Iti-Punoscho

Ever since I read William Dalrymple's "Nine Lives: In search of the Sacred in Modern India", I have been fascinated by one of the nine events he experienced- the Theyyam in Kerala. The more I studied about this custom in "Google University", the more I was fascinated and wanted to experience it myself. This fitted perfectly with my new-found love of religious and festival tourism. My agenda is similar to Dalrymple's- experience the event as an observer without being judgemental, have some opportunity for photographic documentation, and come back with enough material to write a blog on it. So, when I had a reason to be in Bangalore in February, I decided to add a weekend and go up to northern Kerala see Theyyam. I researched extensively and found help from unexpected quarters. That set me up for a lifetime opportunity to experience Theyyam- well, almost. Read on.

What is Theyyam:
Theyyam is a popular Hindu ritual form of worship of North Malabar in Kerala state, predominant in the Kasargod and Kannur Districts, and parts of Wayanad and Kozhikode. It is a living Dravidian cult with several thousand-year-old traditions, rituals and customs. The performers of Theyyam belong to the indigenous tribal community. The ruling landlord communities like the Nambiars were patrons of Theyyam. This is unique, since only in Kerala, do both the upper-caste Brahmins and lower-caste tribals share an important position in a major form of worship. The term Theyyam is a corrupt form of Devam or God. Different branches of mainstream Hindu religion such as Shaktism, Vaishnavism and Shaivism now dominate the cult of Theyyam. Two major Theyyam deities of Vaishnavism are Vishnumoorthi and Daivathar. All other categories of Theyyam deities can be classified under Shaivism or Shaktism. The Goddesses like Rakteshwari, Chamundi, Someshwari, Kurathi, and the Gods like Vishnumoorthi are propitiated in sacred groves & house-hold shrines, locally called "kavu". The performance takes place in an open theatre. A performance of a particular deity according to its significance and hierarchy in the shrine continues for 12 to 24 hours with intervals. The chief dancer who plays and personifies the deity of the shrine has to reside in the rituals and is generally called ‘Kolam’. The performance is always preceded by preliminary rituals. After this the performer will retire to a temporary structure to be made up and costumed. When the moment comes, he will enter the shrine to complete the ancient and complex process that has already begun edging him out into an extraordinary otherness. The most sacred and powerful element of the costume, the mudi or headdress, is put on once the artist has been seated on a sacred stool in front of the sanctum. After this comes the actual moment of "becoming" the deity, the moment of crossing the line, as he stares into a small hand-held mirror. It is at this point that, almost imperceptibly, he slips into another state of being, his eyes widening as they focus not on his own reflection, but on the enigmatic features of a divine being. This is the moment of fusion, the defining moment known as "mukhadarshanam", or the seeing of the face. It is the moment when a mortal becomes a god. In the background, folk musical instruments like chenda, tuti, kuzhal and veekni are played in a certain rhythm. All the dancers take a shield and kadthala (sword) in their hands as continuation of the cult of weapons. Then the dancer circumambulates the shrine, runs in the courtyard and continues dancing there. The Theyyam dance has different steps known as Kalaasams. Each Kalaasam is repeated systematically from the first to the eighth step of footwork. There are different patterns of face-painting. Mostly primary and secondary colours are applied with contrast for face painting. It helps in effecting certain stylization in the dances. A performance is a combination of playing of musical instruments, vocal recitations, dance, and peculiar makeup and costumes. The stage-practices of Theyyam and its ritualistic observations make it one of the most fascinating theatrical arts of India- text quoted from Wikipedia & http://www.vengara.com/

Some Theyyams use nearly 50 or 60 feet high long crowns or Mutis made out of arecanut tree and bamboo splices. These crowns are supported by long bamboos which are held by several helpers to keep the balance when placed upon the head of the player. The Thottam or the song related to the particular Theyyam deity is recited by the player and by the singers in the background. Of over 400 varieties of Theyyam performed, the most prominent one are those of Raktha Chamundi, Kari Chamundi, Muchilottu Bhagavathi, Wayanadu Kulaveni, Gulikan and Pottan- http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/kerala/performing-arts/theyyam.html

