Veggies, Flowers and Mahabalipuram

It's been a couple of days since my last entry, a delay caused by a mixture of tiredness, lack of internet, and a cold that moved through me between Saturday and today, climaxing with a 3 hour afternoon nap on Sunday, and followed by a full night's sleep. I am now back to health and to classes.

Last week I finally made my way to a wonderful vegetable market, where I hope to return soon. The market is just 15 minutes away from KYM and offered the most vibrant and delicious array of vegetables.

I happily made my way home stocked with garlic, lemons, green beans, cauliflower, cucumbers, and two delicious zucchine (I cannot bring myself to call them "zucchini" - in Italian they are female vegetables, hence zucchine! It's like calling spaghetti (male), spaghette (female). Just wrong). 

Talking about beautiful colors, a couple of days ago  I caught a few shots of this beautiful flower blossoming off a tree at the entrance of KYM. I got very close to the flower, trying to smell its fragrance, and was surprised when one of the rickshaw drivers waiting for a passenger came up to me and gestured for me to step away from the flower. He looked pretty serious. Had I infringed on a taboo of sorts? (He even gestured skywards in what I interpreted to be a gesture of warning of the wraths of gods...) The driver seemed quite worried when I approached the flower with my camera, and I felt slightly guilty, but how could I resist taking a few photos?

Well, as it turns out, I was simply being warned against ants crawling up my nose if I got too close. Phew!

With my camera out, I also caught a photo of these four young people. I think they live right next to the school, although I haven't seen them since. The third from the left was making all sorts of cool dance moves and I mimicked him for a while - it was a good time.

Our week of classes moved along as productive and nourishing as it started. By Friday my brain felt slightly overloaded and I was looking forward to a break from the honking and dust of Chennai. I asked a few of my classmates to head over to Mahabalipuram and, although it was pouring rain when we met at the bus stop, 7 people showed up and we made it! The following are a few pictures from our day there, with a little running commentary. They are dedicated to David, whom I missed greatly - it was a funny thing, to miss your presence so greatly in such a foreign land.

One of the first sculptures we saw on arriving, a welcome Ganesh.

The stall to the right looked like the best joint for breakfast...

...and it was! My models are holding Idli and Sambar street style.

An ingenious way of growing aloe. 

One of the food carts along the road had this good luck charm hanging from it. From the top, a beautiful sun disk with bells and Ganesh at its center, a crystal, and a small bunch of chillies.

Miguel and a fully satisfied Adi - she was so hungry!

Cows: front and butt.

One of the least intricate walls of Mahaballipuram, on our way to the 5 Rathas (5 unfinished temples, a Big Nandi - cow - and a life size elephant situated at the Southern end of town.) I liked this wall because of the yogi practicing on the left - I can almost see his breath moving him. 

Anjuli brought my attention to this great logo, also on our way to the unfinished temples.

If you ever make it to Mahabalipuram, I recommend making your way to the 5 Rathas first and finishing with the main wall - the center piece of the town. It's a great way to build your experience of the art.

A portrait of David and I from 2009, the last time we were here. Location: 5 Rathas.

I forget the name of the central figure - she's carrying a little drum and is so sexy and empowered that the man on the left seems to be pulling his hair out. I believe it's Sita, Shiva's consort.

The outside the Sita's temple.

Life size stone elephant - a classic.

Two of the Rathas, back view. Can you spot the Big Nandi at the back of the picture?

Half male, half female.

A lot of the sculptures in Mahaballipuram are scattered throughout a beautiful park. As though Central Park were filled with 7th century art carved out of its rocks - it would be amazing. Together with the sculpture, the park is filled with  couples taking romantic strolls, students of different ages, tourists from all over, and snack vendors. Here, in the center of her display, green mangoes.

The two men of our group demanded that they be photographed. 

Anjuli, left, and Jacqui, right. 

While we were exploring the temple, a monkey tried to grab my water bottle (a lovely Hello Kitty SIGG bottle with a pink cap that probably resembled delicious fruit to the chimp.) I turned around admonishing it with a loud Italian "No!", to which it hissed and showed its teeth, making me scurry away in a hurry. My legs were like jello for a good 5 minutes afterwards. Monkeys scare me. Can you spot a few here?

Young visitors. They claimed they were 53 and 49.

When they asked me, I told them I was 101. Why not.

