M.M. Hotel Kanchipuram

The Kailasanathar temple was built by<br>the Pallava emperor Rajasimha Varman and<br>his son Mahendra Varman. Unlike most<br>other Dravidian temples, it is<br>constructed out of sand stone. <br><br>Anyone<br>who has seen the Pallava era Mamallapuram monuments<br>and then come to Kailasanathar temple,<br>will experience a sense of deja vu.<br><br><br><br>Although the priceless carvings and<br>frescoes are poorly ...

... spending some xtra Euros on accomodation, as everything else is cheap anyway. <br><br>I decided to go slow the rest of the day and keep the walking around for the next day. So it only was resting, showering, internet, overseas call, dinner and watching tv.....thankfully they have satellite tv at the hotel, so I enjoyed 'Matrix' and piece of 'Casanova'.<br><br>Today I was getting up just after 5 am because I wanted to be outside early to avoid ...

... arrange the marriage of his daughter. We had been asking a lot of questions about his wife so in the afternoon, our guide offered to show us his house and meet his wife which was right next to the temple. This turned out to be the best part of our day. He took us upstairs to his house where his wife, as well as his mother and mother in law were. They graciously invited us in to their home. Their home consisted of two concrete rooms. One was the kitchen and adjacent to ...

... I've been here two months! We're going to my friend Pavan's brother's wedding this weekend, so I got to buy SARIS! Anyone who knows me can imagine, I'm sure, how happy it made me to sit in a shop and have the salesperson pull out one glittering sari after another for me to choose from. And then we get bangles, bindhis (dots that go on your forehead)... so much cool stuff. Oh and when the people at the bangle(bracelet) shop found out we were going to ...

... of the grounds. Unfortunately, the tree is not much to look at as it is mostly obscured by a shrine and didn't seem to be bearing any fruit right now. From there we went to the Kamakshi Amman Temple which was beautiful but a bit more of the same. We finished our stay with the obligatory trip to the government emporium. They were supposed to show us a demonstration of how silk was woven, but the presentation was rushed and not very interesting. From there they put us ...

... a book by Christian anarchist Leo Tolstoy, which then became one of Gandhi's favorite writings, leading to their correspondance about non-violence, which then led towards Gandhi's movement to free India. The rest is history. I visited St. Thomas Cathedral, a respite from the persistent heat and sun, thinking about these things while sitting on a pew. A few people came in to pray, both foreigners and Indians. At night, I went to a restaurant for chopped parotta and ...

... outside. Some who were still dozing lightly slept on cardboard boxes on the ground, no blankets to cover themselves. Whole families sat or slept or both on either side of the narrow path. We finally got near the temple and we had to first remove our shoes and then buy flowers to give as an offering to the goddess of the temple. There were three monks guarding the idol and they took our flower offerings ...

... smirk and a "foreigners, eh?" nod to the pat-down security guard, "you can buy popcorn and drinks inside." Gruffly hand them over, shouting "it's a *&amp;^%ing ridiculous rule!" Our bags are searched at the door, not for weapons or explosives but something far more deadly: food. John is caught red handed with his souvenir bottle of whiskey. One girl has three mints removed from her person for safe keeping. Anyway, the film was good entertainment if not the ...

... here. I'm posted in the LCECU (low cost effective care unit) this week - basically a mini hospital for the poor. Patients pay whatever they can afford(I saw a guy pay $3 for leg surgery the other day!!) and are given good medical care in a very simple environment. The beds are just metal trolleys, and there's little attention paid to privacy or sterility which has alarmed me in a few instances... I went out on house visits with my supervising doctor a few times ...

... facilities, advocates but I have experienced an unavoidable hardening of the senses, a coping mechanism of sorts. However, today, the intimacy of facing this woman and her family, knowing the details of their circumstances cuts through that protective shield. I am not afforded the safety of being an anonymous traveler. Kneeling in front of them I am deeply moved - saddened, angered, frustrated, confused. I am with three Earth Aid India (EAI) (www. earthaidindia.org) Program Officers ...