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Published: October 22nd 2012
Birthday Dawn
For a January baby, this is bliss!My birthday surprise was sitting in the private outdoor shower at 6:15 a.m., enjoying the pre-dawn calls of birds. Then, on the front veranda of my chalet, the chorus diminished as the deep orange sun rose directly in my view east, through pink and blue tinged clouds over the Bay of Bengal. The surf pounded strongly giving a constant auditory sense of heavy rain, although the day is fine and the temperature is suited to sitting outside.
Birthday celebrations continued through lunch. At breakfast our fellow travellers wished me Happy Birthday, as did a German woman who overheard them, and also my special chef (sous-chef he murmured once). Suffering mightily from allergic reaction to the perfume in my room, I went outside to the fresher air on the veranda for breakfast, where L__ joined me, as eventually did V__. After I had already consumed fruit bread and omelet, my chef came around greeting guests and offered to make me another dish. Too flattered to refuse, I happily consumed a delicious
dosa with turmeric-coloured potato salad, white coconut sauce and green coriander sauce - the colours of the Indian flag.
The bus took us to
Mahabalipuram, affording views
Krishna's Butter Ball
All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't move Krisha. of morning life in the villages: women walking in colourful saris, men enjoying breakfast, shop keepers of both genders opening up for the day.
At the archeological park, we first stopped at a rock called “Buddha’s Butter Ball”, a gigantic round rock perched in what looks like a precarious manner on a hill of rock; however, even when they had put all the soldiers around to the task, the colonial British had failed to move it. At the end of a short walk along on to the granite hill, we viewed carvings of the gods in what was called a cave, although it was more a depression in the rock. As with yesterday, several of the main and most intricately carved gods, such as Shiva and Parvati, were in niches, with small amounts of vegetable dye still visible.
Our next visit was at a marvelous
high relief carving, the largest after
Anchor Wat, according to the guide. The story of the long penance of
Arjuna was portrayed with numerous gods represented as animals supporting him in the jungles of the
Himalayas. Large elephants dominated the foreground, and Shiva towered over the emaciated Arjuna, who stood on one leg without food
Arjuna's Penance
Marvellous carving extending 29 metres long and 13 metres high. Also known as the Descent of the Ganges. or water for more than a decade.
Next we visited the five “chariots”, one for each of the five brothers in
Mahabarata – oddly the brothers don’t seem to be portrayed at all. Each small temple is dedicated to a god, usually Shiva and Parvati again of course. Also in this complex of temples were beautiful carvings of a relaxed lion, elephant and bull – the last much beyond life size.
In all these temples there were lots of Indian families enjoying the Pongal festival/holiday, which has now extended four days. Women were wearing bright saris, many gold-bordered and figured. No one minds if we take their photos, and quite a few ask us to, even though they will never see the pictures except on the screen of the camera. Some had camera phones and asked for our photos. (This happened a little in Chennai also – very friendly and happy to see tourists.) As the day went on, the crowds grew, and on our way back to the hotel we saw that the police had erected barriers against cars and were also controlling the massive foot traffic.
Our final temple was the
Shore Temple on the coast
Varaha Temple
Cut deep into the rock, with many rooms, and lots of young Indian tourists when we we there.. of the Bay of Bengal. The whole park and all along the coast were devastated by the
2004 Christmas Day Tsunami, but all is now restored and the people are better off, according to the guide, with their new houses and boats. Although the Shore Temple is an archeological site, as were the others today, some people treated the altars as active places of worship. Most people just tramped around looking at the intricate carvings.
The temple complex has been eroding through the centuries, with apparent old attempts at control, pre-dating concrete. None of these temples have the carved towers of more recent temples, but each of the three sections has a sacred centre with a carving to be worshiped: a reclining
Vishnu and two Shivas.
Now was time for a little shopping. We stopped for a few minutes to look at a shop that sold mass-market replica stone carvings. Our real destination was a small shop kept by a master carver where he sells the work of his students. These intricate carvings of Shiva, Parvati and Ganesha, and many more were done in the round, not with unfinished, flat backs as in the first store.
Lunch was at a
Mahabalipuram
One carved structure for each of the brothers in the Mahabarata. Hard to learn the story; easy to admire the artistry. beachside resort under a festival tent. I bought wine and beer for all to celebrate the day (about $36 or 1726 rupees for ten people). Three of us shared a bottle of Indian Sauvignon Blanc. The buffet lunch was good, with lots of variety, but we had been spoiled by some previous spectacular buffet meals. We rounded off the experience by shopping in a nearby clothing store, where I bought a pajama (loose pants) for 200 rupees ($4) to relax in hotel rooms.
Which is what I did upon returning to the hotel. I was quite tired, as I haven’t been sleeping well because of being sensitive to the scents they use for “refreshing” the room. With front door and door to the shower open to air the room, I lounged outside on the swinging bed with the remainder of
Sharpe’s Trafalgar to read (didn’t quite finish it). When the sun got too hot I went to the very large free-form pool and swam all the way round a few times, lounging in-between. Surprisingly, with the pool and deck in the shade and an onshore breeze, I was too cold and had to return to my room.
Village by Shore Temple
Who wouldn't be jealous of such a colourful new village! This did give me time to pack for tomorrow.
As a surprise after dinner, the chef brought out a birthday cake; I blew out a couple of candles and cut the first piece. By now even the wait staff knew I couldn’t eat the cream-filled cake. And, the surprise was thin because L__ had to reveal the secret at lunchtime when the waiter tried to get me to order a cake then. A card signed by all was indeed a nice surprise. A memorable day.
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