Was I just in Tamil Nadu?

I'm alive! Sorry it's been so long since my last post, time seems to be moving rather quickly as we reach the final stages of the trip. Since leaving Puttaparthi, Beth and I have been bouncing from place to place as fast as possible trying to fit everything in before we fly home on the 17th.

After Puttaparthi, we jumped on a sleeper train to Kerala. The regular sleeper class that we had gotten used to was full, so we had to shell out for the swanky air conditioned upper class car. We were spoiled by the private bunks with closing curtains, and have been riding in this opulent colonialist style ever since.

Kerala was amazing, amazing. It's the southernmost state on the west coast, and the communist party has had a lot of success there in recent years, which has lead to a much higher standard of living than you see in the rest of India. Far fewer people living on the streets, and almost 100% literacy for men and women. That's pretty amazing considering that in a lot of India the literacy rate among women is down somewhere around 25%. On top of all that, Kerala is shockingly beautiful. When foreign tourists come to Kerala it's for the backwaters, a maze of lakes and rivers that runs along the coastline. The bigger waterways are dotted with small villages and communities that are only reachable from the water. Very pastoral, very charming, very very hot and humid.

Our first stop in Kerala was Kochi, a small and quiet yet touristy section of the the bigger Ernakulam. Kochi is the place to go for Kathakali, the ritual theater style of the area in which actors (always male) use carefully coordinated facial expressions and body movements as well as sign language and the occasional groan to tell stories from the Mahabarata. I love Kathakali so much that I want to devote my life to studying it. Sadly for me, the folks in Kerala already seem to know everything there is to know about their own ritual theater, and aren't looking for any whities to study it for them. None of my Kathakali pictures turned out very well, so I'll throw in one from the internet. After three nights and three Kathakali performances, Beth and I moved south to Alleppy, the launch site for houseboats on the backwaters. Renting a houseboat with a three person staff for a night on the backwaters was slightly out of the budget we've been keeping on this trip, but totally worth it. We had all of our meals (delicious south Indian food) prepared for us while we sat on deck watching the villages and palm trees go by. It's amazing that Beth and I still get along so well after two and a half months of never leaving each other's sight. The houseboat was relaxing, and if we'd had the money and the time I could have spent a week roaming the backwaters. Or wandering them, if you will.

After the houseboat, we reluctantly set out for Tamil Nadu. We rounded the southern tip of the sub-cont. by train and hopped off for a few days in Madurai. Madurai was just as hot as Kerala, but the lack of humidity gave our clothes (and skin) a chance to dry off. Madurai's main attraction is a giant Hindu temple complex dedicated to Shiva and one of his consorts, Meenakshi. Meenakshi, among other godly attributes, is known for having three boobs and fish eyes. Obviously, she was quite the catch. Every night at nine, the statues of Shiva and Meenakshi are carried to their bedroom in a procession and Meenakshi's nose ring is removed so it doesn't injure her husband while they go about their business. Beth and I stopped by at 9 to watch the procession, but couldn't get very close to the action as non-Hindus such as ourselves are barred from the inner chambers of the temple. We spent day two in Madurai at a really good Gandhi museum before hopping on a train to Chennai. Chennai (used to be Madras) went by in a blur. We took a the local bus a few hours away to a seaside temple in Mamallapuram.

After exploring the city a bit and eating the best Gulab Jamun of my life, we had a 28 hour train ride from Chennai to Calcutta, where we arrived yesterday. I've always thought of Calcutta as the last place I would ever want to visit in the entire world, so I was a little freaked out by the time we reached the train station. As it turns out, I can handle it. It's a little like I would imagine San Francisco to be after some kind of horrible disaster. So.. nice! Yesterday Beth and I successfully navigated the subway system. Now I can do anything.

Here's some pictures-
Ellora cave #16. Way back in Aurangabad. Archaeology!








The road leading out of Arambol in Goa.









Beach cows and soccer/football players in Arambol.








More Goa beach sunset.








Disneyland style gate by Sai Baba in Puttaparthi








Here's one of a Kathakali dancer from the Google image search..not mine, but it should give you an idea.
















Houseboats docking in Alleppy.








A very sweaty me on the houseboat.











The temple in Madurai.












The temple elephant gives me some love, also Madurai.








The shore temple in Mamallapuram.