Hello again everyone. It's Febuary 21, and we are currently ensconced in Cochin after more endlessly exotic experiences.
After we left Tanjore we proceeded in a less rather than more stately fashion to the town of Madurai. where the big event is a nightly ritual of ''putting Shiva to bed". This takes place in a huge temple (with coincidental but bizarre resemlances to Chartres). Thousands gather while Shiva, in a palanquin. goes round the temple four times, saying ''good night'' to a variety of lesser Hindu deities to the accompaniment of a weird conglomeration of extrordinary musical instruments. Lots of temple priests, weird incantations, hangers-on of no discernible function, countless devotees and a surprisingly large number of French tourists all getting in the way taking photos. Whether there is a replica of Shiva in the palanquin was not revealed, but the ceremony ended when the temple priests took the palanquin into a sanctum sanctorum to be received conubially (we were reliably informed) by his greatly revered wife Pallavi. Everything I have learned about Hinduism draws me inevitably to the conclusion that it is impenetrable to one with my limited life span.
The next day we went again into the hills between Tamil Nadu and Kerala spending an enchanting, cool, misty day in the former owner's house of a spice garden. Only one night there unhappily, but then through endless tea plantations until we were ferried to an island in a huge lake. The island is occupied by a delightfully decadent resort called "The Coconut Lagoon", where were supplied with a bungalow wih a lakefront view and a private swiming pool. Again, only an afternoon, evening and morning before we boarded a houseboat and sailed into the vast body of the lake. We tied up for lunch and then set off through a maze of narrow canals with the daily rituals of life of rice farming being carried out on either side. We moored for the night in our cosy but airconditioned stateroom, but set off again after breakfast to the lakeport of Allepey yesterday, whence to Cochin to our delighful hotel on the waterfront of this busy port.
This morning we toured this very Portuguese and Dutch colonial town, admiring the architecture left by both. Oddly, Kerala is both a Christian and Communist State, which adds to its general exoticism and surrealistic air. We love it here and will be sorry to leave for Delhi on the 24th.
Amazingly we remain in good health and not too tired - considering.
By the way, one of the endless surprises of drivng through South Indian villages is coming upon lengthy, colourful religious parades with gaudy decorated flagpoles, incense to burn (sorry, couldn't resist it), whirling dancers in bodypaint and VERY weird music. Makes a Balinese funeral procession look positively dowdy!
All for now, and best to everyone.
K & K
After we left Tanjore we proceeded in a less rather than more stately fashion to the town of Madurai. where the big event is a nightly ritual of ''putting Shiva to bed". This takes place in a huge temple (with coincidental but bizarre resemlances to Chartres). Thousands gather while Shiva, in a palanquin. goes round the temple four times, saying ''good night'' to a variety of lesser Hindu deities to the accompaniment of a weird conglomeration of extrordinary musical instruments. Lots of temple priests, weird incantations, hangers-on of no discernible function, countless devotees and a surprisingly large number of French tourists all getting in the way taking photos. Whether there is a replica of Shiva in the palanquin was not revealed, but the ceremony ended when the temple priests took the palanquin into a sanctum sanctorum to be received conubially (we were reliably informed) by his greatly revered wife Pallavi. Everything I have learned about Hinduism draws me inevitably to the conclusion that it is impenetrable to one with my limited life span.
The next day we went again into the hills between Tamil Nadu and Kerala spending an enchanting, cool, misty day in the former owner's house of a spice garden. Only one night there unhappily, but then through endless tea plantations until we were ferried to an island in a huge lake. The island is occupied by a delightfully decadent resort called "The Coconut Lagoon", where were supplied with a bungalow wih a lakefront view and a private swiming pool. Again, only an afternoon, evening and morning before we boarded a houseboat and sailed into the vast body of the lake. We tied up for lunch and then set off through a maze of narrow canals with the daily rituals of life of rice farming being carried out on either side. We moored for the night in our cosy but airconditioned stateroom, but set off again after breakfast to the lakeport of Allepey yesterday, whence to Cochin to our delighful hotel on the waterfront of this busy port.
This morning we toured this very Portuguese and Dutch colonial town, admiring the architecture left by both. Oddly, Kerala is both a Christian and Communist State, which adds to its general exoticism and surrealistic air. We love it here and will be sorry to leave for Delhi on the 24th.
Amazingly we remain in good health and not too tired - considering.
By the way, one of the endless surprises of drivng through South Indian villages is coming upon lengthy, colourful religious parades with gaudy decorated flagpoles, incense to burn (sorry, couldn't resist it), whirling dancers in bodypaint and VERY weird music. Makes a Balinese funeral procession look positively dowdy!
All for now, and best to everyone.
K & K
