Pondicherry

Rock & Goats

Beachfront at Pondicherry

Funeral Procession

Jan. 5, 2013- Frolicking

I'm getting used to Charles. He's not charismatic but is knowledgeable.

"He Who Litters Opens Evil To the World." That was a sign at a UNESCO site we saw this morning. Too bad they don't have those signs in towns. Although this morning some took a walk with Charles to see the village wake up & observed the women picking up trash & drawing colorful symbols at the entrances to their homes.

The site, Krishna Mandapam, was a 7th-8th century Dravidian series of bas relief monuments & cave temples carved from monoliths into rock during the Pallava Dynasty. It was just outside Marmallapuram near our hotel. As we approached we saw a huge boulder balanced precariously on a rocky slope on which goats frolicked. We couldn't resist. Of course I scrambled my way up but so did the newer, slimmer David. I was so proud of him. As we took photos of each other we were surrounded by Indians who wanted us to take their pictures. Then they wanted us to pose with them. They made no attempt to ask for money & had the biggest whitest smiles we've seen. One man overheard us talking about how bright their teeth were & he told us how he used a branch from a certain tree to clean his teeth. Amazing.

January is the month of pilgrimage & the color of the clothing depends on where they're going. Most of the people at the monuments were in red meaning they were heading for Karala. Maybe we'll see them again when we get there. The ones in black were going to Kancheepuram where we were yesterday. 

We also went to the Shore Temple so named for its proximity to the Bay of Bengal.  Interspersed among the ruins near the main structure were Roman ruins from the 2nd century.  Of course there were. This was an excellent port. Evidently the tsunami that hit Thailand also devastated a lot of this coast. Thousands died but unknown temples were found. They're still under excavation & we were unable to see them. Thank goodness. It's beastly hot again.

Hawkers were scurrying all around the area. They're persistent but not aggressive. I smiled, they smiled, we disagreed, then found a comfortable price for a small primitive painting on a piece of silk. It will cost twenty times what I paid to frame it.

We were having camera problems. We thought the battery was charged enough but we'd used it more than we thought. Charging did the trick. We've had bad camera karma before & have been bailed out by folks we've traveled with.

It was a fifty-five  mile (two hour) ride to Pondicherry. We stopped to watch people planting rice & were treated to a woman goatherd in a stunning sari working her herd. As we were leaving, water buffalo were being driven across the road. The people in the fields & herding animals were working in government jobs. They're guaranteed employment 100 days per year.  We also stopped to watch people fishing from catamarans. That's a Tamil word for two logs attached together making a boat & that's what they were fishing from. The women wade into the water & catch shrimp by hand. They catch about two pounds a day & get paid $5 for it. Then our bus passed a building with a sign reading "Shrimp Health Care Center." I kid you not. I wonder if the lady shrimpers were rescuing them so they could be cared for until they grew up to be prawns? Charles ruined our fun by saying it was concerned with shrimp culture & prevention of disease.

Seventy per cent of the population live in rural areas. Agriculture is the main industry but that's changing with an exodus to cities for better jobs. As far as density goes there are 400 people per kilometer here versus 30 per kilometer in the US.

This area reminds me of south Florida. There is tropical vegetation, it's swampy, sandy & it's not far above sea level. Many houses have thatched roofs & open sides much like the Seminole Indians in the Everglades.

Yesterday one of our group bought a sari. I've always thought it was almost the perfect attire for women. It's expandable for a pregnancy or weight gain & there are plenty of chubby Indian women here. What I didn't realize was that it's worn with a long slip underneath. The fabric is the same length for all sizes (about 20 feet). It's worn with a short sleeved shirt coming to the midriff & most women in the South allow that area to show in the gap between fabric & shirt. Sometimes it's not a pretty sight.

