Tuesday 2nd September 2008
We’ve gone from a life of grey and monotony to a life of colour and vibrancy.
So we finally left Bangalore and made our way to the state of Tamil Nadu (home of the Dosa & Idli). Mamallapuram was our first stop where we stayed for 3 days. Mix of sun, seafood, sand, ocean and seediness thrown in. Well how about I start with some pooh talk…. Ben and I went for a relaxing walk along the beach at the wee hour of 6am in the morning to catch a glimpse of the sunrise and to watch fishermen set off for the day. Of course for a minute there I forget I was in India and as I happen to look down there was a piece of turd stuck to the side of my little pinky toe… grrrr… I just took a deep breath in and charged for the salt water and exfoliating sand. I walked further down the beach to see locals doing their business in and out of the water, there and then I realized that what was on my foot wasn’t from a cute little doggie. To top it off on the way back down the beach coming home I discovered another piece of ‘you know what’ on my foot and of course I switched to an irrational, anxious and panicked state of mind but thank Vishnu Ben was there to help me realize I had to get over it because we’ve still got 8 more months to go… ah ah ah ah. At least I got to dip my foot in the Bay of Bengal!!
Anywhoo, Mamallapuram is famous for its ancient rock carvings & especially the Shore Temple (listed as a World Heritage site) and the Five Rathas. It’s also full of hammering and chiseling artisans chipping away at beautiful sculptures. We’ve put up some picture so check them out. So Ben and I had our first encounter with tourists here after being the only whities for a month, people keep thinking Ben and I are French or Dutch hmmmmmm
We saw lots of monkeys fight over banana skins, we saw to bulls lock horns and goats following us. We saw Pujas (auspicious rituals for new moon) including painting and smashing gourds and coconuts in front of homes or shop fronts.
Did I mention it’s 32 degrees almost every day!!! Now I don’t mind the cold bucket showers so much, mind you I start sweating as soon as I step out of the shower.
Yesterday morning we left Mamallapuram and took a two hour local bus ride (I made friend with a lovely lady next to me, even though we couldn’t understand each other we established that it could have been a great friendship eh eh) to where we find ourselves now, Pondicherry but I’ll let Ben tell you all about our exciting adventures on our first day here!
Sending all my love
Silvana xoxo
We’re famous baby!
Our first day out in Pondicherry and we have made our way onto Indian TV. The glitz and glamour of it all was just amazing as we were “discovered” on the ocean promenade. We were brilliant, one take only like true professionals. Although there was no pay we hope it may lead to other roles.
What was it for?
Keep Tamil Nadu (the State) clean. For some reason they thought if a couple of pale faces are shown on TV putting their rubbish in the bin the natives will follow. So we drank a juice looked for a bin, used it then picked up some chip packets off the ground and put them in the bin too! Hopefully we will be sent a copy and we will forward it on. It goes on TV next week.
Later that night we stumbled upon a marriage procession while wandering the streets. There were people with skull and demon masks dressed as animals leading the procession, with a band and people with offerings following. There were huge sky rockets let off at each intersection they passed through and a whole bunch of them let off when they arrived at their destination (yes we followed them pretty much joining the procession). I love this country. You go out for lunch and a walk, next thing you know you’re on TV and part of a marriage ceremony just by being in the right place at the right time.
The South is damn hot. Silvana may sweat after stepping out of the shower but I sweat before during and after, my blood is too thick for this damn heat. Pondicherry is where we are now which was a former French colony with remnants of their influence surviving to today in the form of architecture, European business hours, street names that are in French and restaurants that all seem to have ‘Le’ in them but which serve mostly Italian food (again I love this country).
The place where we are staying at is like a resort with, ocean views, palm trees and sweet ocean breezes. But as it’s owned by an ashram there’s no pool bar, cocktails or bikini clad women and there is not a spot of sand either. Just a break wall of jagged rocks with waves crashing on them, so although sanctuary from the heat is right in front of us all we can do is look as the nearest beach is 10km away, maybe tomorrow.
I think we may rest our butts here for a few days. We weren’t prepared for this heat and its taking its toll on us. Where to next, who knows but we are in temple town in this area so we will be stopping at a few of them.
As I always say, remember to use garbage bins provided and pick up rubbish if you see it on the ground.
Till next time
Ben
