Chennai's stifling humidity is unmatched. I came home with Amma from central air conditioning at the hospital to the spacious three bedroom flat she has by Elliot's beach on the Coramandel coast off the Bay of Bengal. I don't know if the humidity is inspite of it or because of it. I don't know if it is always this intense at this time of year. Anyone who has not lived through this cannot imagine the feeling of being completely soaked in perspiration 24/7. While the A/c in the bedroom provides some reprieve, the movement in and out of A/c is hard on the body and just makes the experience of being outside even harder for someone like me who never breaks a sweat in Canada. So I decided in order to cope I had to stop complaining and go with the flow. I wear thin cottons, I shower a few times, keep hydrating and tell myself how incredibly healthy it is to dispose of bodily waste this way! By the way, I have a new appreciation for why the cotton "nightie" is the preferred choice of dress for young and old here. Wrapping oneself in a saree and keeping it on longer than necessary is monumental effort.
So now that I have come to accept this humidity with self aggrandizing righteousness, I have started to smell the jasmine (and not the sweat!) all around me - literally. Enter Kala. She is a young woman in her forties who works at an eye clinic and boards with Amma. She has a meagre income. She pays no rent and does light duties around the house while being company for Amma at night. Her presence gives us a lot of comfort since we did not want Amma, who is in her late 70s, living alone. Kala's meditation every evening, as she sits and watches TV serials with Amma, is stringing jasmine flowers. She spends a portion of her income to buy bags of loose flowers by the pound everyday, and patiently strings them close together with immense skill. By the end of the evening, the entire house is suffused with jasmine, the fragrance clings to the thick still and humid air, and she has made a long garland about 2 feet long. Early the next morning she cuts them into small 4 inch bits and adorns Amma's altar of gods in the kitchen. The sight and smell of the jasmine flower gives me a sense of homecoming! Kala is unique in that no one I know does what she does as a hobby. However, jasmine flower vendors making a living off selling flowers is ubiquitous here, and was a very important part of our life in Chennai growing up. It is no longer as affordable as it use to be to wear jasmine in your hair. For me it completes the experience of being home, humidity and all. A neighbour who has relocated from Delhi summed up Chennai for me. She said it is like a mother's lap. I could not have put it better and the jasmine flower which is unique to Chennai and the state of Tamilnadu makes it more so.
Recently we had a celebration in Toronto where you find me wearing jasmine. Now you know why TO, where jasmine is abundantly available, is also home! Also, Kala's handiwork!
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