Morning walk in Jagir Ammapalayam
On my business trip to Salem (in TN and not USA), I stayed in a swanky 5* hotel, right on the highway to Kanyakumari. The hotel was swamped by men in white as their leader, heading one of the lesser Kazhagams, was camping on the eve of the PM’s visit to the steel city. The hotel wasn’t short of creature comforts, save one – a decent walking track. I couldn’t afford to miss my morning walks, come what may. So I crossed the busy highway and started walking along a narrow road into a territory that my phone referred to by a name that was quite a mouthful – Jagir Ammapalayam. The road began unimpressively with a huge CBSE school on my left, the office of an NGO and a bus-body workshop on my right. But the habitation began very quickly. It was not yet 7, but people were up and busy. Women with their wet hair wrapped in white thorthus were drawing kolam (rangoli) with rice flour on the doorway to their households. They ranged from the Spartan to the ornate and many in between. The aroma of
