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Many people warned me about the smell. It hits your senses before you even get of the plane. But it’s not a bad one. Quite the contary. A mixture of humidity and dust and spices and warmth.
I’d booked a taxi to pick me up from the airpoirt. (Mainly cos I like seeing my name written on big placards). It wasn’t there. However I’d already found a Great Dane on the plane (who was taken for being one of the Back Street Boys at airport security ) and we agreed a good deal for a taxi straight to Mamallapuram, 60km or so away from Chennai. It was a good deal. It was 4am, it was hot and I was tired. At least it would have been a good deal had the ‘taxi’ not turned out to be a rickshaw… We renegotiated and found a real taxi - or at least one that had 4 wheels.
The driving was less hectic that I’d been led to believe, Certainly not as bad as negotiating the 4x4s in St John’s Wood at 8.30 am on a schoolday. Though there were more cows in the road and more tooting of horns. Oh, hang
random family mamallapuram
By the shore temple - people kept wanting me to take their photos. It was the first of many... on…
Mamallapuram is a small village and draws tourists thanks to its many sculptured boulders and shore standing temple. Many locals train as sculptors taking as long as 11 years to learn the craft as it’s passed down from father to son. Sure enough I was suckered into buying a something, though I was more tempted by the ornament of Ganesh with a computer. The big rocks date from 6 BC and show various gods doing various things (without computers). There is even one temple carved completely out of one piece of stone.
Entrance to the rocks is 250 rupees (c. 3 pounds) - thanks to the locals who protested a few years back at the $10 charge. Mamallapuram lives by it’s tourist trade and though the locals know that they seem to take their own pride in their history and care-taking of monuments. I met many Indian tourists from the North around the temple, most of whom seemed more interested in me that the local sights. I got my own taste of celebrity C list stardom as kids, mums, dads and grannies queued to have their photos taken with me. I positively loved it.
I’ve hooked
Dr IndiraGhandi
Runs the Suradep Hospital Mamallapuram up with a French woman heading for work at an NGO in the ex-French colony of Pondicherry. So together we stopped by her old stomping ground of an HIV awareness organisation. It’s a surprisingly big problem, even in a place as (relatively) well-off as Mamallapuram as many of the women see prostitution as their best option for making a living.
I also met a woman who was an inspiration. Dr IndiraGhandi. Working from 7am - 11pm everyday, she runs the only hospital in Mamallapuram, which in it’s 3 rooms saw over 30,000 patients last year. The hospital is completely staffed by women in green saris and funded purely by donations - largely from the tourists who have passed through (literally) with dysentery. I saw the patience and dedication of the emerald-robed team and the hospital could certainly give any London hospital a run for it’s money. And what they lack in resources they make up for in patient care.
So that was day 1.
I’m adjusting to the 40 degree heat, not sure about how well I’m adjusting to being tech-less. I’m now in Pondicherry. White City seems a million miles and thousands of years away. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, but I’m hoping predominantly for some sleep…
Big kisses
xx
China - I have already used your la-la. Before leaving my flat to be precise. How did you know I’d pack my Phillips screwdriver in the loft? :o).
Cato - you’re right, pen and paper is best.
Stephan - The torch has also been put to use several times already. And hopefully now I’ll always have a guiding light :o)
Carmen - hope your hand gets better :-o
Team History - hope all went well with the pre-ingested and now delivered package without too much hot-dogging.
Brett - Cockroaches are all too familiar right now… (there is even run running about the back of computer as we speak).
fellow jammers - the jessops vouchers were perfect - will soon show some of the evidence.
Rachel - behave...
All who know me - yes, I’ve already had to break into that sterile medical kit - just incase anyone was taking a bet on it and …
Have I mentioned Tamil is a dry state? :-o
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Brett
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Roaches!
Hope you enjoy the book, I had hoped it wouldn't become relevant too soon... Enjoy it htough, other than the roaches it's full of sex, death, sewage and gluttony, those insects live one hell of a life. Great blog Susie - keep it up, I look forward to the novelisation and inevitable film adaptation. You're making it sound too redolent and enticing, we're all really fed up over here and more than willing to disconnect the P drive and head off Eastwards with our Phillips screwdrivers and our torches. Soon Pondicherry will be the next Provence and farmhouses all over India will be converted into middle class guest houses.