More Mamallipurom

Most of things at Mamallipurom, which is actually the name of the town I believe, are temples and shrines carved into the rocks. This rock is called Buddha's Butterball. I have no idea why. Michael thinks it was put there, because how else would it get there? I am inclined to think it is natural, but why hasn't it rolled? If people put it there, how and why? It is intriguing. It sits right on the edge of a very steep slope. This entire area was fascinating! The monkeys were only at one particular temple, and were at that same one 9 months ago when Michael first visited here. I watched the monkeys for a long time.

Mamallipurom

Mamallipurom is a very ancient site. Most of it is open, so we could touch it and climb around. During the big tsunami, more of it got uncovered. The carvings are so incredible! Click on the picture to make it bigger, and study the detail. The site is very beautiful, and quite large. A person could easily spend a full day there, and want to come back for more. We were there about three hours, and I'm pretty sure I missed some things. There aren't signs with history or anything, but plenty of people are standing around willing to give you a guided tour, for just 100 rupees or so! We said no thanks. Wandering is more fun for Michael and me.

Mamallipurom

First, the spelling....I was watching the signs to help me remember pronunciation. I saw this place spelled Mamallipurom and Maballipurom. The next place, coming up here and on Facebook, was sometimes spelled Koncheepurom and sometimes Konjeepurom. When I asked Michael, the answer was they are trying to spell Tamil words with English letters, so whatever seems right to the sign maker goes. Makes sense to me!

Tiger Cave

After the surprise of Crocodile Bank, I really had no idea of what to expect at Tiger Cave. I was kind of hoping for tigers! It was a shrine with a cave carved into a rock and tigers carved all around the opening. I wish I could remember, or if the dates were even marked, how old these things are. I believe most are in the 1000 year old era. At this park, there is the cave, a shrine, a temple, and a leaning rock. The pictures are posted on my Facebook page in the album "Tiger Cave". We think the writing carved in the rock is Sanskrit.

Cocodile Bank

On our way to Mamallipurom, Christopher stopped at a hut that said "Crocodile Bank". I expected some hokey little pond with a crocodile, or maybe a statue, but we paid our 10 rupees to get in and the extra 10 for the camera. Boy was I surprised! It was the best exhibit of crocodiles I have ever seen. There were crocodiles from all over the world. Some ponds had over 400 crocs in them. Some were rare and had very few. They had pairs that had been living there and breeding since the 1970s. If you go to my Facebook page, and look at the album "Crocodile Bank", you will find many pictures of them. In one pond, a man and lady were in with them. I'm not sure what exactly the man was doing. He poked at one to make it move; maybe trying to get it in the water? It was very hot that day. The lady had a bucket, so we assumed she was feeding them. I was so glad we stopped!

