So sorry, everyone, that it has been taking me so long to get these posts up. Because I’m only in each city for 3-4 days, each day becomes jam packed with seeing sites and familials.

Ok so I forgot to mention that, the night before, I was talking with Srinivas and trying to figure out what to do on this day. There is this temple complex, one of the highlights of Chennai, Mahabalipuram, and I was interested in seeing them. It would be a whole day affair, and when I got back I was looking online at TripAdvisor for tickets to go see. They were unavailable, so I told Srinivas I would call in the morning.

So I woke up, kind of early, perhaps around 5:45/6:00AM. I was a little anxious because I didn’t know what I was going to do with the day and how it would work out.

The offices for these tour groups were closed so it was not as if I could call and get added to a tour last minute. I walked down to the reception and they told met hat they could arrange a cab to take me there for 3,500Rs (~$50). I messaged with Srinivas and he said it was a bit high. Given the immediate nature of the request, and that I’m here, I said I’d do it.

Went back upstairs and Y&M’d, then got cleaned up. I got numerous calls from Mom and Dad as they were a bit worried that I was going to these places by myself.

Made my way down to breakfast at around 9:20AM as the car would be ready to leave at 10:00AM.

At around 9:30AM, I got a call from Padmasani Periamma, and it was Malini. She told me that she was planning on taking a half day off from work, but last minute decided to take a full day. She then asked if it was OK with me if she joined on the trip. ¡OF COURSE!

So I wrapped up breakfast quickly. Unfortunately they didn’t have masala dosa, perhaps a blessing in disguise. Also I took it way easy on the eats this AM, only having two plain dosas with sambar, two hard boiled eggs. After yesterday I wanted to give my tummy a break.

Put on some insect repellent and made my way down to the lobby. Cab driver was a little late, and we were trying to explain to him how to get to Malini’s place.

This dude was something else. He had no decorum, yelling really loudly in the hotel on the phone. In fact, both the hotel staff and I exchanged glances with smiles with something along the lines of “what? is this guy serious?”

We left and made our way to Malini’s. Dude had no idea how to get there. We kept on having to stop and ask everybody and their mother on the street directions. I called Malini and she was again speaking to him. At one point I could kind of hear her on the phone like “look dude are you a cab driver? are you purposefully delaying us? what are you doing?”

After much confusion and ridiculousness, we got to Malini’s spot, scooped her up, and were then on our way.

Sidenote: I’m actually really surprised at how much Tamil I am able to understand. Then again, I could think I understand and really not. But on the whole, I think I’ve been good. It’s funny because when someone asks me something, I’ve found myself responding in Spanish because it isn’t English and its the only other language that I can speak. I find it funny. I can understand family really well, I think because they speak slowly/enunciate, throw in English, and I have an understanding of context. In the streeetz, however, I’m able to pick up words/phrases here and there, but its largely a big question mark at times.

Ok so we started our drive! Malini and I chatted about alllll types of things. She works at TCS, a global consultancy firm providing software for businesses dealing with economic trading on various stock exchanges.

The drive to Malabalipuram takes about 90 minutes for 50km. That is the other thing. Traffic here in India, and driving in general, is something else. I can’t even describe it to you. Lanes and staying in them? HA. Staying in your directional lane of traffic? For the birds. It is a legit free for all. I find myself cringing at times like “please brake please brake” or “we about to be in an accident”.

But it works, and it is absolutely beautiful. It is this fluidity of everyone doing their own thing, and I’m talking about people weaving left/right/center, but there are very few accidents and there seems to be an unwritten tacit rule of kindness that gets expressed in THOUSANDS of horns honking letting neighbors know “I’m here”.

OK, so back to the story at hand.

We get to Malabalipuram (referred to know as M to save typing). History: Complex is made of 5 monuments and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site dating back to 7th/8th century CE. They are along the coast, so they would call the major temple the shore temple. Malini was saying how she remembered as a kid water coming into the temple. Since then, they have built a wall around it to protect it from the sea. They theorize that these temples were built here given the importance of sea transport historically. So these areas would have been busslin’ with people and trade.

