Pondicherry to Trichy

From Pondicherry I take a day trip to Tiruvannamalai to see the Arunachala temple and Sri Ramana Ashram. This place is mentioned in the book I've been reading 'A Search in Secret India' (thanks Aroop!). Written in 1930, the author ends up in Arunachala after searching India for a guru. He meets Sri Ramana Maharishi and is impressed by his philosophy and approach to life. Both the temple and the ashram do have a certain special energy about them - they sit at the foot of Arunachala hill which in Hindu mythology is where Siva appeared as a column of fire creating the original symbol of the lingam. At the temple I meet an Indian family who are taking their son there to be blessed. Both father and son have their heads shaved. Despite stilted English and a complete lack of Tamil on my part we have a good chat.


Also most of the temple vistors are wearing red because it is the 'Om Shakti' festival. I've chosen today to wear a bright green t-shirt, so couldn't stick out more!


On my last day in Pondy I meet up with Raleigh 'host country venturers' Vieni, Manju and Jagad who live in the nearby town of Villapuram. It's fantastic to see them all again.


Vieni cooks us biryani for lunch (those in alpha 2 will remember how good her chicken biryani is!) and afterwards we go back to Vieni's village to meet countless friends and relatives. Someone shins up a coconut palm so we each have a fresh coconut to drink. After that it's back to Manju's house to meet more relatives and a chapati dinner. I'm overwhelmed by their hospitality, it's lovely.


Now it's New Year's Eve and I'm at my next port of call, Tiruchirappalli or Trichy, where I've visited yet more temples - the Rock Fort temple and the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple complex. The latter is massive, possibly the largest in India, with many 'sub' temples surrounding 7 concentric walled courtyards. It's quite confusing. I meet up with a German lady, Anita, so we negotiate the Rock Fort steps and Trichy's bus system together.


Hmm, not sure how I'll be celebrating the New Year - by the sound of it the hotel has some dodgy disco music going...

Christmas in Pondicherry

After 5 hours by train to Chennai, an auto across town and another 3 hour bus journey I arrive in Pondicherry. The best thing about my arrival is my guest house room, which is a sort of French colonial boudoir with Indian touches. It has pink walls, stained glass windows with wooden shutters and a high ceiling with lilac beams and a big old swishy ceiling fan. On the walls are silk paintings of Krishna.


On Christmas morning I visit the Sri Aurobindo ashram which is just around the corner. The ashram has a beautiful shaded courtyard and visitors file round the samadhi (or shrine) where Sri Aurobindo and his disciple 'The Mother' are buried. There isn't alot else to see apart from the ashram bookshop, but the courtyard is a relaxing place to sit and contemplate. Most of the ashram life now goes on in Auroville, a community for 'a new way of living' about 12 km from Pondicherry. It all sounds a bit wierd, but I meet an Italian guy over Christmas lunch who is staying there, so decide to pay a visit to find out more.


Just down the road from the ashram is a Hindu temple dedicated to the elephant god Ganesh. It's quite a narrow street, but outside the temple is a real live elephant who blesses the devotees. For Rs 20 I buy an offering of a coconut, some grass and bananas in a basket and for another Rs 10 a 'fast track' entry ticket so I don't have to join the long queue! Once inside my coconut is smashed and the priest makes a puja for me at the Sri Ganesh shrine. I then get my basket back with the broken coconut and bananas. On the way out I can offer these to the temple elephant who then blesses me with his trunk. I'm not sure what it all means but the ritual is very enjoyable and a different way to celebrate Christmas day...

End of Raleigh

Well my 13 weeks with Raleigh have finised and I'm now in Bangalore having said goodbye to the last of our group, Antje and Jerry, this morning. The final phase sped by and the last few days have been full of emotional farewells - first with all the venturers and then with all the staff members. But I have lots of new friends to keep in touch with! Today has been the first time I've been truly on my own for almost 3 months and although it feels a bit strange I'm quite enjoying the freedom.

Bangalore is a very westernised city, full of shopping malls, offices and cafes, so occasionally it almost feels like London, although it's hot and sunny, so certainly not London in December. I had a pedicure yesterday (what decadence!) with Jo and my hair cut today so I'm feeling a bit tidier - interestingly Bangalore is the first place in India I've come across women's hair salons as most Indian women grow their hair long and don't get it cut. I also braved the Bangalore railway station 'computerised' booking office to book some onward train tickets. This involves the very Indian system of shambolic queuing to make an enquiry and then filling out a paper form with the train details you want before more queuing at another counter to pay and actually get the ticket. In true Indian style I manage to do a bit of queue barging myself to find out the train times - sometimes being female and a foreigner has its advantages ;-)

So tomorrow I'm off to Pondicherry for Christmas and then on to Trichy and Madurai for the temples. I'm also hoping to catch up with Raleigh host country venturers Manju and Siva en route. Then in January it's a full 2 weeks of relaxing yoga in Kerala.

In the meantime a big HAPPY CHRISTMAS to everyone back home!