Mammalapuram is a seaside town that serves as a fishing village, home to some rather amazing ruins from around 640 a.d. and a beach tourist town. We had been here for a few days during our last visit to India but were introducing our friends to the area. Upon arrival, we headed straight to Namaste restaurant. It had only recently been renamed from the German Bakery (India is littered with small restaurants with the latter name). We presumed the name change was prompted by the recent bombing of a so named restaurant in Pune.
None the less, Namaste is run by the same Nepalese family who make everything from scratch. Anything that you order hot is made to order so a degree of patience is required. We enjoyed a fresh bread croissant while awaiting what must be the best rice pudding available in a restaurant anywhere in the world. It is rich, creamy, hot and mixed with cardamom, nuts and raisins. The latte was also hot, tasty and arrived with a touch of spice. The pineapple juice was the joyous product of a freshly juiced fruit with nothing but the fresh juice resulting in a taste that we in the west forget with our various packaged juices that rob the liquid of the real taste of the fruit.
Mammalapuram is suffering from beach loss that we have seen in various parts of the Bay of Bengal around here. It seems to be a longer term result of the tsunami 6 years ago. This is also resulting in salination problems beginning to emerge along the coast with no apparent solutions. The impact for the farmers, fisherman and families living along the coast may be quite dramatic. Already in a community near where we are staying, one of the drinking wells is contaminated.
Mammalapuram benefits from tourists who wander here reasonable numbers during the high season from December to mid March. Although one can tell that this has not been as generous a season as they have seen in the past. It is now coming to an end and the shops are still full of goods. We have noticed that while there have been lots of tourists wandering about, less is being bought in the stores versus what we have seen in the past. In addition, while India has been historically a destination for the backpacker crowd, they seem to be representing a larger percentage of the travelling population in this area. For merchants that is not the best news as they tend to spend less seeking to eat in cheaper places and sleep in down market beds.
The ruins in Mammalapuram are wonderous to see. There are alters literally carved into the large rock faces. How some of these rocks got here is a bit of a mystery. Consider Krishn’a Ball seen below. You get a sense of scale by looking at the two goats on their hind legs to the lower left.
The details in these carvings are also amazingly intricate.
This was an intensely hot day. Moving about the ruins was thankfully also met with a breeze from the ocean. There is a fair amount of up and down on the rocks to see the various carvings. One of the more curious ones what we call Noah’s Ark. This very large rock with a housing complex carving on the top has no explanatory detail but….
With all this walking, a nourishing meal was needed – a tourist like an army marches on the stomach. This being a fishing village, Moonrakers restaurant serves fish that they go down the block to the fisherman to buy. Very fresh! This was grilled coated with a masala spicey sauce that left you picking through the bones for the last bit of flesh. Nothing goes to waste here – the head was then given to a street lady who took it away probably to make soup with.
Our second day trip was over to Tiruvanammeli which is the ashram capital of Tamil Nadu. Here seekers of a higher consciousness converge for the season. Satsangs, teachings, meditations and all of the related activities take place in intense numbers for the 4 months between the end of the Monsoon and the beginning of the summer heat.
One of the biggest ashrams in the area is that of Sri Raman who lived in a cave for the most part up the sacred mountain of Arunachala. Thus, a climb up to the cave to meditate seems an essential part of the experience. April and I have been up there before.
The best time to be in the cave is at daybreak when it is opened and there is chanting in this small but wonderous space. That would have required us to be up at 2 a.m. to get here in time – something none of us were prepared to do – my – I must be getting soft. The price for not doing so was climbing in heat that was in the mid 30s. The heat inside the cave was even higher reaching around 37-38 degrees. Sweat formed on your body just sitting there. As you meditated, rivulets of sweat began falling down your trunk like a collection of bugs running about inside your clothes. The places on my pants where I placed my hands ended up totally soaked.
Later we meditated at the ashram in a much cooler place. That meditation was abruptly interrupted by a man letting loose with a loud, sonorous burp that was so forceful it must have emanated from his toes. I literally jumped when he let forth.
Tiruvanammeli is also the home to a very large Hindu temple.
In front of the temple is a market full of spices, pots and cooking utensils as well as fresh foods. I am attracted to markets so wandering through them is a joy. You are met with sounds and smells that assault the senses without let up. Each turn results in a different experience. I managed to greatly amuse a couple of merchants when I didn’t know that the long strips of semi-dried plant were tobacco and the neatly laid out leaves were fresh tobacco for chewing.
Near the temple, there was a large crowd of police officers causing one to wonder if some politician were coming or there was yet another bomb threat. It turns out neither. Instead, a slum across the road was being demolished with a lone store owner who was an obvious holdout being forced from his premises. The developer was busy giving interviews to the press no doubt telling all what a marvelous person he was for giving the neighbourhood some new wonderous whatever. One has to question the whereabouts of the former occupants.
Inside the temple is a series of altars, courtyards and devotional spaces. I was greeted at one point by this group of school girls from 10th form who are 15 years old. They wanted to speak English and learn where I was from. These are girls with dreams – wanting to be a police officer, a pilot, a nurse (April said she should become an Auyrvedic doctor instead of a nurse and the girl rushed up to hug April). A group of boys nearby mocked them for these dreams. They showed me their report cards and talked with pride about the dreams. You could only encourage them in a land where women a still struggling for the freedom to pursue these dreams.
This is Fort Gingee which sits atop the hills in this area of Tamil Nadu. It dates from the 9th centiry Chola Dynasty.
No day's trip is without its share of people watching. This seems to be the old and new of the spiritual seekers
The fields are also looking beautiful at this time of year. Plants are growing rapidly in the spring time and lush greens are observable in this agricultural area. It is not a rich area for sure and signs of poverty are there if you are willing to look. But also there are daily signs everywhere of hard working people who are finding ways to live, bring up their children - but there are social problems. One town that we went through, about the size of Bragg Creek had 5 liquor outlets within a block.
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