Chennai Walks, and pics

This is my favorite temple in Chennai in the Mylapore area, the neighborhood surrounding it is full of smaller shrines, I come here often early early in the morning and then have a dosa, chai and my morning paper at one of the delectable resturants near the temple

beautiful colorful kolam

So many dawns, so many Kolams, what wonderful street art!


Beach at Chennai, New Years morning

This was the old ice house where ice shipped from Concord and Salem was brought, usually the shipment at least half melted by then. Now its the Swami Vivekananda house, Vivekananda represented India at the World Parliment of Religions in Chicago on September 11, 1894 (I think that's right, not quite sure about the year)

This is a modest example of the many Art Decco houses all over India, it certainly was a favorite style, I like the elaborate buildings and theatres, but also the modest homes in neighborhoods

The Lady Willingdon school building has seen better days but reflects the Colonial infuence in Indian architecture, some are beautifully restored. The generous collumbed porches and high celings are perfect for the tropical weather year round

A bit worn, but a charming older wooden victorian cottage style building

Fishermens's boats, this area was very badly hit by the Tsunami, there are some sturdy new builngs built along with the thatch buildings

Here you can see both Christian and Hindu churches on the shore in the fishing village, St. Thomas brough Cathoicism to Madras (Chennai) long before the British missionaries

A small chapel in the fishing village

Fishing village road

I've had a few exhausting days but very wonderful. I have been getting up and out by 7:30 and talking long long walks. I just got home from this mornings walk, started at 7:30 and its noon. Not only is the air cool, but the foot and vehicular traffic is manaable and people are friendly, many greetings of Happy New Year this morning. I love to photogaph the elaborate abstract designs that women put on the thresholds, called Kolams, they are to bring the blessings of the goddess of good fortune, Lakshmi, into the house. They are made with rice powder.
Some photos are also of the Mylapore Temple with its prominent brightly colored gopuram, that's my favoriate temple in Chennai, after which I visited the very serene Ramakrishna temple where people of all faiths gather, there were matts on the floor and many people inside meditating or praying, very peaceful and the grounds were beautiful, although not the kind of riotous imagery in the more typical Hindu temples that I find so interesting.

New Years Day commenced with a long walk to the beach, luckily it was hazy because there was no shade to be found. First I was walking through a small fishing village, you could see some new simple concrete structures probably built after the Tsunami which did so much damage. That part of the beach with a combination of thatched huts and grim looking government flats "projects" eventually gives way to a much broader expanse with a promenade and many grand European style buildings across from the main highway that runs along it. One pink buildin is the old Ice House where ice was bought from Salem to Madras, its now the Vivekananda museum. In terms of places of worship, grand and modest, You can see the presence of not only Hinduism, but Christianity, St. Thomas was here so there was ample Catholic presence lon before the missionaries, and many small chappels and larger grander churches. I photogaphed some here in the small beachside fishing village. A visit to another temple further north was pretty intnse, this IS the place to be on New Years Day and it was crowded with people lined up for Darshan, to see the image of the deity. After a very near miss in becoming part of a "Bus Sandwich" my own stupid fault for trying to cross a road unsafely,it made me feel like I really should pay my respects to at least one of the shrines in the temple, so I chouse one with the shortest line. I'm not sure what deity it was, but I was blessed and gave thanks that I could still walk around more, and it was a good lesson to be more careful.

The neighborhood streets around the temple were fun to explore, while I'd say that most architecture in the city is rather drab whitwashed concrete, and new buildings with a dizzying mix of styles, there are some old buildings and also what India excelled at, Decco buildings, many small and simple, a bit worn but with elegant lines. What I find very interesting, and also what makes it easier to be out and about, compared to when I was here in 2002 or before, is the total anonomimity I have walking around. I used to generate a great deal of attention, not harmful at all, but unnerving and made it hard to enjoy just strolling along and looking. Maybe its my gray hair "auntie" or maybe that seeing a westerner walking around is no big deal, though tourists here are still far and few between. There are the Rickshaw wallas who slow down to ask me if I want a ride but to my delight I discovered the above ground train has a station near where I'm staying and what a wonderful breezy ride over the rooftops of Chennai, a great way to see the city.

I've had plenty and plenty of "culture" this being music season. One day I went to two vocal concerts, they are scheduled all day at the main music academy, and yesterday afternoon to a 2 1/2 hour Carnatic music, flute, violin concert. Tonight is the end of the series and there is a multi drum, tabla finale at 6 pm then I will take myself out to the Raintree for dinner, its a luxury hotel I discovered within walking distnace from my place (well a reasonable walking distnace, considering the long long walks I"ve had all over the city.) New Years Eve Deborah took me to a wonderful dance drama of The Man in the Iron Mask, though it was in Tamil, I undestood the story and the visuals, beautiful people, costumes, dance, made up for what I may not have understood.

