Chennai to Mamallapuram
me again! i'm thinking it seems kind of stupid to do a whole blog just for a little trip like what this is turning out to be. i mean, who would be interested in that other than you guys? and wthout pictures it makes just as much sense to just send emails.
i am in mamallapuram, visited the temples here. it's a small town, which i love, but a bit touristy, which i don't love. the ride here was long but ok, on a metal bus with no windows, you can imagine the kind. have eaten a bunch of really yummy food for cheap. mmmmmm.mostly i am meeting indians, which is great, too. i prefer to meet people here and talk to them about their lives than to meet other travelers, whose lives i can imagine. i get such a kick out of the notion that somehow the universe worked out in such a way that i am here, on the other side of the world, in a tiny fishing
village talking with an indian restauranteur about his views on life and how to live it.
or sitting under the bow of a colorful long fishing boat chatting with two local women about their lives, how to tie a sari, their families... i love it!!oh, and here is where nearly all of the granite sculptures of ganesh, parvati, and vishnu come from. every morning the town wakes to the sounds of sanders whirring against the rock, chisels chinking and scraping, nearly every man making a living as an artisan of these intricate sculptures-- some small enough to fit in your hand, some large enough to be commissioned for new temples around the world. you can watch every stage of the process going on as you walk down the main road to one of the temple sites.
i stopped to take a photo, and was soon overwhelmed by 15 people crowding around to ask me to take their photos. it is easy to oblige with a digital camera, and so much fun to see how happy and pleased they are to see their faces! some of them will make nice portraits.today i am heading out to pondicherry, a former french colony a bit south of here. i will write more when i get there.
i am really happy, doing really well, feeling really good, loving my time here. stephanie, please drop a line when you can so i know you aren't going to pull an avi on me. ;)
love to everyone. miss you all.raquel
posted by Dr.Quel @ 9:49 AM
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