When we got our assignment to Chennai, we were pretty sure no one was going to make the long trek to visit us here. Wrong! We've had great visits from my sister Caroline, from John's mom, and most recently from my parents and two of my aunts. AND two of my friends are making plans to come soon. We feel loved.
I love these visits for many reasons, not least of which is the opportunity I get to share our sometimes nutty lifestyle. How can I describe Chennai to someone who has never experienced India? I just can't. The traffic, the heat, the smell of jasmine and incense, the smell of trash and stagnant water, dodging cows or goats as you walk down the sidewalk, the vegetable shop, battling the throngs in an effort to check out at the grocery store, colorful saris and salwars, men in lungis, children playing at construction sites while their parents labor, going through security at the consulate, the guards at the house, the oasis that is the American School, and always people, people, people everywhere! I can't describe, and I've been lucky enough to get to show instead.
Mom, Dad, Kathy and Aly did the Golden Triangle up north (an adventure best left for them to tell) and then came down to Chennai for a few days with us. They arrived late on a Saturday, then got some down time and church on Sunday. We lost Monday to Evie's strep throat and the chaos that is Apollo Children's Hospital, where they did blood work. (Nothing alarming. They always do blood work when anyone has a fever for more than a couple of days in case of malaria or dengue. Evie's was fine.) Dad came with me on the medical rounds and panicked me a little by disappearing at the main hospital's pharmacy. No worries, though. He navigated the crowds like a pro and popped up just as I was getting truly worried, blood pressure meds in hand.
The next day we did the StoryTrails tour of Mylapore, one of Chennai's more famous neighborhoods. I've written about the Peacock Trail here, so I'll let you click back for the history and dedicate the rest of this post mostly to photos.
The gopuram at the Kapaleeshwarar Temple.
The kolam at the temple's main gate.
Worshipers at Ganesha's shrine just inside the temple gates.
A view of the temple courtyard as we walked clockwise around the central shrines.
The roofs of the shrines are decorated with scenes from Hindu mythology, as are the two gopurams.
Women stringing flowers outside the inner sanctum.
I saw this bicycle basket with bell peppers (called capsicum here) next to the counter where we left our shoes.
Walking down one of the lanes around the temple.
Laundry hanging in the courtyard at a Brahmin priest's home. The basil plant is thought to be home to a goddess, so the pot is decorated with tamarind paste and vermillion. This was the first I'd ever heard of the sacred basil plant. We've been plucking the leaves from the one in our yard to use in cooking. I hope that's not offensive to anyone, because I plan to keep doing it!
After walking around the temple and its neighboring streets, we took autorickshaws over to St. Thomas Basilica, which I've written about here and here. It's the burial place of St. Thomas the Apostle, otherwise known as Doubting Thomas, who brought Christianity to India almost 2,000 years ago.
It's hard to see in this picture, but there are two peacocks at the feet of the statue of Christ over the altar in the church. (Note to Sarah: This is what was covered up on the day we visited.) Mylapore, the name of the neighborhood, means "place of the peacocks" in Tamil and is traced back to the beginnings of the Kapaleeshwarar Temple. The Hindus believe that Parvati, or Shakti, worshipped Shiva there in the form of a peacock. Our guide pointed out several places at St. Thomas Basilica where the ancient peacock theme has been rolled into the Catholic symbolism. It was here in the "new" church as well as on stone taken from the old Portuguese church that used to stand on this site.
There's also a statue of Mary wrapped in a sari. The locals always point out that the sari is wrapped in the north Indian style, probably because the way Mary is holding the infant Jesus makes it impossible to wrap her in the southern style.
Our tour ended with idlis and dosas at Saravana Bhavan ... yum.
More to come on Mom, Dad, Kathy, and Aly's visit, including photos of the intrepid travelers themselves!
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