Flight home

Up early to go to Bangalore to catch a flight with traffic and torn up roads we'll barely get there in time for luch when we leave here at 8 in the morning. Lunch with Lakuma will be our last with her. She goes home to Chennai on a train and we fly to New Delhi to catch another flight to New York. Lakuma will be happy to see her husband and son and we will be happy to see all of you.

Final Tuesday

Started off with an optional tour. Only 4 of us were up for another adventure so we rented a car and went in grand style. We stopped at several small villages out of Mysore and walked around, talked to people, took pictures and smiled a lot. We stopped and watched sugar cane being cut and then again to see it loaded into the trucks and to see leaf bowls and plates for sale. These are getting more popular again now that recycling is becoming somewhat popular. We also stopped to see some painted push carts which are characteristic of Mysore- people either paint ehm themselves or have somone more skilled do it. We ended at Somanathpur Temple- probably way misspelled. It is a 10th-11th C. structure dedicated to Vishnu. Many intricate stone carvings along the walls and pillars. It is built of of stone blocks. Jewelry and decorations on the statues like decoration on a cake. We were there early so we had the temple almost all to ourselves with our beautiful guide dressed in bright red sari to contrast with the gray stone. She makes a wonderful model. Statues of Vishnu in his various avitars line the outside walls, below this row are lines of elephants, horses, warriors, makaras and floral patterns.

Next is lunch at the Lahile Palace-19th C. built for the Majaraja's non-vegetarian friends. A sumptuous lunch was accompanied by musicians and our personal servers behind or beside each of us. We each got a platter with about 10 bowls of various good sauces and meats, then comes rices, more meats, veges, fruit and 3 kinds of bread including naan and my favorite which I can never remember. A dessert plate had cheesecake, fruit and a mystery ball of coconut, carrots, raisons and sugar. The room was magnificent as were the other rooms we toured after lunch.

Then we went to the Mysore Palace which was bigger and grander than anything which came before. Rebuilt in the late 1800's after the wood structure burned to the ground this one is built of steel. The stained glass windows were from Belgium, chandeliers from Italy And the steel pillars from France. Hallways were covered with historical murals, silver thrones and 2 glass chairs were on display- for visiting dignitaries. The best part was the upper floor where the Maharaja and family still view the yearly festival and parade of elephants in the vast courtyard in front. I can hardly stand that I had to lock up my camera.....boo hoo.

From there we went to see a new temple on top of the mountain (Chamundi) overlooking Mysore.I was stopped to take a picture of 2 mama monkeys with their babies and when I bent over to take the picture a cow came up and butted me in the butt! I jumped really high but at first thought mom was playing with me - I was surprised to see the cow. We didn't go in this temple but just looked from the outside. We got blessed on our way by with a piece of orange yarn, some red stuff on our foreheads and some chanting.

Next we went to see the 4th largest Nandi statue which was 1/2 way back down the hill. I took my shoes off to get a picture but mom was tired of doing that so she got to hold the shoes. There were some people in front of the cow getting blessings from a priest and some lit incense.

Daredevil Ride

Took a plane to Bangaluru early in the morning. Uneventful. Then got on new huge sized air conditioned bus with new driver and busboy to go to Mysore. This guy drives like a maniac, several gasps from the rooting section but no crashes. Had lunch at a memorable place- McDonald's, saving our budgets for an elegant dinner. We had chicken Mc spicys and 2 ice cream cones each. It was delicious! On to the summer palace of Tipu Sultan in Srirangapatna. It was a fabulous palace on the inside but alas no photos and very nondescript from the outside. Very memorable historical wall paintings and carved walls. Also a museum of Sultans and famous people form this area. Tipu Sultan was know as the tiger of Mysore because he was so ferocious against the English, he was finally defeated in 1800. Mother met the boss man at the palace and buttered him up for a phot of the palace since no cameras were allowed. She managed to get the only brocure and also his card with name address and e-mail for any further questions.
Then we saw the remains of the fort and Tipu's Palace which was torn to the ground when the British conquered the town.



Here we are in the hotel "western" bar which has seats with saddles.

We started out with a walk at 7 AM and already I am sweaty and hot. We saw the house and church (St Francis) of Vasco deGama and where he was buried. We saw some more fishing boats. There were people lined up in crowds along the waterfront waiting for the big cruise ships to come by.They look so humongous in this setting and everybody is excited. We saw a bunch of other churches including Santa Cruz Basilica which is the church our family from last night goes to- it was packed and people were flowing out all the doors. They were playing some very nice music in there. After breakfast we went to Mattancherry Palace- 1550. There were some awesome murals of the Ramayana, some of which were partially restored. They decided to do it in sections instead of closing down for restoration so it would remain open for visitors. Unfortunately for me- no photos allowed! I already got in trouble for taking a photo of the sign on my way in. Also inside were portraits of all the Maharajas, the earliest dating to the 1500's. Then we went to "Jew town" and the Paradise Synagogue (1664).They were persecuted by the Portuguese along the coast and came to this place under the protection of the Maharaja. There are only 20Jews living here now but many shops and restaurants are open. We did a little shopping at the women's cooperative- no bargains here! Then we ate at an outdoor waterfront restaurant finishing with cool ginger ice-cream. After another dip in the pool we are now off to another dance performance.

