandons it and orders something else.
Trissur town is based around a huge park, at the centre of which is Vadakunnathan Temple. This sounds appealing, but once you arrive you realise that the park is of standard Indian design — scrubby, dusty and poorly lit, host to large groups of squatting men and others urinating against trees. The temple itself is not accessible by non-Hindus. There is another, smaller park a short walk away, which houses some examples of one of my favourite features of the Indian landscape — excruciatingly bad statues of Gandhi. These figures, intended to praise and memorialise, usually render the Great Soul as a stooping, diminutive primate, his disproportionally large head framed by an even large set of thick black NHS spectacles. Knobbly kneed and clinging on to his wooden staff for dear life, these homages do their very best to devalue the great man's legacy.
We get the bus to Irinjalakuda, where there is a large temple with a theatre within its grounds. Unfortunately as non-Hindus we are not allowed inside. But we do get a shop owner to decipher a Malayalam poster for the upcoming temple festival, the decorations and preparations for which are just beginning. The shop owner tells us that on Saturday there will be a Mohiniyattam performance, with the same again on Sunday followed by a Kathakali performance. Mohiniyattam is a traditional Keralan dance which is, I think, characterised by a lot of swaying.