Nag-Rangolis and Hindu-Muslim Violence.

On Mary and my last day in Kuttipuram we witnessed the creation of a Rangoli. The creators were worshippers of a Nag (snake) deity. Their creation of the intricate Rangoli was a propitiation of the deity to ward off illness and bad omens.

Now many Indians are familiar with the idea of a Rangoli. For most festivals, especially Diwali, Indian families welcome Laxmi with ornate patterns on their doorsteps made of flower petals or colour flour. But these Rangoli's were something else entirely. They were made of colored lime powder and the one made for us was 2 meters wide and 2 meters long, of SOLID color... Four snakes intertwined their bodies to create rich and intricate braids of reds, yellows and whites. The colors were created by mixing natural pigments with white lime, then remixing the colored lime to form secondary colors. For celebrations and festivals, these rangolis can be 5m x 5m and take all night to prepare!

Their Rangoli was followed up by a musical performance of local village instrumentation accompanying very traditional (and colloquial) songs worshipping the snake deity.

Shorty after, Mary and I readied ourselves for departure for the rest of our Kerala adventure - beginning with two nights in Cochin.

Except that we couldn't leave Kuttipuram. Turns out that recent elections in Kerala caused some violence among members of the Muslim community. It turned ugly and a Hindu was killed. That made it a Hindu-Muslim problem, and a general strike was called. So we had to wait... And we waited... until 3 PM actually, before we were able to leave for Cochin again. We arrived in Cochin at night at the Rossitta Wood Castle Heritage hotel and promptly passed out.