Tamil Nadu 2006 |
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Week 5March 11, 2006 Saturday |
Morning working and then I went into town. Looking for some new books as I have read everything I have got and the local book shops and stalls only seem to stock Jeffrey Archer and Agatha Christie. Those two, together with P. G. Wodehouse, are the dominant authors here. As well as the book Papillon which is on every stall. Why?
I think anyone on a visit with me would soon get exhausted. I tend to walk. For hours and miles. I have a vague destination or route, but rarely stick to it and just wander. Today I set off down the main drag, Mount Road, just to see what was beyond where I had been before. I walked for about five hours all told, with long stops. Sometimes I don't see anything of particular interest, but that is part of the interest, just seeing the ordinary stuff. I find just walking quite cathartic. (I saw a learning English book which had a whole section on "How to avoid pompous language". It gave lists of pompous phrases with alternative simple language. Then it had a test, a list of pompous words and blanks for the simple alternatives. I read down the pomposities, "alleviate", "ameliorate", "cathartic"... and thought "My God, I am pompous. That's how I talk!")
I discovered the Cottage Industries Emporium, miles from all the other craft shops. If you ever come to Chennai, go to this shop, it is the best craft shop in town. I bought nothing, but will take Pam there when she gets here (three weeks today).
Then wandering up the road I found what I would call a Hare Krishna Temple. There was singing coming out, so I went in and sat and listened for half an hour, one monk singing and one on a drum. Then several people arrived and I was asked to stand and look through the door. A bell and gong started to crash and a red curtain on one wall was thrown back to reveal life sized and life coloured statues of Krishna and his two consorts, decked in garlands and silks, outlined in fairy lights and lit up like a stage set. A priest on the side waved burning lamps all round them, then poured libations from a conch shell, followed by fanning them with a gold fan, then a huge peacock feather fan and finally a great hairy fly whisk as big as himself. All the time the bell, gong and drum crashed and chanting goes on ("Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare; Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare" in case you haven't been down Oxford Street recently). Then the priest blew a conch shell, something I know I have never heard before because I have never heard anything like it. I don't know how a sound can be hollow, but it was. Then several people prostrated themselves and the whole crowd started to march around the temple (small and modern) following the drummer. I left and went to look for dinner. You see all sorts when you just wander about.
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I once heard Jasper Carrot say that he had been struck dumb when he realised that somewhere there was a factory that made NEW Reliant Robins. I feel the same about autorickshaws and busses. They must have been new once, presumably. Here is one answer, a brand new auto, being assembled from a flat pack on the side of the road. Being spot welded by a barefoot man using an oxy-acetylene welder between his feet... |
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There are many mosques here and you hear the muezzin every evening and morning. Nothing like as common as the temples, and there is not such an obvious welcome to outsiders. This is the Thousand Lights mosque on the Mount Road. Things are a bit tense at the moment with the bombs that have just gone off in Varanassi. |
Usual quiet day. I'm becoming a creature of routine. Sunday I wash my clothes and hang them out to dry. That only takes a remarkably short time in these temperatures (about 33°C). Then I read, have lunch, read a bit more and then amble up to Adyar to find somewhere for dinner. The sun sets at 6:19 pm and rises at 6:19 am, every day. It is dark by 7:00pm. After I've had dinner I usually walk back via the Cafe Coffee Day. Full of hip westernised Indians, but it is comparatively quiet (piped music, but not actually shaking the walls, which is quiet here) and I read the newspaper over a mug of coffee.
Indian newspapers are fascinating. The Hindu is modelled on the the Times and Telegraph, the Deccan Chronicle more the Guardian and the Indian Express a bit of a tabloid. When they report what a notable said, they report every single word, none of this paraphrasing and summarising nonsense. When politicians grace a meeting, every single name is recorded in full. The police are always referred to as "the cops". At the weekends there are up to four pages of classified ads headed "Brides wanted" They set out in remarkable detail what qualifications and income the prospective bride must have before she will be considered. "Only qualified doctors will be considered." "Must be earning minimum Rs30,000", "Must be of good, similar family." Do any apply? Several say "caste no bar" but is is clear for most of them that caste is very much a bar. There are about three adverts under Husbands wanted. Who are these unfortunates who presumable none of the preceding four pages are interested in?
There was a big event going on in a local temple, but it seemed to consist mainly of speeches. They had a golden Car there as well, but smaller than the one I saw on Friday. That was described in the paper as having 10.5kg of gold in its plating, all given by worshippers. At current rates that would cost about £100,000. And then they go and hang fairy lights all over it.