Karimchamundi Theyyam is one very rare Theyyam because of its scary nature. It is performed in the regions of Perumba river. Earlier the Theyyam festival of Karim Chamundi required the sacrifice of a goat. Now this Theyyam performance has an act of killing chickens by biting in the neck and plucking off the head and throwing it in the air. With dark coloured face paintings the Theyyam performed at midnight is frightening. Women and children are not permitted to watch the Karim Chamundi Theyyam. Two Karim Chamundi Theyyams which I could identify this year are as follows:
Start: January 27, 2011
Venue: Azheekode Elamkarumakan Kshethram, Azheekode, Kannur
Start: January 22, 2011; End: January 26, 2011
Venue: Myladathadam Elangarumakan Kshethrolsavam, Azheekode, Kannur

My destination for Theyyam was Kannur (or Cannanore) and my base camp for Theyyam visit plan was Bangalore, so I will give details which I worked out for my trip, hoping that it benefits others who might want to witness this great event in the next season (Jan-March) or beyond.

Location of Kannur: Kannur is on the National Highway 17 (NH-17) connecting Kochi and Mumbai. Two airports- one at Mangalore in the north and one at Kozhikode (Calicut) in the south — are about 100 kilometres away from Kannur. Road distance of Kannur from Bangalore is about 340 km and from Chennai it is about 600 km.

Transportation alternatives from Bangalore to Kannur, apart from driving down, are as below:
1) Trains- 16527/16528 Cannanore Express from/to Yesvantpur station (I booked on this, easier to get tickets) & 16517/16518 Kannur Express (from/to Bangalore SBC). Takes between 13-15 hrs (rail distance much longer than road), but both are overnight trains departing between 8 & 9 pm.

2) Buses:
Karnataka SRTC Buses (Rajhansa- non-Volvo): http://ksrtc.in/; departing from Bangalore Bus Depot; journey time 9-10 hrs
Contact: KSRTC Majestic- 080-2226 9508; KSRTC Satellite- 080-2675 6666

Kerala Road Transport Corporation- Buses leave from Satellite Bus Staion in Mysore Road, Bangalore; arrive at Majestic/Bangalore SBC Railway Station. Advance booking counter at Majestic Bus Staion- the online booking does not seem to work: http://www.keralartc.com/
Kerala SRTC: Control Room: Landline- 0471-2463799; Cell: 9447071021
Kerala SRTC- Kannur: 0471-2463799; 094470 71021

Bus fares: Rs. 250-350/-

Stay Options:
1) Malabar Residency (http://www.malabarresidency.in/)- (this is where I booked)
Thavakkara Road, Kannur-670 001, Kerala, S. India
Ph: (91) 0497 - 2765456, 2701654, 2701655; Fax: (91) 0497 – 2765456
E - mail: malabarresidency2004@yahoo.co.in
Contact: Shaji, Room Division Manager (094970 41118)
Rate: Rs. 1200 +12.5% tax – 10% discount = Rs. 1215/night for standard room (Feb 2011)
2) Ganga Residency- http://www.gangaresidency.com/ (my travel advisor suggested this)

Near Talikkavu Temple, Kannur 6700001. 300 meters from station, 200 meters from Bus stand. Tel: 095266 08951/0497 2712079; Email: gangaresidency@in.com Charges Rs. 900-1200 per night (Feb 2011). Staion pickup available.
3)Pranav Beach Resort- http://www.pranavbeachresort.in/ (read about this in a blog)

Beach Road, Palliyanmoola, Alavil, Kannur 670008. Tel: 0497 3207926/2741148; 09387478285; Email: pranavbeach@rediffmail.com; Contact: Mr. N.P. Venugopalan; “We have non-airconditioned independent cottages in the tariff range of Rs.800/- to Rs.1000/- per day and air-conditioned cottages for Rs.1600/- per day.”- Feb 2011]

Theyyam Options:
Full calender of different Theyyam performances available at the following websites:
http://www.theyyamcalendar.com/
http://www.theyyam.org/pages/newsdesk/10000theyyamcal04.asp
http://www.kaliyattam.com/theyyam.php
http://www.vengara.com/theyyam/theyyamcalendar.htm

These websites also have some great pictures of Theyyam performances. Note that Theyyam dates change every year.

