In Madurai

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Tomorrow we plan to leave for Kanniyakumari at the bottom tip of India. We're giving Kerala some time to empty out somewhat after the holidays and sneaking around from the other side. Probably we'll end up skipping Thailand after the bombings there, so we'll have to figure out how to change our plans.

Madurai is a big city dominated by an enormous temple complex dedicated to Meenakshi, the fish-eyed goddess. It takes up a whole city block and has has a huge tower on each of the cardinal compass points. The towers are smothered in very complex and brightly painted plaster figures. You can be entertained for quite some time just standing there looking at all of the figures. The best part is that it is a working temple - so not some old relic but filled with people performing pooja. Some of the statues are so heavily coated in offerings that it becomes difficult to tell which deity it is. Really incredible, I'm glad we stopped in here to see one of the really huge and excellent southern style temples.

I also tried the post office for the first time and mailed two packages. The whole process took about two hours with this small man helping me. We found plastic bags appropriate for each package, and after some time he revealed that the packages should be wrapped in cloth, and laid out the cost for the cloth. After an eternity, he produced the two packages, neatly stitched with thick string. He instructed me to write the address on the cloth on the front of each package. Next, he put a smal candle on the floor, lit it, and produced some red sealing wax, and daubed all along the sewn edges. Good, I thought, that must be it. No - now out the door and around the side to the main post office area. I produced the package to a woman who addressed the sea-mail package sourly. My helper appeared, argued briefly with the woman and then brought me back to the first area, where I filled out a form in triplicate. I went back around to the woman again, who still frowned at the package, even though I had the paperwork. I finally understood that the paperwork should have been stitched inside the package somehow. My helper stitched it in an ad-hoc fashion to the outside, and that was good enough to go. We'll see if they actually arrive!

Sometimes it's just amazing to see what will happen next in the process. In a similar vein, I also got a haircut. The shop was the size of a closet, with two chairs and a large mirror. The barber kept the scissors going the entire time, even when not cutting hair as if they were some kind of electric trimmer. After some time, the cut finished, and he showed me the back. Thanks I said, and started to rise... but that was just the beginning. Next was the head massage phase a-la bongos, which was surprisingly good but equally violent and included hair oiling, brief back massage and attempted back and neck cracking. Next, he began to shampoo and worked up a huge lather. A helper appeared with a pan, which I was instructed to hang my head over as he rinsed, lather streaming off my nose and chin. Violent towel drying and then blow drying followed. I refused the optional face massage. I think it's quite a decent cut actually; we'll see. 150 Rupees.

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Photos

Madurai city street
This is what a typical Indian city street looks like, you can see the temple in the distance.

Supplies for worship
Lots of people selling garlands, food etc for the pooja.

Friendly temple elephant
You could receive a blessing from the elephant; it would tap you on the head with it's trunk.

Quite huge inside
Easy to become temporarily lost wandering the halls.

The loaf-a-bread
I like these buses - no nonsense; box on wheels.