So we got to the shore temple and walked around, taking some snaps. There have been major restoration efforts as you can imagine. It is a pyramidal tower and has Shiva inscriptions around.

We then left the shore temple and made our way back to the parking lot, stopping in the gift shop and checking out some items. Also its as super hot this day. Similar to the day before, around 105F.

After checking out shops and shoppin’ (Dave Chapelle in The Nutty Professor), we made out way to the 5 Rathas. These were chariot shaped temples, These various Rathas had wonderful inscriptions and varied in size, and were apparently carved from one piece(s?) of diorite and granite rock in sand. The various carvings represent different Gods in Hinduism, and were also helped used to date the temples.

 

After checking out the 5 Rathas, we made our way over to Arjuna’s Penance, or the Descent of the Ganges. This relief is considered one of the largest bas-reliefs in the world (cue Mike Epps from Friday After Next). There are two interpretations: One is that this is the attempt to bring the Ganges River from the heavens to the earth. The other is from the Mahabharata (epic mentioned earlier) and Arjuna’s efforts to gain the weapon he needed to help good trump (ironic word here) evil.

The relief was BEAUTIFUL, and quite large. Malini was pointing out different animals like cats, monkeys, and the different flows of the images as they moved across the relief, centering upon a snake in the middle.

 

We made our way through this portion of the monument park (I should mention that to get to each one we would jump back with our driver and he would take us. walkable? Sure. With the heat. Nah son.) and looked at some more souvenir shops where we came across the Banyan tree.

 

Malini explained how these roots would take ‘root’ and then grow more trees so in some areas you have Banyan trees that are way way old because they were able to reproduce so well.

There were a couple more items that rounded out the park, mainly something called ‘butter ball’, which was this large boulder on this hill. And for whatever reason, it had not gone down the hill. We saw it from the car and were good.

Time to make our way back to town!

In doing so I was able to talk to my Aunt Janaki (not the one mentioned before) who lives in Coimbatore (SSW 510km from Chennai), as well as as my cousin Warangul Babu. I wasn’t able to see them this trip…so that’s gonna have to be for next year!

So mom had this chanting box that would play certain mantras, and unfortunately it broke. So, when here I thought, let’s get her a new one! So Malini spoke with Srinivas and bam, we knew exactly where to go, that it was in stock, and how much it would cost.

Malini let the driver know and we went over to the store, picked it out, and got back in ready to go! As we walked into the store, Malini told me how in this regional state of Tamil Nadu is most famous for all of its temples. There are temples everywhere. Tucked away on side streets, in plain view. You would see people at different points in the day preparing for offerings by breaking coconuts or procuring flowers. I was reminded of Ali Ratannasi’s article from 1998 that desribed the multiple positioning of Indians as pre-modern due to religious fundamentalism, modern in the quest for capital accumulation, and postmodern in the ever expanding diaspora. I also thought how this was in some ways limited. The ‘religious fundamentalism’ was so beautiful to see in actuality. It was this bonding glue between everyone that underlies everything (I’ll come back to this momentarily). SO, here is the temple that we saw on our way to the store, about 40M from the store entrance.

I thought that, at this point probably around 3:30PM, that I’d head back to the hotel, get my second Y&M in, shower, REST, and then meet everyone for whatever evening plans were to be had.

Malini was speaking with her mother and Mom had told her sister (my Periamma) how much I love adai (another lentil based thin like crepe though different from dosa given the lentil combination being used) and Periamma and Nalini had prepared the batter!

We went right over and I washed up and sat down. Periamma then told me how EVERYTHING was home made, from the batter to the pickles used to accompany the dish. For the uninitiated, we use different pickles (lemon, lime, coriander, etc.) as an accompaniment to the dish, helping enhance flavor. Periamma had several, a spicy mango, a spicy chilli, sweet mango, and one other mango flavor. Home made butter. Home made yogurt. Home made sambar (like as soup with vegetables mentioned earlier). Not pictured are yogurt, mango, and pickles. I ate them all.

