During my recent visit to South India I had a marvelous opportunity to revisit the village of Olappalayam, the site of my doctoral field research done some fifty years ago. Of course there are many changes, in fact so many that the place has become totally amazing. Although I have been back before, on this trip certain very new upgrades were particularly stunning. As if to symbolize that the period of my own research there, I took a picture of my old house… or what is left of it. That dwelling is just a faint memory now, just one old wooden door (photo center) surrounded by crumbling walls remains. Now the streets are beautifully clean, smooth and well-cemented. No more muddy ruts during the monsoon rains! The old hand weavers’ craft, once so prevalent, has been totally replaced by mechanized machine looms driven by computerized patterns and skilled machine operators.
