My Naughty Aunty.

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Given that Minnesota has beautiful summers, and given my love for swimming, I often liked going to Aunt Jane’s for the summer. She was my mom’s youngest sister, divorced and with no kids.

Then it was punishment time. “Peter, take your shorts and underpants down.” Peter did as he was told. “Now lie over the edge of the bed, here.” She tapped the place indicated with the cane and Peter lay down, his small bare bottom upturned.

She tapped the bed. “Lie down next to Peter. Closer!” I shuffled to my left and now could feel my young cousin’s bare bottom against mine. Kerala is also the place where martial art was born and nurtured and then it travelled out to China, Japan, Korea and elsewhere to become kung fu, ju jitsu, Karate and taekwando. In Kerala not many wars or battles have been fought with rapacious invaders as has been the case in the north where pillaging hordes would descend from the Khyber pass to take away the proverbial riches of the emperors and kings in the plains of the Indian subcontinent. The martial races of Kerala did not have much to do except to settle the occasional land dispute between neighboring landlords which would sometimes be resolved by two fighters doing the Kalalripayattu. Whosoever won the bout, won the judgement for his lord and master. The only protection is a thin sheath of coconut palm cuttings that are placed on his body and as the show continues, it tends to catch fire ever so often. The heat from the glowing red hot coal at 10 feet away was unbearable and uncomfortable.and a nightmare with a camera and a tripod and surging crowds. Nothing that a mere mortal can complain about when right in front of your eyes goes on the spectacle of extreme fortitude for almost an hour or more.

In this capture, a bit of work has been done to bring out the glowing red hot mass of coal which otherwise would not be possible. Kerala boasts of the oldest dance form Theyyam and its avant garde derivative, the Kathakali of the hugely tactile eyes and brow punctuated with swirling arm movements all performed under large colorful painted masks.As is often the case, though, life and attitudes outside the metropolitan areas were somewhat far behind in terms of their thinking, in some cases decades behind. I found this out for myself when Mum fell ill, and Dad decided to park me for a while with my Uncle Darren and Aunt Lindy at their home in Toogoolawah.

It is a matter of what you can afford. Some do just a few. The one where I was, courtsey Mr Valsaraj, had all evening and all night theyyams which culminated with the fire theyyam where the theyyam performer dives repeatedly into red hot heap of burning wood coal face first. That will be later.On a hot dusty day in Kodungaloor, on the sidelines of the frenetic display of religious fervour, is this man in a makeshift turban taking a break from all the mad activity. Up in the room I had been sharing with Peter, three frightened boys awaited their fate. Of course, my first question to my cousin was: “Are we going to get the cane?” It wasn’t the answer I wanted to hear. “Oh yeah, she’ll cane us for sure.”“Will it hurt a lot?”“Just wait and see.”