After breakfast we hit the road again for a day spent mostly traveling, We're going from Pondicherry through to Madurai. The trip started with a stop – at a little French buolongerie/patisserie – to buy lunch as we'll be on the train at lunch time. We bought three sweet pastries, a savory one and a bottle of cold water for 335 rupees (AUD$6.70). What a bargain! It was almost like being in France again.
The traffic was very busy and the going very slow. Pondicherry seemed to merge into the next town and then that one into the next one and so on. Further down the road the driver pulled over at a roadside fruit and veg stall where a few people got off to buy something other than pastries for lunch. We got two oranges. Shortly after we arrived at Villupuram Central station where for about thirty minutes we waited for the train. It arrived on time and we had just three minutes to get all our gear and ourselves on board. As mentioned earlier, trains are very long so with just three minutes to board it pays to be standing on the platform quite near your prescribes carriage. We miscalculated by about 75 metres so there was a mad dash to find our carriage and get on. We made it but we were still standing in the doorway when the train pulled away because there was a logjam further down the aisle while people who were occupying other people's seats got out of the way. Gridlock in the train aisle ensued. Carla was almost left stranded on the platform, unable to board. She got on just in time.
Next came the negotiations for seats. A chap and his adult daughter and her two children were occupying all three seats in the compartment where our group had been assigned all but one of the six seats. He wasn't gonna budge. After intervention by Pooja speaking in the local language his daughter and her two children finally went back to their own seats. Not that hard to do..... sticking to the rules. But, as touched on earlier in reference to traffic, sticking to the rules seems to always be an option in India. The population accept that and work with it. Foreigners find it a little harder to adapt to. Anyway, it all got sorted in the end and we settled down to enjoy our lunches.
Just after 4:00pm the train pulled into Madurai station. We'd all got our gear together and were waiting patiently in the narrow aisle well ahead of the trains arrival. When the train stopped and the door to the platform was opened all hell broke loose. We had a train full of passengers trying to get off (not just us) and a platform full of people who weren't gonna wait for us to get off. They just barged their way on to the train. What a disaster. I manged to fight a few off and get on to the platform but there was no sign of Kerry or Chris V. Chris appeared somewhere near the exit door so I grabbed her arm to help pull her off all the while yelling at others to to clear the way so others on boards could get off. Kerry eventually appeared after just barging her way through the crowd. Well, as it turned out, this experience was just a an introduction to the madness of the Madurai streets.
Soon after we dropped our bags we were back on the street heading to the Meenakshi temple for an evening tour. This temple was once nominated to be amongst the seven wonders of the world, but missed the cut. That gives you some idea of how grand and spectacular and important it is. It dates back to the 12 century, mostly. It is quite huge inside. Each point of the compass has a very tall tower (probably 10+ stories high) completely covered in sculptures and images of the gods, goddesses, beasts of all sorts, in the Hindu style. The towers are joined by a very tall wall. Inside this compound is a labyrinth of corridors and passageways connecting rooms and halls, big and small. In the centre was a large rectangular pond surrounded on all sides by internal temple buildings. One passage we traversed was spectacular for two reasons – it was very long and broad, supported by tall, strong columns on either side and more carvings and sculptures. The other reason was because in this place, which was teeming with people, this corridor was completely empty – just us and our knowledgeable guide, Charlie. By now it was dark which lent a somewhat mysterious quality to the whole experience. I had the thought, as did a couple of others in the group, that it would not be a surprise to see Harrison Ford in the guise of Indiana Jones leap out from behind a pillar at any moment.
We wandered through many parts of the temple with our guide but not the area where the icon to the goddess was located as this was strictly off-limits to non-Hindu. Back into the streets and the hustle and bustle of Madurai. It is really something else to behold, enhanced when lit by the lights of the shopkeepers selling their ware, the motorcycles and tuk-tuks whizzing by and the conversations going on between traders and their customers, We visited an establishment that sold hand-made carpets, fabrics, clothing and other objects d'art. OK, it was an Intrepid sponsored facility – read into that what you will. Nevertheless, I'm confident that some percentage of the sales do make it back into the local community if artisans. Kerry has a mission to return home with an elephant as our significant souvenir of India. She found him at this store – a large brass chap, nicely decorated and well proportioned. He'll be flying back home by himself as he ways a ton! Many if the other girls got into the fabrics which they had made into tailor-made clothes overnight.
By now it was very late, approaching 11:00pm, so we started back to the hotel, stopping here and there for photos of the temple towers and the streets set against the rising full moon.
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