I just finished a second day of shooting again down here in Tirunelveli for the Edward Sargent film, and already Madurai seems like a strange, distant dream that I had and am trying to determine if it were just a dream or reality. Madurai is unlike any town that I have ever been in, and probably won't encounter again to some degree. I asked my friend Handel from Tirunelveli about what people think about Madurai from other parts of Tamil Nadu.
"Chaos," was the first word out of his mouth. Indeed, chaos, as I have written about before.
I further asked him what do non-Madurai people think about the people from Madurai. He told me that they are best known for their fondness and passion for the arts and their gift of gab. It got me to thinking that that pretty much sums up my four favorite mid-sized cities that I have lived in: Austin, Texas, Bologna, Italy, Antwerp, Belgium, and now Madurai, India. Each of them boast of a lively arts community, replete with civic events highlighting the city's dedication to the arts as well as being known for writers and well-versed speakers.
From each of these I have gleaned an essential part of what makes me tick as a person. Each city has added an angle and side to me, and with Madurai, I feel that the picture has been completed and has become a final complement to what I value in life and seek in a cityscape if it is to be a backdrop to my life. I love traveling to the "big cities" of NYC, Chicago, London, Paris, Rome, and so forth as well as the small, quaint villages of Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy, Sneem, Ireland, Maruthakulam, India, or Camden, Maine and the like, but the bulk of my life has been spent in a mid-sized city like Madurai.
From Austin, I feel that I developed my formal educational training and open-mindedness. A passion for outdoor activities and the awareness of a city "identity," that being "weird" for Austin. A love of coffee shops and specialty grocery stores, live music and good, homestyle foods of all types.
From Bologna, having been associated with the Università di Bologna, the oldest European university, I gained a sense of tradition and historical sense of educational import. Bologna is a city of civic pride as well as a place for intense protest and forward thinking. It is the city of divine Italian food where I learned to cook and an appreciation for the deft hand of Italian detail in a city that is not a tourist destination such as Firenze or Venezia. I learned a sense of living on a daily basis, picking up foodstuffs for dinner on the way home and appreciating the strolls under the endless portici that adorn all of the sidewalks of Bologna.
In Antwerp, I have learned a city in a new language. I began and ended a marriage that lasted nearly 20 years there with many, many, many ports of call in between. I have learned the role of raising a child there and how to rebuild my life after a few years of difficulties that I overcame in Time. I have learned there how to stand up for myself and assert my being a foreigner and I have learned the many nooks and crannies of the city that I will soon be returning to with a new life and fortified foundation.
From Madurai, dear sweet, smelly, dirty, beautiful Madurai. I have learned how to find the beautiful in the grotesque, the hope in despair, the reverence of a community that I have never seen before. I have learned the patience equal to the many statues in the Meenakshi Temple and how it feels to be a true minority, to be the only one who looks different and the humility that comes with that. I have learned the nature of childish curiosity on the faces of the children and the attitude of fatalism that sometimes we must adopt to make it through the day. I have learned that no one of the five senses can trump the other and that above all, I am able to find peace, serenity, and a blissful calm in the midst of the "Chaos."
Here are some parting shots of my Madurai...
"Chaos," was the first word out of his mouth. Indeed, chaos, as I have written about before.
I further asked him what do non-Madurai people think about the people from Madurai. He told me that they are best known for their fondness and passion for the arts and their gift of gab. It got me to thinking that that pretty much sums up my four favorite mid-sized cities that I have lived in: Austin, Texas, Bologna, Italy, Antwerp, Belgium, and now Madurai, India. Each of them boast of a lively arts community, replete with civic events highlighting the city's dedication to the arts as well as being known for writers and well-versed speakers.
From each of these I have gleaned an essential part of what makes me tick as a person. Each city has added an angle and side to me, and with Madurai, I feel that the picture has been completed and has become a final complement to what I value in life and seek in a cityscape if it is to be a backdrop to my life. I love traveling to the "big cities" of NYC, Chicago, London, Paris, Rome, and so forth as well as the small, quaint villages of Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy, Sneem, Ireland, Maruthakulam, India, or Camden, Maine and the like, but the bulk of my life has been spent in a mid-sized city like Madurai.
From Austin, I feel that I developed my formal educational training and open-mindedness. A passion for outdoor activities and the awareness of a city "identity," that being "weird" for Austin. A love of coffee shops and specialty grocery stores, live music and good, homestyle foods of all types.
From Bologna, having been associated with the Università di Bologna, the oldest European university, I gained a sense of tradition and historical sense of educational import. Bologna is a city of civic pride as well as a place for intense protest and forward thinking. It is the city of divine Italian food where I learned to cook and an appreciation for the deft hand of Italian detail in a city that is not a tourist destination such as Firenze or Venezia. I learned a sense of living on a daily basis, picking up foodstuffs for dinner on the way home and appreciating the strolls under the endless portici that adorn all of the sidewalks of Bologna.
In Antwerp, I have learned a city in a new language. I began and ended a marriage that lasted nearly 20 years there with many, many, many ports of call in between. I have learned the role of raising a child there and how to rebuild my life after a few years of difficulties that I overcame in Time. I have learned there how to stand up for myself and assert my being a foreigner and I have learned the many nooks and crannies of the city that I will soon be returning to with a new life and fortified foundation.
From Madurai, dear sweet, smelly, dirty, beautiful Madurai. I have learned how to find the beautiful in the grotesque, the hope in despair, the reverence of a community that I have never seen before. I have learned the patience equal to the many statues in the Meenakshi Temple and how it feels to be a true minority, to be the only one who looks different and the humility that comes with that. I have learned the nature of childish curiosity on the faces of the children and the attitude of fatalism that sometimes we must adopt to make it through the day. I have learned that no one of the five senses can trump the other and that above all, I am able to find peace, serenity, and a blissful calm in the midst of the "Chaos."
Here are some parting shots of my Madurai...
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