Holy Cow!

Up for an Indian breakfast. We especially like dosas, a very thin and crispy fried crepe like bread. They are about a foot across. We met our fellow travelers and our tour guide. There are a total of 7 folks on this tour. 6 guests and our guide.

Of all of the major religions of the world, the one we know the least about is Hinduism. This trip will be our introduction to it. Lots of Gods, lots of stories, lots of the same God dying and being re-incarnated as a new name. Plus the Gods have different animal incarnations. The people of India take this very seriously and it is fascinating to us.

We left our hotel and headed to our first temple. Parthasarathy which is 1200 years old. It is dedicated to Vishnu. Different temples are dedicated to different gods. Quick God lesson: Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the protector and Shiva is the destroyer. Don’t forget my personal favorite, Lakshmi, Goddess of Wealth. Definitely want to pray at a temple dedicated to her. We won’t go into their children at this point. Interestingly, depending upon which God you are praying to, the marks on your forehead are different.

We then went Myapore temple from the 16th century to see a modern Hindu temple by Hindu time scales. At each of the temples our guide explained more of the religion and its place in the daily life to us. We then went to a Catholic Church where the remains of St. Thomas are buried. It is one of only 3 churches in the world where a Disciple is buried. St. Thomas spent 20 years in India spreading the gospel, until the Hindus murdered him for being too successful. Nothing has changed in the world when it comes to religion.

Chennai looks like a small town, but actually has 7 million residents. We saw several other parts of the city and walked around the High Court. It looks like the courts we have seen in many Hindu movies. We drove through the city heading out to visit Mahabalipuram. This is an area dedicated as a World Heritage Site that we will be visiting tomorrow. It is composed of many different temples. We checked into our hotel. It is on the Bay of Bengal and the area was devastated by the Tsunami a few years ago. It is very flat looking out to the sea.

We checked into a very upscale resort on the beach and will be staying here for the next two days as we explore Mahabalipuram. We quickly booked massages for the two of us, reminding ourselves we should replenish mind and body! The massages here are Ayurvedic. They are healing massages. Very different from any I have ever had before. Since they are healing I thought they would have asked if anything is wrong with me. Wouldn’t have mattered since I don’t speak Tamil and the masseur doesn’t speak English. Maybe he could look at me and tell I was suffering from indigestion. At any rate, the massage is on a wooden table, not the most comfortable thing to be laying on and you are slathered with healing oil. Cathy’s masseuse said a Puga (prayer) before she started. Mine looked at me and must have decided no amount of prayer would help and started right in. Afterword we had wine by the pool and prepared for a fish dinner at an outside restaurant overlooking the sea.

We took a long walk on the beach to an ancient Hindu Temple that looks out over the sea. It is strikingly set on a promontory. Walking back on the beach was uneventful except for avoiding the sacred cows sharing space with the fishermen and beach lovers.

We had dinner at an outdoor fish tandoori fish grill overlooking the sea. Lobster, Shrimp and wine. Back to our room to ready for tomorrows adventure!