Last day in Madurai

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An interesting last day in Madurai. We decided to visit the Gandhi Museum, which is a couple of km from the centre. We caught a tuktuk, and headed off. It was a very thought-provoking place; we, ot at least I, hadn't fully realised just how badly the British behaved over 2 centuries. I felt like apologising to all the Indians who were there.

We decided to use a bicycle rickshaw for the return to the centre. A really old guy (he looked about 70) approached us and asked if we wanted a rickshaw, and we said yes. He led us off to where he was parked, and in we got. The further we went, the more exhausted the poor guy got, until he had to get off his bike and push. We got off too, and ended up pushing while he sat on his bike! Not quite what we had planned!! After a while we jumped on again, but he just started going slower and slower. After the exhibition we had just visited, we felt the last thing we really wanted to do was to kill an elderly Indian by making him pedal us like royalty. So we jumped off (by this stage he was moving at about 1 mile a fortnight), gave him 100 Rupees ( far more that we had agreed), and told him we would walk the rest of the way. We hadn't a clue where we were, but we left him sitting by the side of the road, and hopefully he lived...

Late afternoon, we went off for a final stroll, and as we passed a local school there was something going on in the playground. Lots of children beautifully dressed - each class wearing different colours, and even more amazing each class wearing different flowers in their hair, - and parents and teachers. One of the teachers, perhaps the head, carried a big cane with her! She didn't use it (not while we were there), but... The teachers appeared to be wearing saris which denoted their grade in the hierarchy, pastel blue, orange, purple. And all had jasmine in their hair. Perhaps the overwhelming impression we got was the respect the pupils showed for the teachers, and the importance that education has in India. We could learn so much!

Not sure what was going on, I caught the eye of one of the teachers, and signalled that we would like to go in. She beckoned us in with a huge smile, and insisted on bringing 2 chairs for us, right in the thick of things. We never worked out quite what was going on, but their were dances, and presentations. At one stage we were under pressure to go and sit on the stage, obviously as honoured guests. We made our apologies and slipped away.

Next blog entry will be about the zany trip to the tip.

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Comments

[Laura]

poor rickshaw man
Poor man - I hope he survived. You're full of wonderful stories. I see Philip's reply got posted and nice that you were thinking of and talking about us while you're living in a different world. We're living in the same-old-same-old, but just without you. Stay safe and to ask the question most of us are wondering about - what about the Dheli-belly - any problems, upsets?

[SW19MIKE]

Comments
I hope you can see all the comments. I can if I go in as a subscriber. Anyway, we are having such a great time, just without you! And I have been eating street stall food, using tap water when I brush my teeth, washing fruit in tap water - all the 'wrong' things. And no sign of a problem! You will have to email Baska - she doesn't want me to discuss her bowels on the blog!