Tamil Nadu 2006 |
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Week 7March 19, 20, 21 & 22, 2006 |
Did my usual washing this morning and after lunch I went for a walk. I knew that St. Thomas Mount gave a view point of the city and I thought it wasn't too far away. Right on the first, not so sure about the second. It took me about two hours to walk there. A dull walk through over developed IT areas, but worth it. The Mount is about 300ft high and has a path with 125 steps and ramps and the stations of the Cross to entertain you on the way.
A diversion here on St. Thomas, the doubting Apostle. There is a universal tradition in the South of India that St. Thomas came to Kerala in about 52AD and introduced Christianity into India long before it was established in Europe. Several historians dispute this, on no grounds other than prejudice. Others, including William Dalrymple, say there is no reason why he shouldn't have made the journey as there was a very active Roman trade route from Palestine via the Red Sea to the Malabar Coast for the spice trade. Roman artefacts have been found as far round the Indian coast as Chennai. Travelling with the monsoon winds would have meant a journey probably of no more than a month. The tradition goes on that St. Thomas eventually settled in Mylapore, now a district in Chennai, and was speared to death on St. Thomas Mount, where I went today. He was buried back in Mylapore, where the San Thome cathedral now stands. The Tamils say that this church is therefore one of only three churches known to be built over the tomb of an Apostle, the others being St. Peters in Rome and Santiago de Compostela in Spain. They would like to see more pilgrims! Sadly, the church is a fairly grim 19th Century neo-Gothic pile that you wouldn't travel far to look at (only a 1 star on the Michelin scale, I'd say. "Worth looking at if passing it is unavoidable")
The view from the top is good, but Chennai has no real presence. The main feature is the airport. It is a very leafy town and looks more like a collection of villages in a wooded landscape from above. After the walk I weakened again and got an Auto to the Connemara hotel for dinner. It is a lifeline of peace in this town, if a bit pricy. I know I'm getting too fixed in my habits. When I went into the Connemara, I was greeted with "Your usual table, sir?" I didn't realise I had a usual one. In the cafe near home, they now serve my coffee without me asking for it. I'm tempted to say "Hey, I wanted tea!" but that would be mean and untrue anyway. It's quite nice to be a regular.
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The street-side banyan tree I photographed in my first week here. Still being revered and fresh offerings all around it. It is clearly a favoured shrine. It is curious how some things are favoured. In the Kapaleeswara Temple, there is one column with a shallow relief sculpture on it which is treated with nearly as much veneration as the main shrine itself. Everyone circulates around it and anoints it and it is always decked with fresh garlands. But all the columns are carved like this and the others are just ignored. |
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The cobras by the banyan tree have been re-coloured. They were red before, and are now dressed in new silk robes. |
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View of Chennai from St. Thomas Mount. Not spectacular and very hazy. But a nice breeze, which is a blessed relief after the climb. |
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The church on top of the hill. Built by the Portuguese (or Protugees (sic)
as it is spelt outside the door) and a rather curious, barrel vaulted
cave-like interior. The cross is decked in garlands and Mary is wrapped in
silk shawls, just like a Hindu goddess. A bit like Croagh Patrick in Ireland
meets Madurai temple. In fact the church next door is called St. Patrick's! There were a group of ancient Indian ladies coming up the path, presumably all Christians. They were dressed in what can only be called the height of 1950s English provincial fashion. Very nice floral print frocks and sensible shoes. They looked quite extraordinary. |
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Bit of boring history here. This is a monument on St. Thomas Mount to
William Lambton who started the Great Survey of India from this point. Its
was carried right up through the centre of India to the Nepalese border and
took many years to complete. I mentioned that it was very hazy and it always
is this time of year. The Great Survey was carried out during the monsoon
season, because in between the rains the air was crystal clear. Many of the
survey teams were killed by tigers, and most of the rest died of fever. They
were all completely barking. The Survey was completed by Sir George Everest
who got the big hill named after him. If anything it should be Mount
Lambton, although it already had a name, and Chomolangma is a pretty good
name. Hundreds of Indians, mainly women I believe, were trained up to do the fearsome trigonometrical calculations that had to be done to prove the survey and they didn't calculate the height of Mount Everest until long after it had been surveyed. They didn't know it was the highest until they had finished calculating the heights of every mountain. These workers were called "the computers", the first known use of the term. It seems that the development of computing in India is much more ancient than we usually give credit for. |
I finished my book chapter about the Information Villages in Pondicherry and sent it in to the German publishers, who have acknowledge receipt. Quite a relief to have one publication on its way.
