Vijnana Kala Vedi Centre, Aranmula, Kerela: I arrived July 1 in the most south-western state of India, Kerala, after a 50 hour train ride from Delhi (whew... good experience but dont' think I will do that again). Last year I spent a bit of time in Kerala and liked it very much so my plan is to spend more time here this summer. During July I attended a school for the Keralan/Indian arts in a small village called Aranmula. It is about equidistance between the two major cities of Kerala: Trivandum and Cochin. This area which is about an hour from the coast is lush and tropical with banana and palm trees, rice paddies and of course the monsoon is here!

Vijnana Kala Vedi Cultural Centre was started by a French woman about 23 years ago to preserve and promote the traditional arts of Kerala like its music, dance, drama, language, painting, cooking, etc. They also offer languages, introduction to Ayurveda, yoga. I came for the Ayurveda course which was taught to just two students by Dr. Hari Kumar (www.doctorhari.com). He is just excellent and I learned a lot. I also took a traditional Kerala cooking class and Hindi. These classes were taught one to one. Yoga is available most days as drop in class - afterall this is India! The village of Aranmula is lively and the locals find us curious. There are about 20 students at the centre and we reside in one of three houses situated in the village. My house usually has one or two cows out front that cut the grass. There are working elephants in the district and you see them occassionally on the road going here and there with their master (the mahoot). There is a very famous Hindu temple in the village which draws many pilgrims and the chants of the priests seem to go 24 hours - over loud speakers. So this is always in the back ground. There is a sacred river - The Pampa - which is now swollen with monsoon rain. The locals swim in it, but I stayed away from such activity. A couple of weekends ago a few of us headed to the coast to a beach town - Kovalam. Swam in a pool there as the sea is too dangerous. The beach had black sand and because it is low season (monsoon) the room rates at the hotel were about 200 rupees which is about CDN $5.00.

Below are some photos. One is me with a Delhi family. I went to their house for dinner. The others are, Kerala mural painter, sample of traditional Kerala painting, metal worker making mirror, my house in Aranmula, the local corner store, the bicycle repair man, the umbrella repair man ( a very necessary person during monsoon), and elephant going to work.

Well I am out of here as of August 1 and headed to the big city of Cochin. Not sure what August will hold for me. I think I'll travel more throughout Kerala and the state of Tamil Nadu. Stay tuned.