Back from the dance. Men only, dressed as men and women.The best part was getting to sit on the side of the stage and watching them put on the make-up. The expressions, eye movement and hand and finger movements were carefully choreographed. The make up boy was also the drummer. He was only 11 but well skilled at both. He is studying to be an actor. He is learning all aspects of theatre and can start acting when he is 16. His drumsticks are curved!

Backwater Canals

The hit of the day was the backwater boat ride on the waterways leading from the mountains to the Arabian Sea on the Western Malabar coast. The boat was covered with bamboo matting with 2 bedrooms and a kitchen on the lower floor and a lounge with good viewing on the upper story.You can rent these to cruise and live on for a longer period but we just went for the afternoon. We saw local families on these as well. We saw people walking by as well as washing their dishes, hair, babies and clothing. Kids were playing and riding boats around us. Kids mostly waved and shouted "hello", adults went both ways, ignoring us or waving. Nobody tried to sell us anything which was a nice change. The weather was again quite warm-hot but we at least had shade and I took a few baths in the bathroom sinks to cool off. We had a really nice Indian lunch served to us on the upper deck which included spicy fish, curries, fruit ad much more. When we got back to the hotel, after a quick dip in the pool to get drenched for the heat, mom and I went on a walk on our own along the waterline. There are Chinese fishing nets lined up on poles with a counterweight of large stones that allow them to raise and lower the huge nets into the water with about 4 me also pulling the lines. We climbed up onto one boat and they let us pull up the net but we couldn't do it too many times as they all want a tip and we are nearly out of money. If I could remember my ATM password I could get some more but alas I just changed it and it is a mystery to me now. We ended the day with a visit by 6 of us to a local home where we were warmly greeted. We sat and talked about their family and ways of life and they asked about us.They served us the most wonderful meal we have had yet which included fish, spicy shrimp,several curries, papadan- probably way off but it was crunch read like a tortilla, chicken, really spicy beats, mango salad, ad a few more items. The grandfather took a liking to our friend John who he said looked just like his brother who moved to the US and had not been in contact for years. With tears in his eyes he asked for a photo with John and himself.

Kochin

Reluctantly checked out of our cool mountain home and off down the mountains to see tea plantations and rubber .It's a long windy road and a litle hazardous- both the road and on the stomach. We had lunch at the rubber plantation, got to see how rubber is harvested and made into sheets. The family was very nice and the wife an excellant cook. Their daughter and first grandson were visiting so we got to meet them as well. It took 8 hours to get to Kochin at our waterfront hotel. We drop our suitcases and hop right back on the bus for some shopping to our guide's favorite shop. The bus can't make it all the way and we hire some autos for the rest of the ride. They had some beautiful things. We got back to the hotel about 9 PM for dinner and cocktails.

Elephant shower

We get up early for a nature walk in the Tiger preserve which also has elephants and other wild beasts. We don't see to many ferocious animals, however. We start by crossing the lake on a raft of bamboo sticks thrashed together into a mostly floating "boat". The most easily sighted were the tadpoles who were so prevalent that they formed a visible dark line all along the edge of the lake. 2 hours later we had seen various birds, a wild boar, black monkeys and butterflies. Somone saw a mongoose and some others saw an elephant with her baby back in the bushes.We went ovely excited by this adventure and asked at the desk if they could get the 2 of us transportation to the elephant village so we could go for a ride. We were sent a tuk-tuk, which we learned is not a tuk-tuk but an "auto", and a personal escort and off we went on a real adventure. Wewere taken on a bumpy ride down dirt cratered roads to find just one elephant as the rest were gone for a festival, but that's all we needed. So to add to our growing goup we get the mahout with his elephant, the tour guid and the assistant.They put us up on the elephant who is clad in a heavy blanket and a wire frame which holds a footrest on either side for us to put our feet on and which has small metal handles and I am istructed to hang on right behind mom. This doesn't work though as I want to lean around to see and take some photos. Nobody falls off and we have a woderful ride for about 40 minutes. We don't really know what's next as we did pay our $20.00 for an hour. So we are then excorted to the hose where we are instructed on bathing the elephant and we give him a hard brushing down. Then the mahout gets the elephant to lay down and tells me to jump up when I am then soaked with water! Fun times. We also met a new friend on this trip- our escort Manu took all the bathing with the elephant shots- not available onthis posting- and gave us his e-mail. He and all the others here are so friendly and helpful.

