Mamma mia, we're in Mamallapuram

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So, it's been a while since our last blog, but surely you all realised the early excited momentum was bound to drop off at some stage....

All that aside, this tale of adventure takes place in mamallapuram, home of dave (jen's brother) and rob (an old friend of ours), and therefore one of the driving forces behind our visit to india in the first place...

Our train trip to mamalla was the last one of our time in india, and again we met some interesting people, including some gorgeous kids (see photo in 'reflections' blog) that jen took to entertaining by making an absolute git of herself, much to the entertainment of the adults. Also met a freshly ordained catholic priest working with some tribesmen up in kolkata. he insisted we come and stay with him to see his work, which would have been amazing but we had to decline - with only two weeks left in india and wanting to spend some quality time with dave there was no time for kolkata adventures... maybe next time.

upon arriving at the station we were met by dave in a car (luxury!) and taken to a room he had booked for us. this may sound like small fry, but after travelling for a month, having everything organised for you is a dream! Dave and rob live in this great place right on the beach in mamallapuram, photo attached, and if anyone reading this is considering a visit it is well worth it! they took us for a beginners' scuba dive in the local resort swimming pool which was really fun, and they've assured us the resulting beautiful pictures will be in their advertising material! also, dave taught us how to surf - jeff with significantly more success than me. i nearly stood up heaps of times, but my foot would slip out from under me, leaving me to ride to shore either on my knees or on my bum, both of which were fun - but surfing it ain't. oh, and for a shameless plug, if you're reading this and headed to mammalapuram and want to do some water based activities, dave and rob are the men for you! go to the beach, turn left and walk a couple of 100 metres to the blue house and hey presto! water-based fun awaits...

i'm assuming of course that the blue house still exists. the two days before we left, a cyclone picked up in the bay of bengal, with the result that big waves started hitting the indian coast. the beach kept getting smaller and smaller, until finally, despite valiant efforts chucking sandbags and big rocks into the sea, a couple of beachside restaraunts fell in. it was pretty crazy. when we left the waves were lapping the front of dave and rob's place, so i guess we'll see how it holds up. luckily they are renting...

In between days lazing at Dave and Robs, swimming, surfing, etc, we actually managed to do a little bit of sightseeing. Mamallapuram is most famous for its impressive Shore Temple, built early in the 8th Century AD, and located, as the name suggests on the shore of the beach. Apparently there are a number of other temples now under water nearby - the only above-water evidence of them now being the white-caps of waves breaking above them! Pretty amazing stuff.
Other sites include the Five Rathas - massive monolithic (single-rock for the non-geologists) carvings of five 'chariots' as shrines. Despite looking pretty amazing, these carvings were never actually completed and as such were never consecrated as shrines.
Probably our favourite local site was Eagle Temple. Despite Jeff having never ridden a moped/scooter, let alone with a passenger on board, we took loan of Dave and Rob's beast, and tried our best to avoid all the cows, buses, trucks and rickshaws along the 15km ride to the temple. Definitely one our scarier adventures in India, but well worth it. We arrived at the base of massive hill, maybe even a mountian, which we had to climb, via nicely paved stairs at least, all the way to the top for awesome sunset views, and a walkthrough of the temple, complete with ashing on our foreheads! While sitting outside in the breeze we made friends with a lovely, large family, the mother of whom wanted to use her beautiful saree (dress) to wipe the sweat that was bucketing from Jen's every pore! Naturally, the offer was declined, so instead she and her family led us through the temple, explaining things to us such as the trees outside that women who are having trouble conceiving tie bits of material, sometimes with bangles or childrens' toys to so the gods will help them out.

A really interesting aspect of spending so much time in one town was that we got to find out a lot more about the ways of life there, especially since dave and rob's friends were all more than willing to chat to us. One day we got home to find dave had bought a massive snapper from his fisherman mate Thiru, who then came over to clean it and explain to us all about how he caught it. He must have seen our interest, because he proceeded to entertain us with fishing stories for the rest of our time there. One crazy story he told us was that he was actually out on the water when the tsunami hit. He didn't know what was going on, but it sounds like it was relatively safe out there, and on shore was the dangerous place to be. His whole family thought he was dead, and he got back to a town with nobody in it and water up to his chest. Crazy stuff. But they all got new boats and a lot of people got new houses after the tsunami, and they say noone in their town was killed, so mamallapuram got off pretty lightly i think.

