Post #17: trip to Tamil Nadu

We just returned from a week in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu, a relatively prosperous state with lots and lots of history. We first spent a couple nights in the coastal city of Ponducherry, the old French outpost that still does have a decayed veneer of old colonial France. The French are gone, but the old buildings (and a few French restaurants for the tourists) remain. Quite a change of pace from most Indian cities.

A little bit like New Orleans in South India

Joan of Arc statue by the shore. A strange site in South India.

Beyond this statue is a wide beach road which is only open to pedestrians - almost unheard of in India. People take advantage particularly in the early morning and in the evening to peacefully stroll along the water, meditate by the the ocean, hold hands with lovers or friends, play with their kids or pay homage to the Gandhi statue.  This one location alone would make the city memorable!

International Women's Day was celebrated with a demonstration which included this dance.

It might be an old French town, but Pondy really is Tamil through and through. Hindu temples are everywhere, including one we visited that was dedicated to Ganesh, complete with a live elephant standing out front that blesses the Hindus with gentle head rubs (in exchange for a banana as a gift to Ganesh).  

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After Pondy, we were off to Chennai, a big, bustling modern city previously called Madras. This was the locale for this year's annual four day Fulbright conference, which was a lot of fun. Tons of presentations by the Fulbrighters on the many areas that they are working on in the South East Asia region -- education, public health, the arts, literature, history, the environment, women's issues, culture. There was much more learning here for both of us than at the average conference.

Ken did a talk on pension and health reforms in India

The keynote speech given by a third time Fulbrighter was an extraordinary talk on Hinduism and the worship of natural forms such as trees and mountains. It gave us both a much deeper understanding of the intensely personal relationship that Hindus have with their gods.  Fulbrighters also provided the evening entertainment of Indian music and dance presentations.  All great!

Fulbrighters performing an improv at the conference. The guy is singing Dhrupad music from northern India and the woman is singing Carnatic music from southern India. The accompanist is studying Indian and jazz hybrid music for his Fulbright. The three somehow put it all together. Cool!   

The senior Fulbright researchers at the conference were interesting, but the 80 or so student Fulbrighters who were in attendance were the real hit of the conference for us. They were full of open-eyed insights and involvement and passion and a desire to make an impact. An inspiring group of kids who will make their marks on the world. Bravo.

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We finished up our trip to Tamil Nadu with a couple days in Thanjavur to learn about rural health delivery in India. We had a sensational health care day that we describe in more detail on our health page. While in Thanjavur, we had a chance to visit Brihadeeswarar Temple -- a gigantic one thousand year old Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva and built during the Chola dynasty.  The interior of the temple seemed right out of Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Inside, many people were providing gifts to Shiva. At the very center of the temple is one gigantic Shiva lingam covered in flowers.

Caroline was not able to fully appreciate the temple because she had her second bout with Delhi belly. A tough couple of days for Caroline.

It is monumental -- over 200 feet tall -- and still used as an active Hindu temple by lots and lots of people.

Filled inside and out with statues and deities and animals and more...

...including some Brihadeeswarwar Temple walls that are quite erotic!

There is a lot of erotic art in many old Hindu temples, but the Brihadeeswarar Temple that we visited is nothing compared to the Khajuraho Temple complex in central India, which is literally covered in erotic art. Sadly for Ken, we missed this stop! The picture above is not ours --complements of google images.