We were surprised to find that pork & beef is commonly served here since there aren't many Muslims. Christians are common down South. Our lunch stop was at a hotel, not ours, to experience aThali meal. It's served at festival times. Charles encouraged us to bring our cameras. It was indeed a lovely sight but, alas, our camera was out of commission. The various parts of the meal are served on banana leaves. The hotel used round trays but families don't have enough trays or plates for all guests so they serve soley on banana leaves. There was a bowl of rice in the center of the array surrounded by about a dozen small bowls of sauces, chicken, fish, yogurt, tapioca pudding, & a square of fruit cake. Most sauces were mild enough for me to eat & two were suitable only for David. Dessert was a tiny cup of ice-cream & a banana leaf wrapped around anise seeds & a sweet candy. It was optional to chew the leaf. I took a nibble of the contents but David did try the leaf. He said it mostly tasted of the candy inside.

Multiculturalism

Originally called  Puduchcheri meaning new fishing village, Pondicheri is back to using it's original name. The change was accidental due to an error in transcribing the name. It was settled in 1673 by the French East  India Company & was a French colony until they left in 1954ish. There were many battles over it's ownership & it went from French to Dutch to French to English & back again. We're staying at the Sunway GRT Grand Hotel & although Charles said we'd never see the likes of Radisson quality again on the trip, this is fine.

We set off for town in late afternoon to "beat the heat." I don't think so. We got caught in a water buffalo traffic jam but made our way to the beach in good order. Pondicheri is divided into, believe it or not, White Town where the French lived & Black Town where the Indians lived. The French area was seaside & pristine until they left & the Indian population took over. Although there is still a small French presence here the town is now trashy & run down. The beach was bordered by rows of stands selling all kinds of "beachy" paraphernalia.  

Eventually we arrived at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The decor was red & white Gothic style. David thought it was gorgeous. One of the gay men remarked to me that it was garish. What do straight men know? But it was colorful with flowers bedecking the altar & festooned bleeding sacred hearts every few feet. As we were leaving ,a funeral procession was wending its way down the street. The palanquin on which the body rested was laden with garlands of flowers & musicians led the parade. It was a bit like New Orleans & I thought they'd strike up When the Saints Come Marching In but this was a Hindu funeral. Charles noted that it was unusual for Hindus to use a coffin & we later saw a procession with the body wrapped in white cloth. Women aren't allowed to go to the cemetery & men who go must shower & change clothing after a visit. It's somewhat like the Jewish custom of hand washing after a funeral. Hindus too have a feast after burial.

Since liquor is less expensive here & more available we stopped at a liquor store. We bought a split of port for next Shabbat. It's appeal was that it was in a plastic bottle compatible with packing.

The Botanical Gardens awaited & I asked if that was where The Life of Pi was filmed. I was told they did shoot the opening segment there but switched to Taiwan for scenes inside the garden. This park had been devastated during a recent cyclone & wasn't up to standards. On a lighter note there was a mini Arc d' Triomphe monument to Madame Claude, a brothel madam. Evidently the water supply she & her "employees" dug saved the city for the French when the Brits barricaded it.  As we were leaving the park there was a disturbance among police, a man, & a woman. Charles translated for us. It is unseemly for unmarried people of the opposite gender to be in public in a "compromising" position. The argument occurred when the police told the couple to leave & the woman re-butted the rebuke saying they were talking, nothing more. Charles said the police were over-zealous in using their power, the couple were doing nothing untoward, & there was no reason to ban the two.

Off to the Aurobindo Ashram we went. We had to observe absolute silence as we walked through. The courtyard was filled with flowering potted plants leading to the flower covered tombs of the two people who were instrumental in keeping it viable. They're buried side by side. Since one of them had a Tunisian father & Jewish mother that tomb is decorated with a floral Star of David.

We were worn out & all decided to head back to the hotel. Charles didn't think the shopping here was so wonderful so we skipped it. It's still early in the trip so we have time.

Dinner was on our own & we joined people at the hotel restaurant for a change of pace. One ordered pasta Alfredo & the rest of us ordered lamb. I was the winner with succulent Moroccan lamb chops. David thought he'd ordered lamb chops Punjabi style but it turned out to be chopped lamb chunks with bones intact. English is not their first language.

Tomorrow we have a long day of driving back roads to Thanjavur.

Toby