Wearing a saree

It was fairly late in my trip before I got a saree. In Jaipur, when I went shopping with Jooly, she said saree was too complicated, I should get suit. I didn't believe her, but didn't want to argue, so I got suits. Turns out she was right. I got my first sarees in Ooty. Michael was resting, and I went out with Christopher and Ramesh. We went to the fabric store and I picked out two outfits. What we call saree has three parts; the blouse, the petticoat, and the saree. We went to the tailor, and he said he would have it done tomorrow. That was fine. We went back to the hotel and had tea with Michael. Ramesh left, and no one thought anything about it. He came back with my sarees! Christopher and Ramesh thought we should go back to the fabric shop and have the girls put it on me. I thought that was silly, but what the heck. We went, and two of the girls wrapped me in my new saree. (Top picture has one of the girls with me) I loved it! I wore it all evening and didn't want to take it off at bedtime. I did, though, and in the morning, I wanted to wear it again. When I took it off, I tried to fold it so it would be easy to rewrap in the morning. The saree is 6 meters of material, which is more that 6 yards. It is a handful of material! Christopher and Ramesh were there and we were getting ready to go out for the day. I stood out of sight to put on the blouse and petticoat, and was trying to wrap the saree. Michael asked if I needed help. I did. Once the blouse and petticoat are on, one is fairly well dressed, so I came out more into the room. Michael, Christopher, and Ramesh were all helping and arguing about how it goes. Michael asked how many men does it take to wrap a saree, and we all started to laugh so hard! We finally got it presentable, but not right, so we went on our way. We were going to Ramesh's home anyway, so he said his wife could teach me. We were walking down the street not far from the hotel, when Ramesh talked to some ladies that were out doing something. It was all in Tamil, so I don't know what he told them. He said to me "Go" and pointed at the ladies, so I went. They took me around the corner and into a third lady's house. Her daughter was sitting doing school work. She stopped working and just stared at what was going on. She was probably about 7 years old. The three ladies talked to each other with an occasional English word for me. They got the saree on with much laughter. In India, a person can never go out half dressed, so they put flowers in my hair and a bindi on my face. Good thing I already had my bangles, or they would have had to give me those, too! When we were done, I stepped out the door, and there was a crowd! People were standing in the street or leaning out their doors and windows looking, laughing, talking. Michael came and took a picture of me. I wanted one with the ladies. The one stayed in her house, and the other two went back out in the street. One got very shy, but the other was agreeable. We begged and the shy one went and got her scarf, then we took a picture (second one down). I thought it was fun and was pretty amazed how they stopped their day to help me, when one said,"Come for tea." I wasn't sure what she meant.....now or sometime when I wanted to....so I asked,"Now?" Yes, now, so I went into her house and had tea.

I was confidant now that I could wrap my own saree, so when we got back to Chennai, I tried. No luck! Michael and I were going to Carolin's parents' house for dinner, so I took it along and Carolin's mom gave me good lessons. She did it, then she made me do it a few times. The third picture is at their home. Carolin is in Maine going to college, but her sister Katherine lives there. The picture from left to right: Katherine, her dad, Michael, her mom, and me.

One day we went to Kancheeporum, which is famous for their silk sarees. My first two are cotton. While we were there, I bought 5 silk ones.

O.K. Three groups of people have showed me how to put this thing on, and one gave thorough lessons. I should be good to go. I wanted to wear one home. Think I could get it on? Nope! Picture number 4, my fourth helper and the fourth different way to wrap it. Christopher's wife helped me get it on. Once they are on, they stay on and are very comfortable. I think it just takes practice. Now that I am home, I need to spend a day in front of a full-length mirror wrapping and unwrapping until I can get it right. Who knew it would be so hard? Certainly not me!
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Sad, sad story

Well, the pictures didn't do what I thought they would do. The top left turned into top, top right turned into middle, and bottom left turned into bottom. I will try to use that to make these right. This is a continuation of the Tribal Museum story. We had been there about an hour probably, and I went upstairs. One end had paintings by tribal adults and children, and an area set up for lectures. The other end of the room was filled with photographs. The picture that I hope will be on top caught my eye. I wanted to know what the big pinecone looking things on the pole were. Ramesh got the curator and brought him over to me. The curator said, "You have been here all afternoon, and never asked a question until these pictures." He began to talk. The pictures were taken fairly recently of the Shom Pen Tribe on a fifty acre island. They lived in the tree tops, because at high tide half the island was under water. He said it took a while to gain their trust and co-operation, but he did, with the exception of the one he called Angry Young Man. (should be the middle picture) The curator said they were a gentle people, living in peace with the animals and birds. Little pretty birds would come sit on their hands. He was there for 15 days, and never saw a woman. They had hidden them from him. The Angry Young Man was guarding them, and the curator assumed that the Angry Young Man wanted to kill the curator. The curator loved these people. He took photographs, video, and audio tapes for 15 days, then left them in peace. He told me that before he came they were naked....totally free.....but he gave them cloth for the pictures. I loved that totally free thing. That is how I feel about naked! As he talked, he got tears in his eyes, and I got goosebumps from his demeanor. Then he told me that in the big Tsunami, the island was totally submerged. No survivors. No island. An entire culture gone, never to be seen again. We were both crying. I am crying now. We continued to talk for a long time. It was a very powerful experience that I will never forget.