Weekend Excursion

On Friday night we said goodbye to Joan, who scheduled herself to volunteer only one week before catching a tour to northern India. We also said goodbye to Nita, who would only be gone for the weekend as she flew to Bombay (Mumbai) to visit her grandmother. On Saturday morning (March 20), the rest of us woke up eagerly anticipating our weekend away from work and our holiday to Pondicherry (Puducherry).

Stephen had hired an air conditioned bus (the air conditioning sort of worked) and a driver and he acted as our tour guide extraordinaire. Our first stop, shortly after leaving Chenai was the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial built at the site where he was assasinated by a woman belonging to the Tamil Tigers. Then we were off on the approximately one and a half drive to Kanchipuram, a Hindu temple town where we visited four Hindu temples (exuse any mispellings): Kamshi Amman temple, Ekambranatha. temple, Akaila temple, and Varavaraja Temple.

I would have a hard time describing the temples without also having the pictures present as these temples were like nothing I have ever seen before, never having visited an Asian country before. Not being Hindu (except for Aneesh), we were not allowed in the inner temple. All the temples had a surrounding wall which enclosed various holy buildings. The gates into the walls were topped by tall pyramid like structures which were decorated with many deities. A knowledgeable person could tell which god the temple was dedicated to by looking at a stone animal close by the inner entrance. For example, a stone bull indicated that the temple belonged to Shiva. Two of the temples had an inner concrete "tank" holding water where pilgrims could wash themselves. The first temple had a place where free food was given to pilgrims and a neem tree where offerings were hungs. For example, small wooden cradles were hung by couples desiring a baby. Another thing that impressed me about the temples was the high quality of the stone work and the carvings. In all the temples, we were able to view detailed carvings of gods, goddesses, animals, and ordinary people. Stephen impressed us all by his knowledge of Hindu mysticism (he is Catholic) and Indian history.

After our temple tour, it was off to Pondicherry. Pondicherry is the British name; however, India is trying to replace British names with Indian ones, so it is now called Puducherry. However, Puducherry is was actually a French colonial town. On the way to Puducherry, we stopped at a silk factory and the women of the group had a great time being shown silk scarves, shawls, table runners, saris, etc. Fortunately (and not surprisingly) the factory took credit cards.

At last, after a long, hot day, we arrived sweating at our hotel in Puducherry. We given mango juice by the hotel staff after our arrival and we eagerly anticipated the hot showers. After freshening up, we took off on foot to walk along the beach at night. I loved at as this is the time when the local people come out to stroll and take in the ocean breeze. There were food and trinket vendors and the murmur of ocean waves and people talking. After strolling along the beach, we wanted to find a bookstore to find simple books on Hinduism as we were having a hard time keeping all the gods and goddesses straight. Stephen led us to a suitable bookstore and several of us bought children's books on Hinduism. After these purchases, Stephen took us to a French restaurant. I came to the conclusion it was called "French" because it served other food besides Indian food; for example pizza, spaghetti, seafood, etc. I ordered the garden salad (which was sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots and onions) and grilled tiger prawns. Good, but not as good as fresh caught shrimp we eat at our cabin in Alaska. When dinner was over, Stephen called our bus to pick us up, knowing we would be too tired to walk back to our hotel.

On Sunday morning, we got to sleep in a little later than normal, then met in the hotel restaurant for a "continental breakfast." I had scrambled eggs, toast, and coffee. Then it was back on the bus for more touring. Our first stop was Auroville, which is a community of people dedicated to reaching enlightenment. They have also done an impressive job of conservation as they have planted countless trees in an area of wasteland. Once we arrived, we were obligated to view a film about the Matrimandir. I'm still confused what this is exactly, except that it is a huge globe resembling a small globe seen at Epcot Center in Disney world and somehow the inside has a crystal ball like thing that catches the sun's rays and you can meditate there. Stephen, our guide, who has made the trip countless times says he still doesn't understand it, either. The walk to see the globe was nice as we walked along a CLEAN dirt path among trees; it was a relief to walk outside the city. At the end of the path, we could only view the globe from the outside as we didn't have permission to enter. Back at the main compound, I had the experience of using an Indian style toilet (see me for details), then we had time for some shopping (yes, the commune has boutiques) and a lunch at their cafeteria.

We then had about an hour to hour and a half drive to Mamallupuram. Mamallupuram is a village set up at the site of anciet Pallava kings. There, we viewed ancient stone carvings. Again, I would have a hard time explaining them without a slide show. Stephen explained that this was a site where they practiced their stone carvings so that they could use their skills at other sites. It was impressive that whole shrines, whole animals where carved out of a single rock; the carvers started at the top of the rock and carved downwards, carving out roofs, then walls, then carving inwards to hollow out rooms and shrines. The walls in turn had a multitude of carved deities. We walked to a site of an ancient light house, which was a huge stone platform where a large fire was built to guide the ships. Walking up to the platform, we had a marvellous view of the Mamallupuram area. Another highlight of this area was viewing the largest bas relief sculpture in the world: Arjuna's Penance. This sculpture depicted many deities and animals, including impressively massive elephants. The story behind this is that Arjuna wanted a special weapon to defeat his enemies. He did a penance (he's depicted standing on one leg and holding his arms above his head) and the gods gave him this weapon and he was able to be victorious.

At this point we were very hot and tired. Nikki got the trooper of the group award as she endured the heat and trip while being very sick with a stomach/intestinal bug. While we enjoyed our weekend, we gratefully climbed back in the bus to head back to the guesthouse. However, before boarding the bus, several of us had our fortunes read by a parrot fortune teller. A man sitting on a mat had a parrot in a cage. He let the parrot out of the cage and the parrot would pick a card from a vertically stacked deck. The man would then interpret the card. Stephen translated what the man said told us. I apparently will live to 97 years old, have family problems which will be resolved this year, will be rich at 55 years old (oh boy, my pension will be bigger than I thought!), and apparently I'm to have patience.

When we arrived at out guesthouse, dinner and Nita were waiting for us. Everyone quickly ate dinner, then fairly quickly went to bed. Back to work tomorrow.