This. Food. Was. Out. Of. This. World.

I just kept shaking my head in disbelief as I kept eating and Nalini kept bringing me fresh adai!

THEN, on our way back home Malini had picked up some mangos. She cut them and I had some. MY GOODNESS! I have never tasted mangos like these, so sweet and delicious but with an extra flavor of amazing that I can’t quite place/describe.

At this point, the plan was for me to lay down and rest a little bit as Malini took Periamma to a doctors appointment.

I went to lay down, super satiated, and just remember feeling so overwhelmingly moved by all of the love from family. Making sure I was taken care of to the n-th degree. The conversations of everything. Soaking everything up like a sponge. I don’t know if I mentioned this earlier, but Periamma really reminds me of Mom, and I got sad because I realized how much I missed my family!

But then I got over it and slept for 10 minutes because I’ll be seeing my fam soon enough and they’d want me to enjoying every moment.

OK, so NOW the plan was to wait for Aunt Janaki and Uncle Jagannathan to pick me up and head back to their place for conversation…and some drank.

They came by at 6:00PM sharp, and we made our way to their place. When driving, he took me through one of the areas of Chennai with the highest property values. These homes were ginormous. Out of this world, and apparently around 20 crore. Wait wait, ok so Rupees are the currency, and 100K = 1 lakh. 10M Rupees = 1 crore. So, 20 crore = 200000000 Rupees = $2.86M. Ballin’ indeed.

We got to their place and the sun was setting with a magical blue sky!

Uncle showed me his photos in the armed services were he worked on tanks.

We began bantering about everything. I spoke about what it is that I do now as a teacher and the education system. Uncle and Auntie told me about their recent adventures and what they have planned, as well as the Indian pension system.

As Uncle went to shower, Auntie and I had a really great conversation comparing the US and India. As they’ve been to the US frequently, Auntie said she doesn’t like it. She said in not so many words that it is too hyper-individualized and spread out. In India, she feels a certain kinship with everyone. Thus, if she is having problems, whatever they may be, she can talk to anyone be it a neighbor or someone on the street and compassion and empathy will be shown. Yea, that ain’t happening in the States to the same degree. Could have to do with the religious centricity seen earlier.

We talked about cultural capital and socioeconomic ascendancy and how it has played out for her neighbors and children she had helped teach both English and Tamil.

After Uncle returned, it was time for some drank!

You can guess which one mine is! His is mixed with water. He wasn’t drinking that much! We sipped our drinks and continued chatting until Malini came to get us to head to dinner, where we went to…Cream Center! Legit sat at the same table too!

Latha and Anish were replaced by Auntie and Uncle, and Srinivas was also in attendance as well. We had another fantastic meal, sharing various veggie dishes with one another all of the naan.

At the end, Malini went around asking who might have something sweet. THat’s how I know we fam. Everyone got dessert! We all have those sweet teeth!

Had some vanilla ice cream, secretly paid for the bill, and Srinivas took me back to my hotel.

I felt, throughout the whole entire day, so overwhelmed with love. Moreover, this country is magical. Everywhere you go there are people EVERYWHERE. It is unreal, you’ve never seen anything like it. Crossing the street in front of cars, on the sidewalks doing all types of things. And there is this nobility about everyone, no matter what social standing or economic background, in my opinion. Our waiter that night had on a suit, but his shirt was FRAYED, shoes beaten up. But my man was a G. I know that what I’m saying is unfair as I do not know this individual or his walk of life, or anything for that matter, but it didn’t matter what he wore, he did what he does to perfection.

I really can’t describe how amazing this experience has been. I’ve been incredibly lucky with meeting family and how generous and kind everyone has been in welcoming me and making me feel at home. That, in tandem with the, for lack of a better word, magic, of this country had me so so so so full this evening as I went to bed.