More Madurai

and here the story from the previous post unfolds......we miss you all and look forward to hearing from you! Love Kelley and Anthony

Mayhem in Madurai

and then....and then...and then we met SHANNON! That's right. After a couple of emails we tracked her down and we took a rickshaw down to the temple. We were all having a nice time strolling around the temple admiring the various chambers dedicated to Siva, Ganesha and Vishnu when this nice lady came up to us and told us there was a procession coming. We followed her and the throng of people pushing and shoving to see the entrance of the goddess being pulled on a cart wrapped in lights powered by a diesel generator being pulled behind it. Very beautiful! Then we noticed Ganesha. Live in person. He was an older elephant of 45 years with a broken leg and some festering wounds on his feet and sides, but looking stunning non the less. Shannon and I (Kelley) each put 5 ruppees in his trunk and he tapped us on the head as a blessing! Very cool. As Ganesha hobbled away he decided it was time for a little bathroom break and proceded to relieve himself in massive gushing fluids that maybe should have been solids. We stepped away quickly and noticed that everyone else moved towards the fluid and rubbed their feet in it! With a look of shock and awe on our faces we were told by the kind lady (still with us) that this was good luck. Once we turned our focus back to this nice lady we were covered in flowers, bangles, bindis and ankletbangles - all gifts that only cost 1000 ruppees (about 25 us dollars)! Aha - the old indian way of giving. We decided that we only needed a few of her gifts and settled on 400 ruppees. Still way too much but she was very kind and Shannon has a theory about always overpaying in India so there you go.

Madurai

Madurai is a cleaner more prosperous city with a very beautiful temple complex as the main focal point. There is a market all around the temple selling textiles, food, and everythingunderthesun! We walked around the temple to admire the intricate details and beautiful colors.

More Trichy

Pronounced trichee (not tricky as Kelley was saying the whole time we were there!). We did not warm up to Trichy but did enjoy the Rockfort temple which is carved into this massive rock outcropping in the middle of town. We hiked to the top to get some nice views across the city and give our respects to Ganesha. Oops and we just realized Guru Gates is in this post (see previous post for funny description of this encounter). After a couple days here we boarded the Guruvayur Express to Madurai where we had planned to meet up with Ms. Shannon Jones from Portland Oregon. Did we find her? See the next post to find out......

Bumpy road to Trichy

After a quick stop in Tiruvannumalai we hired a car to drive us down to Trichy. After 5 hours of potholed national highways and state roads we were ready to do some walking around. First we checked our email to check in on things with all of you (please email us. tell us how you are!) and at the internet place we noticed that in the place of the usual indian swami or guru (or political figure, see photo of cool looking chap with the shades) there was a poster of Guru Gates. Being Mac people we did not make any offerings to the "great guru" and continued on our way. We wondered around through the markets where they were selling spices, dye, sugar cane, coconuts, and many fruits and vegetables. The cow seen in the photo is dining on a little street rubbish near the market and we thought to ourselves - is that the cow that produced our delicous sweet lassi? It is best not to think of the food chain just like in the US, but it is local and probably organic (aside from a few lingering pesticides). No big Combined Animal Feeding Operations here in India - cow and pig are sacred to the Hindus and Muslims respectively, so strict vegetarianism is generally the Indian way - fine by us as the food is amazingly yummy.

Pondy to Tiruvannumalai

Hello everybody! The first photo is an artistic shot by Anthony of the best use of the often discarded and sometimes illegally reused plastic bottle - recycled art - very Portland eh? We hired an ambassador (a very diplomatic automobile that goes about 30 mph top speed) to take us from Pondicherry to Tiruvannumalai where there is an elaborate temple and the Sri Ramana Maharshi Ashram. Inside the temple many prayers were made to Ganesha, remover of obstacles, as we had not made any further reservations and were finding it more and more difficult to find rooms available once we spontaneously arrived in town. Kelley tried to get a direct blessing from the "live" version of Ganesha but something went awry and she ended up stepping in the "holy shit" instead. We quickly headed back to the room for a nice foot scrubbing to prevent any infection. The next day we decided to go inside the Sri Ramana Maharshi Ashram which was completely peaceful and tranquil amongst the chaos of Tiruvannumalai. Sri Ramana Maharshi preached (mostly through his presence not through his words or actions) the power of silence as the way to realize pure Self. He said it was very simple - you just keep asking yourself "who is asking" whenever there is judgement, suffering, etc. He called this self enquiry and the point is to decrease the power of the ego by constantly questioning where one's thoughts are coming from. The only "reality" is the non ego, pure Self of which we all are...as one entity....without form. Okay we are only beginning to try to grasp his teachings but his presence can be felt at the ashram 50 years after his death. The other photos are taken along the way and highlight the beauty, ancient history and color of Southern India.