Tomorrow we hang the show and then the opening the following day, after that I have two days at Kanchipuram, one of the holist cities in India with many famed temples.

Noisy intense Chennai!

I was really ready to leave Goa, as charming and pretty and easy to be in, its also very small with a lack of cultural things to do. I somehow don't quite feel like I'm in India when I'm in Goa. Chennai is, for better or worse, most definately India! I'm back in the very dark apartment I stayed in for 6 months in 2002 on my Fulbright, brings back both good and bad memories. I'm a rolling stone in India, though I always think it would be nice to "settle" somewhere, after awhile I get bored and need to move on, (usually in about 2 weeks!) so that time, was a very very long time to be in one area, and a lot of rambling around on my own in a city which is not very hospitiable to walking or maps, it was never a planned city like Mumbai or Delhi so its very very hard to make sene of , particulary the bus system which I'd love to use if I could have ever figured it out which I never did in that 6 month time. I do love all of the temples and shrines around everwhere and of course the southern Indian food, dosas mostly.

People in the south are quite friendly, I went out to an outdoor fast food very very local place last night, with metal topped tables, open air (and thus open threatre for people watching is so much fun) they put down a large banana leaf to put your food on. There is no sense of privacy in India, its not something that people value or want or need, they think we are pretty strange for valuing privacy, so a very nice man sat down at the table with me, he proceeded to tell me about his time in LA and how it frightened him to be around other Asians, Mexicans, etc and that he couldn't get around by public transport which really bothred him, then he lived in Holland but that was too cold, and now is back in South India, permanetly. I can't remember what his job was,some kind of research. He was wearing one of the white lungi's that men in the south wear that is so charming, often doubled up so it looks more like a miniskirt sometimes. It was an interesting conversation and I was tickled that somebody would just sit down with me like that.

This is music and dance season here, with a lot of cultural things to do. I'm staying in the guest apartment owned by Deborah Thiagarajen, (down the road from the beautiful house she and her husband now diseased, Raj, own) and the night I came we went to a wonderful dance and druming concert. She has two daughters, a son in law and three very active grandchildren with her, so I'm not sure how much of her I'll see. Today I went to the music academy and sat in on two afternoon free performances of Carnatic music, then went to a bookstore I knew about, now am on my way to a clothing store I frequent (Fab India) I need a salwar kameez because I'm going to some very traditional temple towns after New Years and have to wear traditional clothing to get into them.

Email is not very frequent here. When I last lived here there were three e mail places on my block alone, all are gone and I just stumbled on this somwhat scummy one on my way to Fab India, so if you don't here from me for awhile that's why. People must have more frequent connections in thier houses now.

Plans are well on their way for the show which opens here on the 3rd, Deborah's cultural center Dakshinachitra was packed with people yeasterday, its high season, so the gallery will get a lot of traffic. I spent the whole day there going through books in the center's library and meeting with the curator of the space to plan hanging. Then I saw that it was announced in the Times of India today, they are really on top of things. Well, the connection here seems a bit fragile, so to not lose this, I'd better go now.

Christmas with the Kambli's in Goa

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm enjoying a nice Christmas evening with my friend Hanuman Kambli, his wife Veena and his two boys Atri and Achintya, I'm enclosing a photos. I'm doing this to show Hanuman how to make a blog, so that's all for now!

Kathryn

The Ding Dong Club and other photos

Finally I'm downloading some photos but it takes about 5 minuites each, so I will add more when I get to Chennai where the email will be faster. The white church is where my friends Neeta and Om took me last night, to a lovely Portuguese chapel a bit away from Old Goa for sunset yesterday, they go there often. The views from there are amazing. I've been to Old Goa before, but its nice to have friends with a car who know the more off the beaten track parts. I did have a lovely meal at the Vasco de Gama club last night, and the night before that a homecooked mail by Neeta at their place. Tonight Hanuman and I go out, Hanuman loves to drink beer so that will be fun as well, I'll have Christmas dinner at his house with his wife Veena and two sons. Tomorrow he is taking me to some historic buldings inland and on Christmas day I intend to travel by bus to one of the beachtowns that has a famous fort and a restored Goan villa for a beachside breakfast, enough of the Gods and the blasting country-western carols that my local food shop plays endlessly.

