Chennai to Mahaballipuram – city to beach via temple town

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Mr Hussain tells us we need to leave Chennai by 8am, so we’re up at 6.45 to pack and have breakfast. It’s a two hour drive to Kanchipuram, where there are numerous temples of apparently great renown. This seems odd as it’s not all that far away, but of course we’d forgotten how long it takes to inch your way out of an Indian city. Several times we think we are reaching the edge of the town only for it all to start up again, but gradually the traffic thins and the houses and apartment blocks are replaced by open ground interspersed with factories. Samsung, Honda and Hyundai all have big factories, with company buses lined up outside. We suspect the workers have to get up a lot earlier than us.

Spot on time, we draw into Kanchipuram. It’s close enough to his home base that Mr Hussain knows which temples to take us to, in which order, and what time they close (Shiva and Vishnu temples are different), which is lucky as we know which temples to visit, but not which order to tackle them in. At the first temple, he issues strong warnings: “many thieves here, don’t take your camera, watch out for pickpockets, don’t fall for anyone telling you there is an entrance charge as there isn’t, don’t agree to let anyone be your guide”. The place is sounding less attractive by the minute! Gripping our money bag tightly we head into the temple. ‘Fee for camera 100 rupee’ is the first cry. ‘We don’t have one’ eventually does the trick, but we do of course have to leave our sandals. After last year’s disaster when Sara’s walking sandals got stolen at Somnathpur, the very last temple of the holiday, we are both equipped with £2 flip flops from Primark.

Ekambeshwarar temple itself proves a disappointment. It has a tall gopuram and a large and gloomy pillared walkway around the inner sanctum, but with limited decoration. Other tourists do have a camera, which irks us, but to fair there’s not a huge amount to film, given that non Hindus are not allowed into the inner sanctum which is where most of the highlights are meant to be including the 3500 year old mango tree, and the greater part of the precincts of the temple seem closed to everyone. Since Mr Hussain has also told us to be quick, so that we have time to visit the other temples before they close at midday, we leave after our cursory inspection. Disappointing place.

Off to Kamakshi temple. This one has the gopuram(or main tower) covered in scaffold. We enter the courtyard, where a queue snakes endlessly back on itself confined by iron railings to enter the sanctum. The queue is stationary, we decide we do not want to be trapped inside only to be told we cannot enter after an hour's queueing to be told we are not Hindus. Once more the treasures are hidden from the non-believer. Even for temple afficionados we are getting a bit fed up with Kanchipuram.

Finally, Varadharaja Perumal Temple, supposedly the best of the lot. This one apparently has fewer thieves hanging around the precincts. We pay our 1 rupee fee to enter the 100 pillared hall, which has exactly what you would expect, scenes from the Mahabharata carved on the pillars, as explained by the very polite Brahmin priest who insists on showing us around. Quite informative so we give him a little something for his trouble. There is a large tank with a couple of structures in the middle, as are often found in temples; and a subsidiary shrine we can visit. Once more however, the inner sanctum is only for Hindus and the massive precincts are also closed completely. We admire the gopuram and we are off again, heading for Mahabalipuram.



By now we’re in the countryside, where we are reminded that you’re never far from people in most of India. Small villages, shrines and schools pop up every two minutes. We reach Mahaballipuram which seems to comprise a series of resort hotels strung along the beach. Ours is called the Ideal Beach Resort and proves very comfortable. We’re not used to staying anywhere in India just to relax and read a book, so it makes an extremely pleasant change to sit on the beach and do just that for the afternoon. At dinner we are offered fresh white mullet, possibly the fish we watched the boats bringing in this afternoon on the beach. We have it cooked tandoori style with pilau rice, dal and naan bread, washed down with Kingfisher beer – best meal of the holiday so far.

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