Well AJ has made it back to UC Santa Cruz after a whirlwind crash course on Kerala. Besides touring and shopping around Kochi, where we live, we took him to a late night ritual to see Thiruvathirakkali, a folk dance by women that Justine is researching here.
We also were able to travel to the northernmost district of Kerala, Kasaragod, to see the very old and highly ritualistic dance-ritual of Theyyam. We also toured some mid-1600 forts and saw the 9th century Sree Ananthapadmanabhaswamy lake temple.
For his final weekend AJ traveled by bus with Grady into the Western Ghats to the Periyar Wildlife Santuary where a day of hiking granted sites of wild elephants, giant malabar squirrels, black eagles, and lots of flora and fauna.
