Glimpse of Tamil Countryside

We drove out to the countryside, passing by a thousand villager faces, bullock carts, goats, lunghis, sugar cane fields and coconut trees. Tropical greens, garland yellows, red bricks, white sumos. The roads deteriorated with each passing kilometer and we arrived at a small church along the way, some 20 kilometers from the closest town. We ate fish and biryani, papadams and chutneys. We navigated our way to a huge flood plain backed up by a rustic dam. Palm trees growing out of the water and children jumping of rocks and splashing in the liquid sea. I stood on the other side of the dam, thinking about the size and power of water. Walking past the buffalo underneath the mango tree, I arrived at a small temple in the shade. The local boys batted the cricket ball in a grove of gum trees as the sun poked through the green leaves to color my skin while soaking the unprotected valley in a powerful bright.