Then we go on a spice tour to a spice plantation and a guided tour by the"spiceologist". We saw growing cardemon, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg,vanilla, pepper, tumeric and others. Then we go to the organic spice market- on the bus.

Then we get to see another dance performance,different dancer but just as good. She is the daughter of the dance master and is an aspiring "dancing cardiologist". We went out as a group for a nice dinner.

Meenakshi Temple in the daylight

We went again to the Meenakshi temple, the same one where we saw the night ceremony 2 days ago. We went to the main sanctuary where the gods were put to bed. I was having a little heat stroke and almost passed out but my fellow travellers poured water over my head and down my throat and I felt a little better and continued on.We go to the 1,000 pillar hall where the sculptures are larger than life and seem to jump out of the pillar they are a part of. In the side isles there is an exhibit of classic bronze statues. On we go to the marriage mandpa where we encounter a "baby shower" in progress which we are encourage by our guide and just join i. It is a celebration by friends and family of the girl for her first pregnancy. There blessings and flowers and small gifts given to the girl by each of her friends after the priest gives his blessings. We are given bracelets and candy as guests and later are asked to send photos as we are the only ones there with cameras.
From there we cross the valley to the mountains in our big bus. Crops of grapes, rice, sugar, and palm cover the fields. We make a sudden climb up the Eastern Ghats to the top of the mountains, through the jungle to our new abode in the Periyer National Tiger reserve. along the road we slow down to see the many families of monksys hanging out in the trees and along the walls. The bus boy throws them some treats and there is no sharing happening there!

The rooms are small buildings staggered up the hillside.We get the closest one by the pool and are very happy although there is no time for anything but a dip while were here. We went to a martial arts performance and then a classical dance exhibition by a 10 year old who was fantastic. We are thrilled with the slight breeze and the relative coolness here, no need even for air conditioning!

Madurai

Our first stop this morning was the Nyaka Palace. It has been recently restored, built in the 1700s. Some of it was repainted in its original color and some was not, it was massive in scale and impressive even though only 1/3 of its original size. The only furnishings sere sculptures in a small museum in what used to be the entertainment/ dance hall.

From there we took a wild rickshaw ride through the streets and around the Menakskee temple where we went to the night ceremony last night. Every evening they put Shiva to bed with Parvati in a grand ceremony and then close the temple. We did the evening ceremony instead of the 4 AM awakening ceremony for obvious reasons. The priest brigs the statue of Shiva in a fancy covered carrier and do a ritual ceremony with 3 different stops along the procession. Lekuna ran us through the crowds to each stop holding on to one another so as to stay together.We short-cutted the route and she managed to get us i the front row for every stop along the way. Too bad mom told me to leave my camera in the hotel! The temple was closed today for the wedding of the Shiva's son.
We continued in our rickshaw through fruit and vegetable markets, clothing streets, and businesses of all kinds. We drove around a big statue of Nande the bull which was pretty cool with a temple behind it, a horse statue and we saw a prade going down the street with people with sprouting plants on their heads celebrating the wedding. Then it was off for a bit of shopping before luch at a local slow "fast food" restaurant full of local people.
Then it was time to go to the wedding at Thiruparam Kundram temple. We thought we could only see the outside of the temple and the parade carts but Lekuna found a guide who got is in to see the temple. So through the crowd linked together again we went. We saw groups of people sitting around praying or whatever and many asked me to take their photo. I was only in trouble once when we got inside the inner sanctum and I tried to take a picture when the guards started yelling at me that it was not allowed here. I had bought my camera permit so I thought I was good to go but no such luck. We thought we'd seen the main alter where we reversed direction and started climbing stairs over walkways and up more stairs until we were in front of the the entrance to the cave where we saw the real inner sanctum where the wedding couple were sitting. We were blessed several more times with spots of red color that looks like blood and white ash which also went all over my shirt. Then they handed us more ash and a passerby instructed us to smear that on our foreheads as well. What a mess we are now but we are certainly blessed.

Chanting voices coming from the dark path below us turned out to be a group of young boys training to be priests and who are in a boarding school for this purpose. They only get to see their parents once a year.

Katia's birthday

Up early to go to a 7 AM wedding in orur best attire. We sat in the first rows and observed the wedding. The bride's father invited us afterwards to stay for food but we had to get on with our trip.