In the evening I went to Mylapore and completed my St. Thomas pilgrimage by going to the basilica where he is buried. I have to eat a bit of humble pie as it is really quite a pleasant building. Light and bright and in very good condition. The statues of Mary and Christ are dressed up like Hindu gods. People are touching them and prostrating in front of them. In fact, there is a remarkable amount of similarity between Hindu and Catholic religious practices, except the Hindus don't seem to go in for sermons.
The actual Tomb of St. Thomas is curious. Built in 2004 under the museum rather than the church. All smooth shiny marble and a glass alter with a statue under it and a couple of dubious relics. Worshipping supposed bits of someone's body has always struck me as an odd activity. All religions seem to do it. Idolatry seems quite reasonable by comparison.
Near the basilica is a Jain temple, all white marble fret work. The Jains are a very ancient religion which branched off Hinduism around the time of Buddha, about 1000 BC I think. They are total vegetarians and often wear face masks to avoid accidentally inhaling insects. They are generally very rich. I was shown around a Jain Temple in Mumbai two years ago and was told if anything looked like gold, it was solid gold. The doors alone looked like gold.
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I love coconut palm trees, I think they are beautiful. I have seen them in many places, but the best place to see them in massed ranks is the backwaters of Kerala, where you see them in every direction and sail through them for hours. Every bit of the plant is used for something, and young coconuts are for sale on all street corners as instant drinks. Sadly I'm not all that keen on coconut milk. |
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An evening shot of the Santhome Basilica. Quite a refreshing church after
the French Gothic gloom fests we staggered around last year. All last
judgements and everlasting damnation. There isn't much joy in European
Christian architecture. It is largely about punishment and retribution of
miserably sinners, which we all are, so we're all going to burn whatever we
do. I'm with the Hindus on the whole. Great signs around the church say only it and St. Peters are built over apostles tombs. They seem to have forgotten about Santiago. |
Not much to report today. I have drafted out an article about GIS activities at Anna University and MSSRF which I am going to submit to GeoConnexion (sic) magazine in the next few days.
The papers here are currently full of reports on the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Could it possibly be because India is really doing rather well? Following the reports requires a bit of interpretation. "India's paddlers doing well!" had me puzzled until I read about "India's shuttlers also doing well!!". We're talking table tennis and badminton I realised. India's lifters and shooters are also hauling in the golds, although seeing an Indian woman as a champion weightlifter is hard to countenance. They are generally so tiny.
Temperatures are steadily going up. 34°C is the norm and it only drops below 30° after sunset. Then it gets muggy as the relative humidity goes up.
I am having a jacket made for me at Gayman tailors. Now I will be able to flash my must-have designer label that much more easily. They really are good tailors!
Largely on my own today because MSSRF is undergoing a big annual review meeting of all staff, and they are cooped up in a conference room somewhere. I have solved one of my problems in dealing with all of the books and papers I have accumulated. The Post Office offers a packing service (as well as a letter writing one, which takes me back to my year in the Middle East when I used to see scribes outside Post Offices writing letters for illiterate labourers), so I took nearly 7 kilos of books down to them and had them neatly sewn up into canvas wrappers and dispatched "By sea" to Cirencester. Wonder if they will have to wait for the canal to reopen to make the final delivery?
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Watching the packers is interesting. Two ladies working at high speed, stitching canvas around parcels of all shapes whilst chatting at high speed to all and sundry. They don't just stitch it shut, but work in a draw string around one end so that the package can be opened by customs if necessary. The whole thing is a very Indian process. One person takes your stuff, books in my case, and weighs them into heaps of under 5kg. Then another person measures out the canvas. Then a third actually stitches the wrapping. Then it goes to someone else to do the address. Finally it goes to the PO desk, where the address is retyped in full onto a label and stuck on the parcel. At that stage the final chap glibly flung the parcels over his shoulder onto a heap on the floor behind him. Good thing it wasn't fine glassware... |