Probably one of the sexiest images in the whole Mahabalipuram. I forget which deity it is... maybe Lakshmi?

The young visitors prophesying a prosperous family with 3 beautiful Indian children to Miguel. 

Portrait with straight arms.

Large open field and boulders at the end of the walk through the park.

Balancing boulder known as Krishna's Butter Ball. 

Fortune teller under the balancing boulder.

I was once predicted a wonderful fortune by a parrot just like this one. That time I had a very gracious translator, a luxury that wasn't available this time. Here's the parrot showing off its fortune picking skills.

A beautiful temple that I had not seen in 2009: the Trimurti Cave Temple. It's a little bit "at the back", and I think David and I might have opted for a rest after the long walk through the park instead of finishing the tour of the temples. I was glad to discover it. It's dedicated to Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma and... there's a lingam to rival that of the Tiger Cave (see the picture of me in "blissful worship").

Unfortunately I cannot find out who is Vishnu and Brahma (the images above and below), but the lingam leaves no question: this is Shiva!

Water tank/well next to the Trimurti Cave Temple.

The rock behind the Trimurti Cave Temple is decorated with this beautiful composition: 4 elephants, a monkey (aiuto!) and a peacock. The little one stumbling made me reminisce of Dumbo. 

And the classic wall: Arjuna's Penance or The Descent of the Ganges (water used to run along the center section). Standing in front of this wall thrills me to the bones. It's so beautiful. Can you find the cat  stretching?

The Mahabalipuram crew.

From left to right: Anjuli, Matt, Jacqui, Naty, Miguel, young Indian man, Adi.

Our 4 mile walk (or something close to it, as we were told by Matt's cool gadget) ended with a lovely lunch at Buddha Cafe', which sheltered us from a monsoon down pouring that ended when we decided to walk around town.

Matt and Anjuli.

After lunch, Miguel (an avid surfer) and I opted for a walk along the beach while the others checked out the town and went for some shopping.

Fishermen's beach.

Drying fish with sunburning man (hence the umbrella. And it was a cloudy day.)

Giant ants with temple by the sea in the background.

Goodbye fishermen's beach...

... and hello party beach!

With cows...

...horses, 

(including peeing horses),

... and cool hand made rides.

Desolate lifeguard stand.

The beautiful orange of the fried food on display was slightly disconcerting to me. But very photogenic.

Young and old(er) men.

Mahabalipuram is still famous for its stone carving. I liked the signs on this emporium.

A little ad for the shop where I had my sandals made 3 years back. 

3 more pairs were purchased on our trip.

It was about 5pm when we got on the bus home. I sat at the back of the bus, where a boisterous and high spirited group of young Tamil men and women were singing great Tamil/English hip hop. One of the verses involved a "my sexy hindi country girl with her sexy sari..." OK, it wasn't exactly like that. But it was pretty cool. And although they were almost unbearably loud, they had great voices and timing! There was even a guy doing beatbox. I found out they all studied music in college - not sure if it meant they were at a conservatory, but they were pretty amazing.

We arrived in Chennai in the middle of rush hour traffic, increased by a visit by a high government official (could it have been the prime minister?)

Classic police car with red siren flashing.

By this point in the trip I was pretty exhausted from my worsening cold and was glad when I made it home through the traffic and got to shower and fall asleep. 

As I mentioned, Sunday was spent resting. I finished reading Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, a wonderful literary track for my time here (thank you Lena). The generations of people, the suffering, the colonial ventures and dreams of Europe, the vivid descriptions of the flowers and the dust... and the sanskrit! All of this resonated deeply with my time here. I am now moving to a more English read in preparation for my return to England at the end of the month (Woolf's To The Lighthouse). Reading fiction while immersing myself in Yoga philosophy and practice has been a rich resource for reflection on life, love, death, and a few more classic themes... 

Over the past couple of days the initial excitement from all the novelty has started to settle. I have found myself more contemplative and introverted, as I spend time on my own, thinking about what I am learning - not just in class, but while on this trip. It's a true adventure, and what arises isn't always light. But I feel grateful as there's a lot of room to observe here, a lot of recognition for the process of experiential learning (something I had barely heard about before this intensive), and a lot of "don't be so serious, sweetheart" coming from our wonderful Sangeetha (Yoga Philosophy). 

Sending you my good wishes from here,

B