Freaky Friday

I should learn by now not to leave the house on Fridays :-) When I went to pick up Sofia from school and was waiting in front of her school, I heard some drumming. So I turned and saw this guy coming down the street followed by a woman who was drumming. As he got closer I realized that he had a skewer pierced through one side of his mouth and at the other end a lemon was placed on its sharp tip. Lemons (and chillies) are supposed to bring luck and ward off evil. I had just recently seen a documentary on TV about this same piercing ritual, so I immediately took out my camera to take a picture (as a good tourist would do). But in doing so, I attracted his attention and he came straight to me. He stretched out his hand kind of pointing so I thought maybe he wanted me to take another picture of him, but after I did he seemed to be saying something... I had noooo idea. I got kind of scared when I saw his blood shot eyes and his semi aggressive behavior.. so I assumed he wanted money and just to get him to go away I paid him 10 rupees (25 cents)... but he still didn't go away... I was so confused... but soon realized he wasn't doing this for any religious reasons... he was a beggar! He went to other parents caught off guard tapping their shoulders and getting uncomfortably close to all of us. Thankfully the school's security guard shewed him away... and I realized by the look of disgust in his face that this definitely wasn't a "normal" or common thing around here.

I learned later through the internet this this piercing is usually done for a Hindu festival called Thaipusam... it's celebrated mostly by the Tamil community (in Southern India) on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (Jan/Feb). Usually they will do these piercings during this thaipusam festival.. but this was July! So, it was most likely not for any religious reasons (I'm guessing). Here's the wikipedia page if you want to learn more.