A swim to the sun

… no, not that many Tamils know how to swim although they all like to refresh themselves, splashing in the water.
Early morning, still so hot ... I was tempted ...

Mangulam 2008-12-03 7:07 oochappan ©®

A paradise for pastel painters

Morning 6:30 at Paraimadayanpatti, a hamlet of Mangulam.
Give a me canvas and some brushes, I never would have been able to achieve to pastel this rural view as quick as my camera did :)).
(A personal reflection: no I'm not a painter but very sensitive to colors like music in the air.)
What you see here is the lake and behind the village. The water is used as drinking water for human and animals, a lot more tasty then the chloride of the governmental tab. It was still very early, the village was slowly getting awake.

Mangulam 2007-03-17 oochappan ©®

Down dale golden paddies-

Rice glooming as gold in the sun, ready to be harvested

2008 Mangulam oochappan ©®

Gut Mearning Mangulam

Totally wet from the early mist, biking up to Mangulam, 16 km from Madurai through the night and the pits to arrive here even before the sun came up ...
mother already getting some water cause the children have to wash and eat before going to school at 9:30 and it was already 6:53 !
Gut Mearning little paradise, got some photos for you from last visit, promised a year ago !

Mangulam 2008-02-13 oochappan ©®

Alone on the hill

Taken at 6:18 in the morning just before sunrise ...
Paraimadayanpatti, a small hamlet of Mungalam, has a very particular name, meaning Town of the Bald Hill and indeed the hill looks rather like an immense big smooth round bald headed stone.
It made me think here at the famous song from the Beatles The Fool on the Hill:
Day after day, alone on the hill ... ... head in a cloud ... like a fool on the hill ... see the world spinning 'round. almost hearing that esoteric flute from that song sounding over the hill.

Mangulam - Paraimadayanpatti 2007-03-16 oochappan ©®

Ploughing the mud

A new ricefield is prepared to plant the young rice plants, a hard work for bull and man to turn the mud.

Mangulam 2008-12-03 oochappan ©®

Paraimadayanpatti

Getting up at 4 o'clock to drive by moto 12km, no delay, making sure to be there before sunrise and we arrived intime. The sun was still behind the Ovalam Hill at the horizont at 6:11. The village is rather unique here around Madurai, the only one half build on the immens rock. On top of this bare round shaped rock there is a small Hindu Temple.

Mangulam 2007-03-17 oochappan ©®

Rural housing

Their cosy house was build on the bold rock own by the government

Mangulam 2009-01-16 oochappan ©®

Kili

No, the green parrot, Kili in Tamil, couldn't speak yet, it was too young.
A family scene, mother winnowing the harvest,
the boy's curiousity stronger then his shyness,
the cat looking at the boy's food.

Mangulam 2008-02-15 17:33 oochappan ©®

Paraimadayanpatti Village

Finally we reached Mungalam at the evening fall, so only a short time left to bring this peaceful paradise in image.
Mungalam lies near a rocky area which gives the typical character of this village.
The most beautiful place I ever have seen in the South. Wouldn't say no to exchange all the luxury to go and live there when I got my pension within a few months.
You can count how many people there are in this scene while the ducks play in the water ...

Mangulam 2006-03-05 oochappan ©®

Good Morning Mangulam

Once again we went to this little paradise on the countryside, early sunny morning.
A man doing the laundry ,
the net to keep the fish in the lake when it was raining hard 3 days before.

Mangulam 2008-12-03 oochappan ©®

What's up man ?

A bunch of boys on the countryside in Mangulam on a Saturday morning, no school,
having fun together, taking a swim in a local pond and sudden standing all around you ...
what's up man ?

Mangulam 2007-03-31 oochappan ©®

Sunset leaving Mangulam

Leaving the village Mangulam I stopped my bike seeing this sunset and waited till the sun gave its most beauriful moment over the rice fields.
On the way back to Madurai the sky became later on even more totaly intens red colored till the sun went totally down, I never had seen such an intensity before and it lasted at least 30 minutes, then it became dark.
Enjoy this sunset seen on the country side at 18:22 o'clock.
Sure I must go back there ...

Mangulam 2006-03-05 oochappan ©®