Elephants, Cremation, Temples

We got up and left our hotel in Thanjavur and headed Southwest towards Karai Kudi. On the way we visited unbelievable temples. Some are exceedingly tall and stand alone. Others are clustered together in giant temple complexes. All follow strict Hindu design principles. At many of the temples we went thru them and had prayers and marks placed on our foreheads. It was incredibly hot and humid.

The drive goes thru village after village. I truly believe there are 1 billion Indians! The road is narrow with traffic lights. There are very few personal cars. Mostly trucks, busses, ox-carts, bicycles, and motor bikes. Cows are everywhere and so are goats and dogs. They all wonder aimlessly in the road. Because most of the drivers are Hindu they would never hit one so they are constantly avoiding them so they won’t kill an animal. Meanwhile today we started getting a new obstacle in our paths: Elephants on the highway. Certainly don’t want to hit one on them!

The dozens of villages that we go thru are all the same. One and half lanes of pavement (sometimes). On each side of the miserable road is about 15 feet of red Indian dirt bordering the open storefronts. Vehicles have to drive onto the dirt to avoid hitting each other. This creates dirt everywhere. The streets are incredibly crowded with people.

Cathy and I often listen to our favorite Bollywood soundtracks on my iPhone as we are driving thru the country side. We know the music and movies and it creates a soundtrack to our journey.

We stopped by the road where there was a Hindu Cremation going on. The deceased is placed face down and covered with logs. The eldest son then lights the fire. At the end the ashes are given to the eldest son. It is his responsibility to take the ashes and dump then in the sacred river Ganges before he dies. At this cremation the people were quite rowdy. I thought fights were going to break out. I have no idea what the issue was. However, they had no problem with me observing and photographing the cremation.

Our Hindu guide said something today that surprised all of us when she was discussing death. She said that according to Hindu belief, if you die and lived a good life you go to heaven. However, if you have sinned you are re-incarnated to a life form less than man and have to work your way back up the scale. We all thought everyone was re-incarnated in Hinduism. We were wrong.

We didn’t reach our hotel until after 8pm. The nighttime drive was harrowing. None of us will ever forget it. Think of everything I have said about Indian driving, then do it in the dark!