Some great Theyyam videos with narration: http://wn.com/kannur_theyam

The Theyyam that I planned on visiting: Mykeel Sri Karimkuttysasthan Temple, Pulimparamba, Taliparamba, Kannur (http://www.mykeel.in/)- 22 kms from Kannur. This was provided to me by the most helpful and passionate person dedicated in promoting Theyyam- Santhosh, and his group of friends- who developed the site: www.vengara.com in their effort to promote Theyyam in a selfless way. I remain indebted to him for helping me out with my travel plans and giving me full support and confidence all the way. Thank you- stranger friend!

Now, if you are wondering why I have not used any pictures but indulging in this "textual atyachar" through a long-winding travel research on Theyyam, the reason is I pulled out of the trip at the last moment. Mat pucho kyu. I didn't go. But, I will. Sometime soon. Iti-Punoscho :-)

Till then, if you are interested, keep researching with me and imagining yourself to have transcended in the middle of a pre-Vedic ritual at midnight where a dancer with elaborate make-up and costume believes that he is "God" for that time and enacts a complete mythological episode for hours with frenzied energy, repeatedly dives in to smoundering ember in complete oblivion of the world around him. That person, in a week, will go back to his daily chores- maybe as an agricultural labor or restaurant waiter or jail warden, as in the case of Hari Das- one of the most famous exponents of Theyyam and central character in Dalrymple's episode on the subject. I end by quoting him about the experience of Theyyam from his interview with the Outlook magazine in October 2009: "I always get very tense, even though I have been doing this for 26 years now. It’s not that I am nervous of the god coming. It’s more the fear that he might refuse to come. It’s the intensity of your devotion that determines the intensity of the possession. If you lose your feeling of devotion, if it even once becomes routine or unthinking, the gods may stop coming...It’s like a blinding light...When the drums are playing and your make-up is finished, they hand you a mirror and you look at your face transformed into that of a god. Then it comes. It’s as if there is a sudden explosion of light. A vista of complete brilliance opens up—it blinds the senses...That light stays with you all the way during the performance. You become the deity. You lose all fear. Even your voice changes. The god comes alive and takes over. You are just the vehicle, the medium. In the trance, it is god who speaks, and all the acts are the acts of the god—feeling, thinking, speaking. The dancer is an ordinary man—but this being is divine. Only when the head-dress is removed does it end...Suddenly it’s all over, it’s gone. You don’t have any access to what happened during the possession or the performance. You can’t remember anything that happened in the trance. All there is, is a sensation of relief, as if you’ve offloaded something”

Calcutta vs Bangalore- "Amra-Ora" Issues

I visited Bangalore for a week in mid-February. I heard many things about Bangalore- with many friends, relatives and batchmates settled there, that's inevitable. I really liked the place during my trip. Had some memories of the place from a childhood visit, and then some more memories from a trip there some years back. But this time, had much more extensive travel around the city at different days and times of the week, so got a good flavor of the place. Inevitably, some comparisons came in to mind with my very own and much loved city- Kolkata.

Modern version of both cities had a shared ancestory in the unlikely architecture of a mud fort (by Kempe Gowda in Bangalore in 1537 and Fort William in Calcutta by the East India Company in 1702). Both cities were home to military cantonment during the British period. Calcutta had its first electricity in 1899, Bangalore in 1906. Calcutta was known as the "City of Palaces" and Bangalore as the "Garden City".

