More Miscellaneous Thoughts...
India is a country of such diversity and great contrasts - to the point of being bizarre. It's like watching one long performance art piece. You never know what you're going to see passing you by on the street....14 people in a 2-person auto rickshaw (like a yellow-and-black 3-wheeled golf cart), a person driving a motorbike while holding cement blocks, a funeral procession with drums and horns, peacocks (the national bird)... Sitting next to me in the internet cafe doing online chatting is a old swami with a long, greying beard, wearing a pink robe, matching turban, and some lovely beaded bracelets. (By the way, "internet cafe" is a misnomer...it's a dusty roadside room with plastic molded chairs and no a/c. Last night I had a computer on which the "x" didn't work.) My all-time favorite visual so far, however, was an old man pulling a rickety wooden cart loaded with Xerox paper!
A Few Random Things I WON'T Miss About India...
--Perpetually filthy feet. I don't think they'll ever get clean.
--Lack of shower curtains. Indian bathrooms either don't have shower curtains or they have ones that are inadequate. In Kodai, the bathroom had an elaborate shower, with several massage heads and a curved glass door, but...the shower door didn't go all the way to the floor. They just don't get it. This morning, the drain in the bathroom floor wasn't working well, so as a result, when I opened the bathroom door to leave, I discovered that the bedroom was flooded.
--Tipping. It's a newbie tourist's nightmare. Especially when you're trying to convert INR to USD in your head. You either offend someone or shock them. First of all, you look in your wallet and see all these 100 or even 500 bills and think, "I'm rich!!!" (Of course, these are only about $2 and $10 respectively.) Then you think, "Well, since I'm so rich, why don't I leave a generous tip?" However, a generous tip may be completely bizarre in most situations...like leaving a days wages or something like $100 to an average waiter. I did feel very fine giving my main driver Chandran, my manual rickshaw driver Murugan (remember him?) and my auto rickshaw driver Manikandan generous tips. They went beyond the call of duty.
Leaving Tomorrow...
Today, my auto rickshaw driver, Manikandan (we got acquainted with him there first time we were in Tiruvannamalai), took me on a nice tour of the 8 temples surrounding the base of Mount Arunachala. There are 9 all told, including the large temple here in town. I also had some quiet time at Quo Vadis and was able to read up on the mountain and its religious significance. At the risk of oversimplifying a very complex Hindu concept, I'll just say that it is a very sacred site. This is where Shiva (Si
va) manifested himself in a great pillar of fire to the gods Vishnu and Brahma, who were getting too big for their britches. The mountain is the result. Vishnu, in the form of a wild boar, attempted (for 1000 or so years, I think) to find the depths of Siva's presence. Brahma, in the form of a swam, attempted to find the heights. Both were unable. Siva has many names (1008, I think) and manifestations. Among them is the concept of Siva as the great lingam (lamp). You may have seen something about the huge Deepam festival here on the PBS special on India. Men hike up the mountain to light an enormous lingam as the full moon is just rising and the entire town cheers. Wish I could be here for that. Next time...
The small roadside temples always have a few people filing through. The large temples I've seen in India are teeming with people. The air is close and humid and reeks of sour ghee (clarified butter), milk, sandalwood paste, turmeric, and other things which are poured over or applied to the statues and to the devotees. Extreme reverence is always the order of the day.
Hard to believe, but I'll be picked up at 10:00 by a taxi for Chennai (Madras) for a connecting flight to Delhi, them Amsterdam (with a 9-hour layover!), and on to Minneapolis...returning Wednesday afternoon.
Now, I need to go get a bite to eat at the Roots Cafe and see if there's any way I can get the harmonium I want to buy onto the plane.
Malai Vanakkam (Good Evening)...or in your case, Kalai Vanakkam (Good Morning). Probably my last post for awhile. I have fallen in love with India. Still, I'm ready to leave. Clean feet, here I come!
"Mr. Mark" (As they call me here. Hey, if I can't pronounce things like "Melipattakabattchulum," they shouldn't have to attempt "Spitzack.")
