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Wednesday 16th April

Yesterday's lunch at Yesu's house was excellent, and it just shows how much of an impact our bizarre eating habits have had on him. We had boiled veg (no seasoning) and chicken 65 . I think his father was pretty horrified, but we ate it all - too much - so that's alright. Indians always say 'no' when offered anything, which explains why we always get more when we don't want any. Idayavani said that when she went to Sellyoak she was told to always say what she wanted. If you say no to a cup of tea you won't get one! Here, the host has to keep pushing, because everybody says no the first time.

The Rev said he'd come round this morning to tell us about the church projects in Ramnad. He's going to take us round again (like he did in November) so we can take pictures. Well C. can, I'm not sure that I'm going to do that much as far as 'twinning' with a church goes. We haven't done anything with the church our whole time here. Our commitment is to the schools. C.'s got £100 that he's going to give to Rev Jothinayagam for the Pamban fishermen.

But all this is old hat and just part of the problem which is: WHY are we here? Is it USPG1, to do their work and re-establish links with the SPG churches here? The Bishop seems to think so. Or is it for the experience, the friendship and the holiday? An altogether cushier number and perhaps more selfish option. It's made a big impact on each of our lives in different ways and I don't know how to categorise it. It's been:

A Learning experience. But how can I use this knowledge of the culture, the history, the church, the people?
A cultural experience. I've adapted my deeply ingrained habits and customs to live more comfortably in this culture, to be accepted. But what good will it do me in England? Except while entertaining Indian guests?
A sobering experience. I've been re-awakened to the needs of the third world and by being invited into people's homes have been closer to them than any tourist. This has helped me to see them as human as I am and not just some picture on TV to sympathize with.
Working experience? Not really. For me anyway. more fun, I'd play my guitar anywhere.
Friendship. The most important. Without Yesu and Jerry we'd have left long ago. They (and all our other friends) have made the whole thing so much more worthwhile. Even if we do nothing about it, we'll still have these very special memories, whatever happens.
And fun. But where's the Church is all this? Okay, I admit we went to church once or twice but there wasn't exactly a big involvement or any real acceptance. Oh well.

the introduction for details

Submitted by dash on Mon, 16/04/2007 - 19:41

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Tuesday 15th April

Ramnad

Yesu looked so surprised to see us when we turned up all sweaty and exhausted on his doorstep. About ten minutes later the word had reached Jerry and he ran round as soon as he heard we were back. Everyone looks different, but really they don't - it's just the way memory distorts things. Miss Shanti is as beautiful as ever and we have Sunny once again! The HM is just as nice, the Rev just as insane and everyone is only too well aware that we are leaving for good in less than a week.

Our dear friend Muthu came to see us when we were at the Rev's house last night. He's changed his story, apparently he DIDN'T take my camera but WAS going to return it! Yeah, right. That doesn't mean that you're going to come to the beach with us you worm. Liar.

We went to see Anandaraj and Idayavani in Madurai, and said lots of things about Rev Athisayam's 'help' with our stay that I regret now (we regret now!). Anandaraj worries far too much and literally worships England. It's very annoying because he kept going on about Indian buses and trains and people and how rubbish / dirty / miserable they are. He thinks that English people are always smiling! Poor deluded chap. That's what comes of only seeing Sellyoak.

It's a very weird feeling, whoever we talk to wants to spend all of their time with us which is only fair, but you always get to a point where the only thing left to do is leave. We haven't seen Mrs Juliet yet. Only six days to go... I just want to go home now, I've come to that point, like the conversations, where there is only one thing left. The flight. I've reconciled myself to the 'fact' of leaving now.

Submitted by dash on Sun, 15/04/2007 - 19:34

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Sunday 13th April

Madurai

In Madras we met up with Gerard Samuel and George Koshy at the CSI place where we stayed when we first arrived. We didn't recognise Gerard at first, but he didn't know us either so there was no embarrassment. George Koshy, although we saw him only briefly, came across as quite an amazing person and when you talk to him he looks at you as if you are the only person in the universe. I expressed my desire to buy a drummridangam , as the full size one is about a metre long! And quite pricey." href="#footnote1_m6cbcfc">1 and Gerard took us off in a company car. I'm quite worried about the weight and carrying it on the plane, but I'm sure I'll get away with it! If it's still there when we go back that is - there didn't seem any point in lugging it all the way down here.

