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Published: February 22nd 2007
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Alisa's photos
Wall painting of Parvati under the mango tree where she and Shiva were married. Well, we officially had our first CIEE planned and directed field trip. There were mixed feelings initially about the trip. Some people did not want to go. We all have a slight distaste for traveling together as a group of 32 after doing so much touring like that around Delhi and Hyderabad. It's hard to move quickly and smoothly through a crowded city, and though we already stick out individually, as a large group we are a sore thumb. Fortunately, we have all become experienced with moving through Hyderabad, so we did not feel as overwhelmed at being so conspicuous everywhere we went.
Our journey began with a train ride on a rather nice train. Not as many bugs on this one as the last one. And the sheets and blankets were noticeably cleaner. We were on the train from 6 p.m. Thursday to 7 a.m. Friday. I enjoyed the ride--got through a good portion of my book, had the good seat (side, lower). Side lower is best because it's a bottom bunk, and it's next to a window, so if you wake up early, you can sit and enjoy the scenery from your bed.
We arrived in Chennai and boarded
a bus which took us to a hotel. We were given 30 minutes to freshen up and then came down for breakfast. Breakfast at the hotel was great--omlettes made to order, parata (a flat bread that can be stuffed with different things, like potatoes and spices), cereal, pastries, fruit, etc. It was a lovely buffet, from which I ate entirely too much each day we were there.
We met our tour guides, boarded the bus, and took off to our first destination--Kanchipuram. If there was any part of this trip that I disliked, it was the long amounts of time we spent on that bus. Kanchipuram was a town about 90 minutes away. It is well known for its silks, and silk saris especially. (A sari is a traditional outfit worn by women, usually married or older women. It's essentially a very long piece of cloth that is wrapped a certain way over a blouse and petticoat. It's a very elegant outfit.) I think some 80% of the town's population is in the weaving business. Our final stop in the town was at a silk house where we were shown how the saris were made. It's an incredible process--takes something
around at least 12 days to make one sari. Even after watching the weavers work the loom for 10 minutes or so, I still could not completely figure out how the designs came out the way they did. The looms are pretty incredible. Afterward we were, of course, taken into the shop, where I did exactly what they had hoped, and puchased a silk sari. I'm quite happy with the purchase--it will be a great outfit to wear at upcoming family weddings. I've only worn one a few times before, but they always make me feel very grown-up 😊.
Before going to the silk house it was temples, temples, and more temples. Kanchipuram has temples dedicated to specific gods. We saw Vishnu's temple, Shiva's temple, and Durga's temple. The temples were beautiful. Chambers carved out of enormous single pieces of rock, with inticate carvings on the walls and columns. It was extremely hot, and i believe the cement was the hottest surface that my feet have ever encountered. I got blessed in various ways though, so I came out with the conviction that I will have a long life, and apparently we will all be happily married soon since we
went through Parvati's alter which is situated where Shiva and Parvati were married. We walked through, gave some money to the priest, and were blessed. We all walked out with (ok, I need some help here--I want to say bindis, but if it's in the form of a blessing, is it called a tikka?) bindis/tikkas.
We arrived at the hotel very late in the evening, were given another 15-20 minutes to 'freshen up' again, and then walked a few blocks to a restaurant for dinner. The food was great all weekend. After eating we went back to the hotel where Ted, Dia, Alisa, Fred, Andrew and I all piled onto one bed in an attempt to watch a movie on Andrew's laptop. I think we were somewhat in pyramid formation.
Our tour guides tried to tell us to wake up at 6 a.m. and be at breakfast by 7, but there was so much dissent about the idea that they gave us an extra hour. We visited two towns on Saturday. Unfortunately, I lost my itinerary and don't remember the name of the first place we visited. It was like a temple, but more of a place to wander around
up and down the rocks. It had some wonderful views, and we were pretty late getting on our way because no one made it back to the bus on time.
We finally reboarded and made our way to what became my favorite place of the whole trip: Pondicherry. Pondicherry used to be a French colony. It's a little coastal town, we were able to spend some time on the beach. We spent most of our very short amount of time in Pondicherry wandering around the French quarter. It was like India, with a hint of European flair here and there. I really like being in an Indian coastal town. Everything feels more laidback and relaxed. It's humid in Chennai and Pondicherry because it's near the ocean. Though it makes everything feel hotter, I loved the moisture because it's incredibly arid in Hyderabad. Everything's very dusty. In Pondicherry, the colors of everything are so much brighter and vibrant. There's so much green, it feels tropical. The bright colors of India look beautiful in a coastal area. While wandering down the streets of Pondicherry, it started to rain, and
that was the highlight of my trip--walking around, browsing little shops, enjoying the
rain in Pondicherry. I want to go back for an extended period of time. I wish our whole weekend had been in Pondicherry.
Our next and last day was dedicated to Chennai, though I still feel like we saw very little of Chennai aside from driving in and out of the city. We visited a museum with items left from British colonialism. It was pretty boring, to be perfectly honest. It was a strange sort of place; there were uniforms, porcelain dining sets, weapons, etc. Everything was labeled, and that was it. No descriptions or historical context were given. It was odd.
We then visited a nearby church, also constructed by the British. It was pretty, but not extremely extraordinary. Everyone left with the feeling that we had wasted a decent amount of time on rather unimportant sites and structures. The courtyard beside the church was very pretty and quite shady, however, so I enjoyed sitting there until we were told to move on for the rest of our day.
We then were given an hour to go shopping in a bustling area of Chennai filled with enough stores and street stalls to make any shopping woman happy. I tried
Alisa's photos
Getting blessed in a shrine next to the tree where Parvati was married--hence, people come here if they are unmarried and wish to be otherwise. out the first jewelry store I saw, and found a nose stud that was very much along the lines of what I was looking for. It's gold, and somewhat in the shape of a flower. After that I just browsed some shops with my friends. I bought a copy of "The Da Vinci Code" from a street side bookseller for Rs. 70 (approximately $1.50). I had finished my other book and needed something to read on the train. About 10 chapters in, I discovered that about 6 pages were completely blank from one chapter! Good thing I have already read the book. Besides that slight inconvenience, it was a good purchase.
After that it was straight to the train station. After all of the delicious variety of meals to which we were treated during our trip, train food was not the most appetizing, but it could have been worse. After an uneventful ride, we arrived in Hyderabad on Monday at 8 a.m., just in time to get back to the guest house and get ready for class. All in all, a successful trip. I will probably be making another post about more of my impressions of the trip as well,
in case anyone is interested.
An important note about pictures: I managed to forget to charge either of my camera batteries before I left, and therefore took very few pictures. I'm borrowing some pictures from my friends here who took pictures, so I will give credit to whoever took whichever picture in the caption.
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Nana
non-member comment
hi from Delaware
Hi Priya - this is your mom; I'm in DE showing nana your blog. He is standing here saying hi too. We'll read your Chennai blog later. The photos look good. The description is too long to read right now - it is late and I just drove 12 hours to get here. And we drank wine when I got here and we're all sleepy. Talk to you soon!