India is a country of such diversity and great contrasts - to the point of being bizarre. It's like watching one long performance art piece. You never know what you're going to see passing you by on the street....14 people in a 2-person auto rickshaw (like a yellow-and-black 3-wheeled golf cart), a person driving a motorbike while holding cement blocks, a funeral procession with drums and horns, peacocks (the national bird)... Sitting next to me in the internet cafe doing online chatting is a old swami with a long, greying beard, wearing a pink robe, matching turban, and some lovely beaded bracelets. (By the way, "internet cafe" is a misnomer...it's a dusty roadside room with plastic molded chairs and no a/c. Last night I had a computer on which the "x" didn't work.) My all-time favorite visual so far, however, was an old man pulling a rickety wooden cart loaded with Xerox paper!
A Few Random Things I WON'T Miss About India...
--Perpetually filthy feet. I don't think they'll ever get clean.
--Lack of shower curtains. Indian bathrooms either don't have shower curtains or they have ones that are inadequate. In Kodai, the bathroom had an elaborate shower, with several massage heads and a curved glass door, but...the shower door didn't go all the way to the floor. They just don't get it. This morning, the drain in the bathroom floor wasn't working well, so as a result, when I opened the bathroom door to leave, I discovered that the bedroom was flooded.
--Tipping. It's a newbie tourist's nightmare. Especially when you're trying to convert INR to USD in your head. You either offend someone or shock them. First of all, you look in your wallet and see all these 100 or even 500 bills and think, "I'm rich!!!" (Of course, these are only about $2 and $10 respectively.) Then you think, "Well, since I'm so rich, why don't I leave a generous tip?" However, a generous tip may be completely bizarre in most situations...like leaving a days wages or something like $100 to an average waiter. I did feel very fine giving my main driver Chandran, my manual rickshaw driver Murugan (remember him?) and my auto rickshaw driver Manikandan generous tips. They went beyond the call of duty.
Leaving Tomorrow...
Today, my auto rickshaw driver, Manikandan (we got acquainted with him there first time we were in Tiruvannamalai), took me on a nice tour of the 8 temples surrounding the base of Mount Arunachala. There are 9 all told, including the large temple here in town. I also had some quiet time at Quo Vadis and was able to read up on the mountain and its religious significance. At the risk of oversimplifying a very complex Hindu concept, I'll just say that it is a very sacred site. This is where Shiva (Si
va) manifested himself in a great pillar of fire to the gods Vishnu and Brahma, who were getting too big for their britches. The mountain is the result. Vishnu, in the form of a wild boar, attempted (for 1000 or so years, I think) to find the depths of Siva's presence. Brahma, in the form of a swam, attempted to find the heights. Both were unable. Siva has many names (1008, I think) and manifestations. Among them is the concept of Siva as the great lingam (lamp). You may have seen something about the huge Deepam festival here on the PBS special on India. Men hike up the mountain to light an enormous lingam as the full moon is just rising and the entire town cheers. Wish I could be here for that. Next time...The small roadside temples always have a few people filing through. The large temples I've seen in India are teeming with people. The air is close and humid and reeks of sour ghee (clarified butter), milk, sandalwood paste, turmeric, and other things which are poured over or applied to the statues and to the devotees. Extreme reverence is always the order of the day.
Hard to believe, but I'll be picked up at 10:00 by a taxi for Chennai (Madras) for a connecting flight to Delhi, them Amsterdam (with a 9-hour layover!), and on to Minneapolis...returning Wednesday afternoon.
Now, I need to go get a bite to eat at the Roots Cafe and see if there's any way I can get the harmonium I want to buy onto the plane.
Malai Vanakkam (Good Evening)...or in your case, Kalai Vanakkam (Good Morning). Probably my last post for awhile. I have fallen in love with India. Still, I'm ready to leave. Clean feet, here I come!
"Mr. Mark" (As they call me here. Hey, if I can't pronounce things like "Melipattakabattchulum," they shouldn't have to attempt "Spitzack.")
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