Something to Declare

Chennai, December 6, 2024.

EXPLANATION: You’re getting this post a week late. Some of you have wondered what has been going on (my absence from the blogosphere for several days). The reason is that I’m back in the U.S.A.

At the beginning of this week, we went to a Hindu temple, which required visitors to tour in bare feet. Some of the paving stones were uneven, and I took a hard fall, abrading my arm, bruising my thigh and (in the opinion of the nice local orthopedic doctor) spraining my neck. In addition to prescribing rest and some analgesics, he suggested that it might not be wise to continue the tour. So I made arrangements to return early. The following is a blog post I drafted a week ago.

For the next few days, I will go through the rest of my photos and notes, and complete the blog posts for the remainder of the trip, up to the time I decamped back to the U.S.

So, to resume:

This morning (December 6) we flew to to the south of India. Mumbai had been on the west coast, on the Arabian Sea; now we’re on the southern part of the east coast, on the Bay of Bengal. As noted, Chennai used to be called Madras (remember the colorful designs some of us wore in high school?).

Mumbai is a city of 24 million people. Chennai is only half that, but still a much larger population than New York City. The first impressions were magpies flying around everywhere, fishing boats, and fish being sold along the road, lying on cloth towels.

We settled into the Taj Donnemara Hotel for lunch, then out for a tour of some of the city’s sights. The first was Fort St. George and the St. Thomas Cathedral. The church was established in the 17th century and was the first Anglican house of worship built outside Great Britain. St. Thomas is considered to be the (Christian) patron saint of India. Christian tradition has it that he arrived on the west coast of India in 52 CE, and was later martyred at Mylapore, near present-day Chennai. He is buried in this cathedral.

Consistent with the melding of cultures we’ve noted before, Christ is shown standing on a lotus flower, flanked by peacocks, and the Virgin Mary is depicted in a sari.

We also visited the Kapaleeswarar Temple, established in the 7th century, and celebrating the mythology of the gods Shiva and his wife Parvati.  Shoes off for us, with an admonition that we couldn’t photo any of the images of the deities themselves.

Matching the chaotic scene outside (pedestrians, motor scooters, hawkers, vendors), the inside of the temple was one of riotous sound (horns, bells, drums), people doing obeisance to the deities, and some sacred cows. We observed people throwing coconuts into large basins, so that they would crack, symbolizing a surrender of the ego to the deities.

We returned to the hotel for dinner, and some entertainment (a woman performing a dance to traditional music.)

Only one night in Chennai. Tomorrow we continue along via Mahballipuram to Pondicherry. The adventure continues……..