Cheap and Best

As you will be aware, cricket is all the rage in India, and while we had seen countless games in parks throughout our travels, had yet to take to the field as players. It was perfect timing then that we reached Mamallapuram at the beginning of the local cricket competition. Rob and Dave were in the process of forming a team 'Cheap and Best' so we were quickly put on the roster for the first trial game . Numbers were a bit short at first, meaning Dave's dog Fego was also in the team.
The Mamallapuram cricket ground is best described as interesting - it sort of acts as one of the town's rubbish tips, farmyards (cows, pigs, goats wandering aimlessly), and judging by all the divets and holes in the outfield has been peppered by a meteor shower recently. Oh, and there is not a single blade of grass. But now, to the cricket itself!
After losing the toss 'cheap and best's bowlers got smashed all around the park - the opponents scoring an impressive 147 off just 12 overs! Dave took a few catches at wicky, Jeff took 1 wicket, Rob dropped about a hundred catches and Jen chased balls to the boundary tirelessly! Unfortunately our batting wasn't quite up to the task at hand either. Cheap and Best were bowled out for a mere 30 runs, with Rob, Jeff and Jen managing just a couple of runs each (although Jen remained the 'not-out' batter at the end of the innings). Dave got out for a golden duck.
Lesser teams would have given up there and then, before the season proper had even started. Despite the name, 'cheap and best' are not that sort of team. A couple of days later the first official game of the comp was played. Unfortunately Jen missed this game as she was having an afternoon nanna-nap. There were some slight changes to the rest of the team - essentially Dave and Rob asked their friends Gopi (our fearless captain) and Anant to get on the phone and round up some of Mamalla's cricketing best. Thankfully, this clever tactic worked! Cheap and Best managed an amazing 130+ runs from the 12 overs (thanks mainly to the batting of our ring-ins), with Rob finding great form with the bat, smashing a quickfire 24 runs. Our bowling attack, led by man-of-the-match Munnier (54 runs, 3 wickets, 2 catches!), knocked out the opponents for a dismal 28 runs! And so, at the time of our departure, things were looking up for Cheap and Best! How they'll survive the remainder of the season without Jeff's enthusiasm and Jen's sleeping is another matter though.

An excursion to Puducherry

The two of us, and Dave, had been planning to take an excursion for a few days to the former French colony of Puducherry (formerly Pondicherry), renowned for cheap, accessible alcohol, cheese and all-round good French eating - items which are otherwise rare in India. Again, it was great timing, as half our our friends from Mamalla headed down on the same weekend, which explains how we found ourselves carving up the dancefloor at the local 'discoteque' on the Saturday night. While we pulled out a few sharp moves, the night well and truly belonged to our friends Daas, Senthil and Mukesh who must have been practicing in front of a mirror for weeks - their moves were amazing! Also amazing was the four-year old child dancing next to us, with his parents...

Other highlights in Puducherry include hanging out around the Mahatma Gandhi statue watching fairy-floss vendors struggle during an almighty wind storm (see pic), lots of good eating, and watching the Deccan Chargers (Jeff's team of choice in the Indian cricket league) win the final on tele. For the record, Jen's team of choice, the Kolkata Knightriders came last, but definitely had the best name and uniforms...

To sum it all up:

- excellent times hanging out with dave and rob
- jeff becomes undisputed master at the guess the song on the ipod game - both as participant and as quizmaster
- we savoured a lot of kingfisher beer, and a little of the local whiskey and brandy
- jen, dave and rob attend an engagement party, where everyone sits facing a podium where the groom was sitting. After about half an hour the bride was yet to make an appearance. No drinking, no dancing, but a massive hall with food that people would try to pull you into...
- currents so strong that you swim straight out about 15 metres, and end up 60 metres down the beach - the locals thought we were a bit mad to go in at all
- lazing in hammocks is good for the soul

Next time your much loved heroes head west to the motherland, and change from temples to cathedrals, from cricket to soccer, and from curry to bangers and mash....

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Photos

Temple Adventures shop
Head on down and say hello to Dave and Rob, Mamallapuram beach front

a typical morning at Temple Adventures
Dave checks the surf, Jen does a crossword, Mukesh hangs out and Fego wanders

part man, part floss
a fairy floss vendor battles huge gusts of wind near the Gandhi memorial, Puducherry beach

Comments

[Erin]

Wicked ace guys! Ahh to be warm and surfing (not that I'm into surfing - but I wouldn't mind some sun and surf!) - Yes, this far-south coast winter is getting to me! Not that apparently it's been much of a winter (except for all these massive snow dumps on the slopes - which we haven't got to either yet! Needed jobs to have money to be able to afford to go - and now we have jobs, we have no time!!!!). Anyway, where was I - oh yer - your amazing time in india with brother Dave and Rob - glad to here all going well with their business and that they have survived massive waves! (well this time at least........). All sounds fantastic times!