The Rock Fort at Trichy isn't a fort at all, it's a temple stuck on top of an eighty metre rock that was fortified by the King because he saw what a good fort it could be. The views from the top are spectacular and after the four-hundred steps we were glad to be able to rest and enjoy them. There's no rain any more, so it is HOT. At the nearby temple - the biggest in India - we burned our feet on the hot stone roof. This temple (Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple ), dedicated to Vishnu consists of seven rectangular walls inside one another leading to the Sanctum Sanctorum . Round the outermost walls are shops, houses and restaurants making the temple part of the town. It has twenty-one towers and countless shrines to various Gods. But, when it all comes down to it it is more of the same.

And that's it, finished. The Greatest Adventure Of Our Lives (so far) has become glorious memory. It was really great and I'm so glad to have done it. To be honest, by Madras we were pretty sick of the whole thing and I think it was probably just the right length really. The thing that stands out is the fact that nothing was stolen and we got through with the absolute minimum of fuss.2

We were completely independent from everyone and the next step is is of course, to do it alone. I don't feel any different, but I think it has probably helped to get us into the right frame of mind for going home again. We won't be so culture-shocked now, we've seen Wimpys and Levis shops in the cities. I've been stocking up on things that I can use in England, rather than all the impractical thin clothes we've been wearing in Ramnad! This may be a bad thing, perhaps we've lost all the cultural education we got so painstakingly before.

mridangam , as the full size one is about a metre long! And quite pricey.
2. Apart from the flip-flop theft and the train in Bodh Gaya, anyway.

Submitted by dash on Fri, 13/04/2007 - 20:09

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Saturday 12th April

Madras ISN'T a very nice city at all. It's noisy and polluted just like all the other cities, but there's nothing there. A temple, a couple of churches, a fort, nothing new. My illness stayed on into Thursday so we changed some money - my last Traveller's Cheque (!) - tried to sort out our flight (failed) and went to the museum.

Museums are boring now, every one in India is exactly the same. Bits of temples, sculptures, Indus Valley Civilisation... Not much else to do, so we went to the beach. I was very rude to this bloke who approached us in the park, but then felt incredibly guilty because he had this collection of amazing carved pendants. I spent Rs400 on quite a few of them, partly to assuage my guilt, but mostly because they're excellent and it tones down my present (as in souvenirs) worries.

Our ticket is now sorted out - You'll have to wait until the 15th for the 25th and you'll have to go to Coimbatore to get your ticket if you get seats - we resigned ourselves to going on the 21st. Our brilliant plan of having an extra week in Ramnad and then going home on a Friday so we won't be lonely in our first couple of days back has been foiled. Just follows the pattern of my life - make a plan, sort it out, watch it fail. Hey ho.

I'm going to be glad to be at home with people who understand me again. I'm sick of being misconstrued, especially by C. who always thinks I'm much more serious than I really am. C. and I are so different and I still feel as if we're making a special effort just because we have to. Naturally we like each other a lot more now and we understand - or at least know about - each other's little quirks.

But the way C. is, is just not suited to me. He's still inhibited and I hate the way he never let go of England. He talks about being 'Indian' in a kind of detached, seen-it-on-TV kind of way. We are too far apart, an introvert and an extrovert, one always (at least trying to be) happy and careless,1 the other stressed, miserable and paranoid. Some of the time.

C. gets angry at Things. He curses stones and shouts at doors. much safer, because they don't shout back. But what's the point? Why not stay happy, don't get angry at anything and stay positive? But it's still just another page in the vast encyclopaedia of difference.

...

So we're in Tiruchirapalli and it's one of the Big Places to see in Tamil Nadu. There's a rock fort on top of a big rock and a temple that covers 2.5 square km! These are what we're going to see today. On the train last night, the chap next to me told us to go to Tanjore because there's another temple there, but I think we've seen enough. Just these last few, then back to Madurai tonight.