After packing up at our hotel we went to a pr Aryan temple with terra cotta horses about half life sized lined up for about 1/4 mile leading to the temple. The priest did a ceremony for us and gave us all a blessing complete with red spotted foreheads for all. There were some very saad people there with wounds that wantd food- we should have brought breakfast from the hote.

Across the road we watched 4 bulls driven through the cut rice thrashing and winowing and the rest of the family helping out.

The fort up on the mountain of giant bolders we viewed from the bus- just as well- it is damn hot here.

We drove to and walked around in a village where a group of wealthy bankers had built gorgeous houses. Most were not in residence as they travel most of the time and use the houses for family gatherings. We got a personal tour inside one of the large houses.

We went to see weavers and then to see tile makers and they showed us how they make their crafts. We had an exceptional lunch at a fancy traditional hotel and restaurant where we ate a fiest on banana leaves in the traditional fashion- really the best lunch yet. We sat outside in the shade with fans.

We end in madurai with a small bag of goodies we purchased along the way.

The internet is down at our hotel but the manager is letting us use his which is on a different line so we are hurrying.
Tonight we are going to the evnening ceremony at the Menakshee temple.

Saturday

The first place we visited today is a UNESCO World Heritage site, Bridha Disvara. It was a fabulous temple carved and constructed from some sort of hard stone . It is dedicated Shiva. We saw the 5th largest Nandi statue in India before entering the temple and proceding to the inner sanctum where the largest ling is worshipped. We cued up with the crowd and waited in the hot temple for about 15minutes for the ceremony and to get blessed with the sandlewood paste. . The linga was draped with cloth and flowers. Elephant was at the entrance giving blessings with his trunk.

We saw a shop where they made string instuments and saw them carving the veenha.

Next we went to the bronze makers. It is an entire family working together to make bronze statues, etc. We saw them make themolds, pur in the hot bronze, cool it and break open the mold.

Next we visited an orphanage of about 200 kids where they had prepared songs and recitings for us, some in English, some in Tamil. Sri Venkateswara. The kids were very friendly and played games and talked to us afterwards. They wer exeptionally polite and well mannered, also to the elders who also had a retirement home on the site. We saw their room full of cots and spoke to some of the elderly people as well. Many people asked for us to take their pictures. We brought our USA stars and striped pencils to give out.

Then we went to see a Bahman women (of the highest caste) who told us how she is helping the children at the school by bringing them to her home and teaching them traditional songs, games, cooking, manners and all things traditional in the Indian culture.

Then we came back to the hotel and were invited to Lacuna's room for a surprise party. She dresed us all up in her Saris,, bindis, flowers in our hair and we went on a photoshoot and then to dinner all dressed up. boy, wern't we all good looking!

Trip to Tanjore

Saturday, March 19.

A long ride from Pondicherry to Tanjore. We mad a lot of stops during the day and the entire trip lasted from 8 AM until 5 PM. Our first stop was watch a parade along the street escorting holy ash to the temple. Then we stopped again and went down a path into a walled enclosure to see the huge guardian figures by another temple. We walked into a one room kitchen/ restaurant to see it. We drove over a bridge where the old bridge was converted into shopping stalls. Then we went to the hemp village where one extended family works together making ropes. We watched them as they did many of the steps to making the rope and gave out our pencils and spare toiletries from the hotel. One lady was giving her little baby a bath with Johnston's baby powder.

Now we go to the village of Paguni Vitram where they are holding a colorful festival. Hundreds of dressed up people were milling around, eating, and circling the temple by foot, wagon, or rolling through the dirt. Mothers wheeled children in stretchers and thanked the gods for healing them. On the way back to the bus an oxcart was stopped in traffic and Laurel was invited to ride in it down the road through the traffic and merchants selling balloons, cotton candy, pinwheels and fruit.

We stopped on the side of the road again to watch people making handmade and machine made mats. The finest ones were for bridal presents with the bride and grooms names as well as doves and other symbols woven in them.
Next we take a wild ride through one lane streets in our giant air

conditioned bus to view the many temples in the town of Kumbakonam. Cows and goats, people, dogs, motercycles and tuck tuks all fight for the right of way but nobody seems to get hit.

In the tank were bathers and a floating festival cart-- all sparkles and flags, all ready for the festival. The young men bathing in the water all waved when I took their photo and laughed.

The hit of this town was when we got out

and went into a 12th C.

temple to get blessed by a holy man and get ash placed on our foreheads. He took my hand on the way out and we walked out together, he was 78

today and I'm sure he did need a hand to stay balanced. He didn't want his picture taken- too bad for that.

Our hotel for tonight is the Sangan. Our fearless leader Lacuna says to not espect too much but it is more than adequate with plenty of bathroom facilities an you can see in the photo. got to get off computer now, time is up, love you all....Laurel and Nancy