Visting all the Gods on Sunday

Sorry its been awhile, email in Goa is as layed back as the place itself, it was not working for a few days, some cable broke underground then because of terrorist threats, you suddenly need your passport to email, which I didn't have and its a long long walk back to my place from here, but anyway, it seems up and running now and pretty fast, to tonight I'll return on my way to dinner on the balcony of the charming old Vasco de Gama club, and post some photos.

Even though I'm over jetlag, I still wake up early and go out and walk around, taking myself out for breakfast somwhere because the free ones at my hotel are not so great and the coffee more milk than anything else. I never get over how beautiful the buildings are and lush the foliage (fecund is a word used in India which seems to capture it better), dripping moss, banion spans and huge shiny leaves and often a wonderful strong flower smell coming from somwhere. There is a beautiful park alongside the river and a bricked river walk all the way from the center of town to my hotel which is nearly a mile out of town. I can take a bus but I like the exercize. I was up and out at 7am on Sunday, walked way up to the Hanuman temple on a hill over the historic part of town with the lovely freslhy painted buildings, (interesting to see a building that was yellow last year, for instance, purple this year. I heard the art students frmo the college get paid each december to repaint the buildings.) I paid my respects to Hanuman and to the Mahalaxmi temple, then to the huge Catholic cathedral that dominates the hill over the main town square. Hindus are cool about letting Jesus be in their pantheon (an avator maybe of Vishnu?) but it does not seem to work the other way around. There was a sign in the cathedral that non-Hindus were NOT to take communion adn that communion was NOT "prasad". Prasad is the offerings you buy outside of a Hindu temple, usually a strand of flowers, marigolds or jasmine, insense and balls of confestionary sugar, you give them to the temple priest bit a few rupees, who blesses them and gives them back to you. I eventually went on my way.

The opening was nice, some of the students came, others had gotten into graduate programs, the gallery owner and director took me to a great Goan place after, and had dinner last night with friends, but mostly I'm no my own, reading, painting,walking. This week I'll vist more of the various beach towns and some historic goan mansions in the inland towns, by bus or if my friend Hanuman is not teaching.

Its a good thing I'm not into all night parties or "raves" as they call them, the Indian gov cancelled all night beach parties betteen this week and a week after New Years. The papers said tourism is down about 50%or more, and the cancellign of the parties will probably hot help is the young crowd mostly comes for that. Me, I'm usually in bed watching tv by 10, I really like to be up early here.

safe and sound in groovy goa

A book I'm reading by the English journalist Michael Wood in India put it just the way I feel, "lightheaded with a combination of a dramatic change in weather and all of the ongoing hecticness and busyness of my normal life suddenly ceasing"

I arrived yesterday afternoon, after an evening layover in Bombay/Mumbai. I was supposed to get in there at a reasonable hour of 10:30 but although the plane left JFK a half hour early, it somehow came in over 2 hours late and I got to bed at 2 am and caught the next flight at 11 the next day. I believe it was because of bad turbulence somewhere, but with a combination of lack of sleep for the few days before I left, the release of stress from finally being on my way, a nice large glass of wine on the plane and one sleeping pill, I slept for about 12 of the 14 hour trip and only was able to watch one bollywood film in the time left. I have to say Air India is one of the more comfortable spacious airplanes I've been on, but I remember and know from being in India, that people drink before a meal, but not with it. so when the initial snacks and drinks came around I hoarded my bottle of wine to have with dinner later, because no more was offered then, and the sleeping pill.

I'm not doing much yet here, started two paintings, have a book I have to read, but the show will not be hung for a few more days yet (the same thing happened the last time I came) so I'm ok being idle and getting back into the rhythm of not doing much, this is my 4th visit here so the city has been explored again and again and I'm not up to just yet, trying to deal with the kind of street traffic negotiations that would get me into the center of the town, there will be time for that later. Just had a nice cheese dosa and will walk home along the riverside promenade, tomorrow is the famous Ajuna flea market at the beach and I want to get there early. It used to be just stoned out hippies, but as of late, its more likely to be designers from London selling at Indian prices, but those types tend to leave by noon.

It's strange to be here and occasionally hear the odd Christmas carol or so, because I have no sense of time, and if I did, it certainly would not be Christmas. No sooner did I get here than I started to complain and wilt in the heat, though compared to last May, its pretty tolerable, even a tad chilly at dawn (at least until jet lag is over and I'm on a normal sleeping pattern when I would definitely not be up at dawn) when I'm reading my paper and having a chai on the river front beach and enjoying watching (and hearing) the "laughing club" of elderly people exercising, ho ho hoing and then "ommmm"ing, its a nice way to start the day.

Now to walk off that cheese dosa I just had!

Kathryn