Cut to present. Calcutta is a classic example of urban mismanagement. Some of the cancers which are eating in to the city's foundations are unplanned and unregulated growth, populist but utterly ineffective urban governance, migration of an unmanageable number of people from a huge rural hinterland in search of a better life, lack of civic sense of a part of the population, "unbridled democratic expressions" of political parties, possibly the world's most chaotic transportation system (one day I counted 27 different varieties of public buses in terms of shape, size, make, color scheme, transport agency, ownership, operatorship- it is virtually a free-for-all) and an overall falling standard of excellence in almost all spheres of life. The time-tested architecture standards and building rules seem to have conveniently changed/made flexible in the last decade and half, resulting in structures that should not be there or at least be built differently. This unregulated real-estate boom is coupled with three more visual pollution parameters- hoardings of all sizes in front of any public or private or heritage building, slums right beside main thoroughfares and encroachers at every conceivable place; making Kolkata one of the ugliest among the 26 "magacities" (population of over 10 million) of the world. Public parks and gardens are few and ill-maintained. Hardly any government building or public area is landscaped. Greenery is more of a inheritence and a survivor of apathy than conscious effort of the Parks & Gardens Department. Encroachers are everywhere- name any public place that you see empty today and tomorrow it will be filled up with people you never wanted to see. "Hawker Policy" allows hawking on 1/3rd portion of sidewalks and not within 50 feet of any crossing. In reality, less than 1/3 of all major footpaths are left open forpedestrians. Ideally, if you are not a customer you should walk sideways so that you do not distrurb the hawkers and their buyers! There is not even enough headroom for anyone taller than 5 feet, with bags and nighties hanging over your head to maximize display- for experiencing it, walk the 5 km stretch between Gariahat and Rashbehari. Unfortunately, no politican who patronizes these practices ever walk on these stretches. Official logic for allowing the 0.5 million hawkers and encroachers a free run on footpaths, forcing pedestrians to walk on the road is apparently "human face"; reality is much more tangible and rewarding, as we all know. The only group who pays the bill for such comatosed governance is the tax-paying, law abiding, non-unionized middle class. And the future of the city gets buried deeper and deeper in the abyss of hopelessness. As a resident who is proud of the history and heritage of the city, I feel pained and frustrated at this downhill slide.

My outsider's impression of Bangalore was however quite refreshing. The city seems to have maintained control on its growth, even in face of the tremendous growth the city has witnessed in the last two decades ever since it became the hot business destination in India. Ironically, about 5% of Bangalore's population are Bengalis, most of them first-generation migrants in search of livelihood. The buildings in an area have architectural parity with one another, and no ugly hoardings come up blocking the frontage of any important building. Overall, the buildings in the city are low-rise, which coupled with the abundant greenery makes the city look beautiful. Most of the government buildings have a manicured garden, and the agencies are proud about the same. The climate is nice, as Bangalore has always been known for. The infrastructure that has been put in is generally of a high standard. I did not see any encroacher occupying the sidewalks or below the flyovers. Transport (even the autos- there are many here too) is not unruly, buses stop only at designated stops and do not solicit passengers at every inch of its journey. The airport, both inside and outside, operates with clinical efficiency. This is a direct contrast to the chaos that greets any passenger as soon as he steps out of the arrival terminal in Kolkata airport. The real difference in my opinion is the work culture. Bangalore transport is almost entirely controled by the government, including taxis. The transport system is many times more efficient, but prices are comparable with Kolkata. The AC buses provided by Government of India under JNURM scheme has been put to good use- the Volvo buses run on common public routes with extremely affordable fare levels. In Kolkata, I am told over 300 new buses are just rotting in the depot because the private operators are not willing to run them even after more than 60% subsidy being provided by the government. The taxi service at airport and station, the layout of and passenger amenities provided in long-distance bus stations are all much much superior to what we see in Kolkata. Overall, the government seems to function much better and governance seems to be of a much higher order in Bangalore compared to Kolkata. Whether this is only due to the government, or the (un)governed, or both, can be a subject of an interesting debate.

I am surprised that I just finished writing this piece and is about to publish it- I have always fought with those who criticized Calcutta, and I still love the city. I strain my eyes for everything that we can be proud of. I returned to work the city in mid-90s, resigning from a lucrative job in Bombay- this was at a time when professionals of my background queued up for the first flight/train out of the city (probably most still do). I drive around the city in the early mornings of Sundays and public holidays, looking for hidden treasures of architecture, food, nature spots and people. I regularly read about and talk to people about the past glories of Calcutta- "the city of palaces" and the "crowning jewel of the British empire". I regularly take visitors out to Calcutta's places of interest. I travel frequently and have visited many cities. Never I had this urge of direct comparison and felt so helpless, frustrated and insulted with the results. It is possible that Calcutta has not changed- only my views are changing. But even that does not augur well for the city, if a die-hard resident fan like me start singing a discordant tune.