Eight-one-year-old Palaniammal, a resident of a village called Andaman near Madurai, has never worn slippers when inside the village. “It is in reverence to the village deity,” she says.
No sooner, anyone reaches the entrance of the village, they have to remove the slippers and walk barefoot to their homes. Even when passers-by or travellers go past Andaman by this road, they carry their footwear in hand till they cross a good distance.
It is a rule everyone follows without exception in the village out of respect for goddess Mandhaiamman. The villagers consider the entire village as a temple.
“What will happen if somebody walks around in slippers in the village?”. “They will get high fever which is not easy to cure,”. Has anybody been affected? “Nobody dares to disobey.”
The culture has been orally passed down generations with an element of fear and respect. And everybody follows their ancestors. The superstition holds no matter what.
“People want to stay safe because they have faith in the reigning deity, an avatar of goddess Kali,” says Rajamani, 53. “Nobody has ever complained or flouted the rule, even though we have tried to stop pregnant women, senior citizens, the ill or injured and small children from following the practice,” he says.
The village has 135 families and a sparse population of 500-odd. A majority of men and women are farm workers, according to S Revathy, a primary school teacher in a school in the neighbourhood. The inhabitants are simple folk with an idyllic way of living. Faith is a deeply personal thing and the entire village has silently embraced a belief that keeps them happy.
“Nobody knows who started the practice and when. Children watch the adults and voluntarily adopt it, no matter what the weather is like,” she says, adding, “Even I have never questioned but simply adhered to the rules.