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Published: February 16th 2005
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Gopuram of the Temple of Chidambaram
Chidambaram is one of Tamil Nadu's most important holy towns, and was the capital of the Cholas from 907 to 1310. Yes, we made it! Due to the time-table, the bus should have left at 10:20, but in India time-tables are merely approximative, we caught an express bus at 10:00. The distance to Pondicherry (also called Pondy) is 100 km and it took us only 1.5 hrs. That is what "express" means in India. The bus was again lacking windows and doors, but the resulting draught made the heat bearable.
Just a few remarks on
traffic in India. It is even more chaotic than we can imagine in Europe. The most important utensil is the horn respectively the bell for the bicycle. The louder it sounds the better. A loud horn means "I'm loud so I'm big and strong and you better get out of my way." A bus being a bigger vehicle than a car, a car being a bigger vehicle than a tuk-tuk, and so on. Logical consequence: everybody uses the horn in the loudest and most intimidating way possible. Only the poor pedestrians have no way of expressing themselves on the streets - yet. Forget about sleeping or reading on the bus - too noisy and too bumpy.
Anyway we were lucky and caught a connecting bus
Detail of Gopuram
The Gopuram is full of small statues. These two were located just above the entrance. to Chidambaram almost immediately after arriving in Pondicherry. You wouldn't believe it - this bus was even noisier than the bus before and the ride by far bumpier. We wondered why the driver didn't keep the horn on constantly - it would not have changed much.
Still, we arrived safely in Chidambaram, a city famous for its outstanding
Chola temple. We chose to stay in the hotel Ritz, the second best in town, which means you have a climatised hall and lift - a real nuisance. The price for the room is 520 Rupees equivalent to 10 EUR. Chidambaram is not very touristic, most people in the streets don't speak any English and also the signs are often in Indian letters. There is a constant hustle and bustle, thousands of little shops and street-vendors. We are especially crazy about the succulent water-melons of which we eat several slices per day.
When we approached the huge temple area, we noticed the 4 towering
gopurams (= gates set in the walls that enclose the sacred area), of which 3 were hidden by palm-leaves due to restoration. Anyway we went in to discover smaller architectural treasures. It was boiling hot (3:00
Ganesh statue at the top of the Gopuram
Ganesh is one of Hinduism's most popular gods, he is seen as the great clearer of obstacles. p.m.) and as we had to take off our shoes we burnt our feet, desperately trying to find a place in the shade.
Once you enter the inner part around the holy shrine dedicated to Siva, it suddenly gets very dark and gloomy. This is said to be done on intention, so that the devotees can't see the god's images too clearly. To us, the atmosphere was very gloomy, and at every corner we were obnoxiously asked for donations, so we decided to interrupt our walk around the shrine, also having enough of unknown ceremonies taking place in the dark. We felt oppressed by the atmosphere and the huge amount of beggars, so we left rather soon.
In the evening, we went to a restaurant close to the bus station. There we had our first lesson in
Indian food. We watched people eat a dish called "Chola Poori",a thin deep fried puffed round of flour, the size of a plate. It reminded us of an over sized Austrian "Krapfn". Once you get it, you have to tap it with your fingers to let the hot air out - because the inside only consists of hot air. Then you can roll it like a spring-roll (watch your fingers, hot!) or tear it into tiny pieces and dip them into the different sauces that are served with it. South-Indian cuisine is very varied although it is mainly vegetarian and a pleasure to explore.
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