too many tamil buses later...
as usual, i've done so much and don't know what i can cram in here before you all start gazing off into space, picking your toenails and thinking "what is she babbling about...gawwwwd this is boring". shall i try though? OUI!
madurai: so glad that i got diverted there on my way to rameswaram. i waited until night time to visit the temple, a little afraid to go in. the meenakshi temple is huge, forcing the rest of the city to stream around it like a rock diverting the water in a river. as i walked about in the labyrinthine corridors i encountered thousands of images, shrines pouring over with kum kum, sandlewood paste, ashes... two elephants were wandering around, painted and dressed, offering blessings to those with rupees in hand. from the shadows emerged an ox, painted and bejewelled, getting pats from the hyperactive devotees scurrying from altar to altar. at one point a giant silver horse appeared though i'm not sure why... then 6 very sweaty men arrived on the scene carrying a golden litter, transportation of choice for the image of lord shiva. every night they take him to the sanctum where meenakshi, his wife, stays so that they can spend the night together. apparently, every friday they take both statues out, put them on a giant swing and swing them and sing for hours. bats skim your hair. for a split second i saw a tiny owl in the shadows, and then he disappered into the dreamlike chaos.
rameswaram: spent 2 days in bed, aching and sweating with a ridiculously high fever. this of course led me to believe that i had malaria, typhoid and cholera ALL AT THE SAME TIME. it left as mysteriously as it came. i took 22 purifying baths at the temple, which is the spiritual equivalent of bathing in the ganges at varanasi. 6 a.m., start off in the bay of bengal, get 22 buckets of water poured over my head in the temple at various locations , toddle back the 2 km to my guesthouse, soaked through and through. it's like a scavenger hunt but instead of clues you just get another bucket of ice cold water thrown on you at each location... i was so pruny! i also spent half a day on adam's bridge, the place where either a) rama and hanuman built the bridge to lanka to rescue sita or b) adam crossed when cast out of eden. nothing but a finger of sand jutting out into the water for as far as you can see, no beginning or end in sight. a few ruined buildings, some villages that are fighting a losing battle with the dunes of blowing sand... i got a ride back on a navy transport truck that was taking a load of sri lankan refugees to the mainland.
tanjore: now THAT'S what i call a linga!
i'm now in pondicherry, former french capital in india. it's hot but the living is easy.
and now lastly, there are too damn many of you born around this time so all you get is: HAPPY BIRTHDAY dadoo, dave, matt, eben, kamira bo bira... is that it? it better be!
madurai: so glad that i got diverted there on my way to rameswaram. i waited until night time to visit the temple, a little afraid to go in. the meenakshi temple is huge, forcing the rest of the city to stream around it like a rock diverting the water in a river. as i walked about in the labyrinthine corridors i encountered thousands of images, shrines pouring over with kum kum, sandlewood paste, ashes... two elephants were wandering around, painted and dressed, offering blessings to those with rupees in hand. from the shadows emerged an ox, painted and bejewelled, getting pats from the hyperactive devotees scurrying from altar to altar. at one point a giant silver horse appeared though i'm not sure why... then 6 very sweaty men arrived on the scene carrying a golden litter, transportation of choice for the image of lord shiva. every night they take him to the sanctum where meenakshi, his wife, stays so that they can spend the night together. apparently, every friday they take both statues out, put them on a giant swing and swing them and sing for hours. bats skim your hair. for a split second i saw a tiny owl in the shadows, and then he disappered into the dreamlike chaos.
rameswaram: spent 2 days in bed, aching and sweating with a ridiculously high fever. this of course led me to believe that i had malaria, typhoid and cholera ALL AT THE SAME TIME. it left as mysteriously as it came. i took 22 purifying baths at the temple, which is the spiritual equivalent of bathing in the ganges at varanasi. 6 a.m., start off in the bay of bengal, get 22 buckets of water poured over my head in the temple at various locations , toddle back the 2 km to my guesthouse, soaked through and through. it's like a scavenger hunt but instead of clues you just get another bucket of ice cold water thrown on you at each location... i was so pruny! i also spent half a day on adam's bridge, the place where either a) rama and hanuman built the bridge to lanka to rescue sita or b) adam crossed when cast out of eden. nothing but a finger of sand jutting out into the water for as far as you can see, no beginning or end in sight. a few ruined buildings, some villages that are fighting a losing battle with the dunes of blowing sand... i got a ride back on a navy transport truck that was taking a load of sri lankan refugees to the mainland.
tanjore: now THAT'S what i call a linga!
i'm now in pondicherry, former french capital in india. it's hot but the living is easy.
and now lastly, there are too damn many of you born around this time so all you get is: HAPPY BIRTHDAY dadoo, dave, matt, eben, kamira bo bira... is that it? it better be!
posted by natalie at 1:50 AM
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