“Aadi Padhinettam Perukku”, Mettur dam, Anthropocene

My wife’s paternal ancestral village is in central coastal Tamil Nadu, actually just upstream of the Cauvery delta region and mine, northern Tamil Nadu. You may think this is cultural proximity. In many ways, it indeed it is, but there are also features that announce the difference. One of them is the extent of celebrations that blew past us yesterday, the “Aadi Padhinettam Perukku”.

A little bit of explanation is in order. The Cauvery delta area is the rice bowl of the state. The river runs full around this time, catching the monsoon runoff along the Cauvery catchment.The spate reaches the region around the first week of August. A good monsoon manifesting itself as a full flowing river makes the people of the region happy – a bountiful harvest is in store for them. Hence, the celebrations, traditionally marked offfor the 18th(“padhinettam”) day of the month of Aadi (July-August), which translates into 2nd or 3rd August. Now to the Tamil word, “Perukku” –the word means something enhanced,in the current context the flow in the river.

My ancestors lived in the drier northern part of the state, near Kanchipuram. In this region, rainfall augmented by Ery (lakes; the districts of Kanchipuram, Chengalpattu abound with such water retaining geographical features) irrigation is the mainstay of agriculture practice. It is then but natural that the festival is not quite so feverishly celebrated in the northern districts.

Yet, culture seeps north, south, up, down and also sideways. Even my parents, hidebound northern Tamil Nadians had a soft corner for “Aadi Padhinettam Perukku”.

I suspect, indeed I am sure that the festival came into being before the construction of the Mettur dam across Cauvery, in 1934.That is, the traditional date was a dictate of nature, the monsoon reaching Kerala on the 1st of June. Add about sixty days to that for the monsoon to progress across the Western Ghats into the Cauvery basin and get the river up to flow downstream. That is how it came to be the 18th of Aadi, on an accepted average. But, now, you have to depend on the munificence of the state government. It is the Tamil Nadu government that controls the gates of the dam, just so the river flows full on the designated date. Nature could have been, and I am sure it was, not too particular about the date, just as the monsoon may hit Kerala on 31st May or 2nd June. June 1st is a long period average.

But governments do not work on averages. They work precisely (many times precisely wrong! But let that slide). So, the government, as it cannot order the river water directly to reach the delta region, does the next best thing - commands the dam authorities to release water at the mandated precise time, rate and quantity. Bingo, the river is in full flow on the appointed date! “Aadi Padhinettam Perukku” is on!

Mettur dam or not, monsoon or not, man has ensured he will not be denied his celebrations.

This is precisely why there is a vigorous argument going on whether the Earth has entered a new geological era, Anthropocene, shifting out of the earlier Holocene.There is also serious disagreement even among those who agree that there has been a shift: the shift occurred at the dawn of the industrial revolution or at the dawn of agriculture, a difference of some 8,000-10,000 years. Basically people are arguing whether human activities have had a significant global impact on the Earth's ecosystems and when.

And, which camp do you think the fossil fuel industry, automobile industry, the power industry, much of the manufacturing industry, and even traders who make their money through arbitraging (involving shipping of manufactured goods across the seas, including the iPhone you bought yesterday) are supporting? My informed is guess is they try to deny that the Earth has entered a new geological time scale at all. It is still Holocene! for them. But, if push comes to shove, they might condescendingly agree to a date when agriculture started, to dilute their own impact on the ever worsening situation. If you pushed them harder, their response would be an undisguised smirk, “Show me where human activities have influenced ecosystems! Ha …”

That is where I get them by the throat. I start, “Ha! yourself first.” Then, after a pause for effect,I add, “Come to the Cauvery delta. It is because and only because of the Mettur dam the ‘Aadi Padhinettam Perukku’ can be celebrated on the 18th of the month of Aadi of the Tamil calendar! The monsoon has no more say on these celebrations, much unlike earlier times. The date does not even shake its booty! If that is not an example of man influencing nature, what is? Do you deny that Mettur dam was made by Martians, those bug-eyed green little people?”

By the way, for my parents, the Karthigai Vilakku” celebration is a three day affair, coming in the middle of the “other” monsoon, the Northeast. It is on those days we have rows of candles (of the traditional type) adorning the balconies, parapets, ledges of the house and such. With my wife, it is a celebration but does not evoke the same fervor. The reason? My ancestral village is quite close to Thiruvannamalai, the epicenter of the festival. Indeed, the dates of the celebrations sometimes differ between those of the temple and that indicated in our almanac. Then, we go by the temple date! That is our affinity, whereas people from further south, like my wife’s ancestors do it as per the almanac. The fact though is they too celebrate. The cultural affinity is established even if not proximity.

Raghuram Ekambaram