Yup, I have already forgotten which day of the week we are on!
I’m writing this on another train journey - this time from Thanjavur to Pondicherry, but more of that later.
We’ve spent the last week wandering around temples and markets, hunting for batteries and not eating enough curry!
We’ve left Kerala and crossed over into Tamil Nadu, the state that runs down the southern east coast of India.
Madurai is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world…from about the 4th Century BC and we had some fun times exploring.
We had our first idli and dosa experience here. Thanks to Jacob for his recommendation we headed to the Muragan Idli Restaurant where the lovely staff basically educated us through our breakfast! First we were given a big banana leaf and told to wipe it with water….wasn’t sure if that was to wash it or make it not sticky?
Then various chutneys (tomato, coconut and mint) and vegetable curry …all quite runny were ladled onto the banana leaf. The staff then brought us our main sustenance - all of which I think are made by rice and lentils, but all quite different preparations and tastes. First we had an idli, a white flat solid ‘cake’ about the size of a Scottish drop pancake. The one we had here was covered in a masala spice, but others were usually plain. Next we had an uttapum, more like a wider flat pancake, sometimes plain, but best when mixed with chopped onions. Finally, we were served a dosa….a giant crepe, again sometimes served plain and other times stuffed. Today we had one that was stuffed with masala, which I think is garlic, onion and turmeric. CNN voted it one of the top 50 things to eat in the world and this one was yummy. As with all of our food we eat with our right hands, breaking a piece off and dipping it into the sauces, squidging food and dips between our fingers. Chris is paranoid that everyone is watching him as he eats…which in fairness is actually true!! He’s also paranoid that his finger doesn’t move quick enough and he ends up with curry on his nose!!
This was the yummiest breakfast I had enjoyed so far….although at that stage I didn’t realise that this was basically the same meal we would be having for breakfast, lunch and dinner over the coming days, to the point where I was crying out for a curry and rice!!! (I can’t fantasise about things like salad, as that is just going to torment me!)
Each time we have coffee we have to remember to ask for it black and with no sugar as the normal coffee is white and sweet! Tea and coffee tends to be served in small metal beakers which sit in a metal bowl with coffee slopped in the bottom. We at last mastered why this is when someone explained that the ’slop’ is actually cooler coffee, so if you want to drink your coffee cooler then slop your coffee into the bowl to mix with the cooler coffee and then pour back into your beaker! Hey presto - your coffee is cool enough to drink!
It has to be said, most of the people we have interacted with are absolutely lovely, genuinely trying to help us out, pointing us in the right direction, educating our inept ways, or just wanting to have a chat and find out “which country?”, our names and if we have children!
Fortified with breakfast Chris led us on a walking tour around the old city. On our way we passed men standing in the streets ironing on big tables (we later did see women too). Opposite a mosque I turned around to see Chris stripping off his shirt and handing it over to the guy to iron!! This caused a lot of amusement to us, the man and the other people in the street!! The ironing man opened up his iron and filled the base with coals and did a mighty fine job of ironing Chris’ shirt!
We headed to the Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal Palace which has frankly seen better days, with lots of graffiti over the pillars, but was a pleasant wander around and we were careful not to commit adultery as we’d been pre-warned but the sign outside that the police would be called?! Outside the Palace some men were dying yarn for making sarees, dunking it in a bucket of brightly coloured dye, stretching it out over a frame that went the length of the street and then winding it up into a tight bundle.
Chris had arranged for us to go on a cycle rickshaw tour of the city with a driver who ’spoke good English’. Anyway, out we came from the Palace and good English speaker hooked us up with not so good English speaker for our tour! Learning…ask who exactly we will be going with!!
Despite this, we had a great tour…visiting the vegetable market, the banana market, the ‘masala’ market (onion, garlic and tamarind), the kitchen implement street, the temple and to the river where people wash - themselves, clothes, buffalo, bikes and “autos” (which we have discovered is what the locals call tuk tuks)! Chris did try and cycle the rickshaw but the owner kept him under very close supervision, which is not surprising as he was not as skilful in the traffic as someone who has had years’ experience!!
Most exciting of all…it was the first time I was asked to be in a selfie!
After this we came across people banging drums under an awning with a big banner at each end with a photo of a lady. Transpired this was a funeral.
Following this we went for our first real temple experience, visiting ‘Meenakshi Temple. That’s after navigating the ‘chappell stand’ for leaving shoes, dropping off our mobile phones, our bags going through a scanner and being left and then going through security, only to be told Chris couldn’t go in as he was wearing shorts and my blue sarong wasn’t good enough as it wasn’t white, so I went in alone. About 5 minutes later Chris appeared behind me looking very fetching in his new white lungi (wrap around skirt)!
’Temple’ slightly underplays what these structures are…more like mini-cities inside fortified walls with hugs towers at the entry points and inside, courtyards and inner chambers housing shrines which we couldn’t go into as non-Hindus. This temple was covered in brightly coloured painted sculptures, had a pond in the middle and places to buy food.
The next day we visited the Gandhi Museum. There was a great overview of the struggle for freedom from the British which started…mmmm, when the Brits first arrived and started being horrible…first under the British East India Company - a private company of traders with their own army; then under Queen Victoria’s Empire. It has to be said, we are quite enjoying being Kiwis in India and one of the reasons is shame for the atrocious way the British have treated people. The museum gave us the context for the peaceful fight for independence which Gandhi brought. It culminated in the independence of India in 1947, as well as the partition of Pakistan and Bangladesh and the big shift of populations based on whether families were Hindu or Muslim. Gandhi had actually campaigned all along for a united India, so he was against partition, but couldn’t see any alternative given the groundswell of support for it. There was a segment of the bloodied lungi (sarong) he was wearing when he was killed. The irony was, we both walked out of the museum and asked …”so, how DID he die?!” The museum didn’t cover that bit, but apparently he was shot by a Hindi who thought Gandhi was supporting partition.
We then went on the hunt for food (for me) and beer (for Chris)….tried about 4 different bars which were all dingy, downstairs in hotels, empty and unappealing. Eventually Chris went down to one…I’d given up looking and called up “there’s people in this one”, so in we went. Well, transpires the sort of people that drink in establishments like this include other tourists, so we had an entertaining evening with a trio of 60 year old British school friends, with varying views on society and politics, so good wind-ups all around!
And yes…we had dosa and idli for our dinner!!
PS Sorry for the mis-aligned photos....can't seem to fix it this blog!!