Military power!
Trip Start
Mar 10, 2007
1
107
153
Trip End
??? ??, 2007
Chennai (Madras),
India
Sunday, December 16, 2007
. Then did the usual roam of the city, getting my bearings and first impressions. Now I'm not a big city person, and to me Chennai seemed just like another big Indian city, so it was nothing special for me. Had an amazing Thali for lunch, they kept refilling everything the second i finished it and in the end i was practically begging them to stop bringing me food. For anyone who doesn't know me, i have a very big problem when it comes to situations involving unlimited amounts of food ( though if you've read my blogs you'll probably have picked up on that too). I am a very greedy person and my eye is much, much bigger than my stomach, so this kind of meal system really isn't good for me. Its something i have yet to learn to control.
Sorry, enough of the self pitying, back to Chennai. Walked along the marina (sea front) towards the sea front where i was accosted by an auto driver asking me if i wanted a tour of the city, one hours sightseeing for 20r.
'hhhhmmm' i thought to myself, 'that is a very good price, but i really just want to walk around, thanks though.'
'ok, one hour for 10r'
'Again, thank you, thats a really good price, but i just want to explore at my own pace thanks.' Undeterred, he continues,
'ok friend, whats your price?'
'Look, I'm not trying to haggle with you, i really just want to walk!' I insist.
'Ok, I'll do it for free, you don't pay anything, just look in a couple of government shops for a few minutes, don't buy anything then come out and then I'll take you around the sights.'
Aaah, now its finally clear, the age old government shop tuk tuk scam that Bangkok is infamous for, it seems they run it in India too (the drivers get petrol voucher/money for bringing tourists to the shops, the shops do it in the hope they can pressure a tourist into buying something). Again i still didn't want to do it, but i said I'd help the guy out and go along with it.
He took me around to see St Thomas' basilica, the church built over the tomb of the apostle St Thomas, one of only three such churches in the world (i know one other one is in Rome, i forget about the third). Then we saw he Kapaleeswarar temple, the luz church (the oldest church in Chennai) and then onto 2 government shops, where i did my 10 mins of 'hhhmmm, interesting' 'ooh, thats nice' and 'i quite like this one' before making my excuses and leaving the shops. St Georges cathedral was next, at which point i began to feel a little down and demoralised, feeling templed out already and now very much 'churched out', wondering exactly what it is i am doing with myself everyday, seemingly just going to these places and taking the obligatory tourist photos just because someone who wrote a guidebook decided these are the things to see. I guess its a feeling that is inevitable when you have been away for a while and maybe i need to do something to refresh myself, but it put a bit of a downer on my sightseeing tour.
As an aside, one of the guys in the government shops was very friendly and told me a lot about some of the figurines he was trying to flog me, rather than just doing the usual, this is nice, or what about this for your mother/girlfriend/sister etc. Showing me the Siva as Nataraj figurine he tole me that one hand holds a drum, symbolising creation, one holds fire, symbolising how everything will eventually come to an end/be destroyed (i.e we are created and we die). Then he pointed out the statue was standing on something representing ego, symbolising how to survive and prosper we all must crush our egotism and that the other hands were raised in elation at the crushing of the ego. Whether this is all true or not i don't know, but i was interested and thought you might also enjoy the info. If not I'm sorry for wasting your time!
After a few non eventful temples and churches my driver informs me there is a big celebration on the beach, so he drops me there to end our tour (obviously not before trying the whole 'can you give me some English money? Oh you don't have any, how about some rupees then?' Nothing in India is for free.) The beach was absolutely rammed for what turned out to be a naval display. The whole concept worried me a little to be honest, it reminded me of a Hitleresque indoctrinating display of military power, gearing up for war and working the people into a frenzy of support for it (stupid i know). The most interesting thing about the whole display for me was how excited the people were by things such as a huge ship appearing on the horizon, before firing some pathetic coloured flares into the sky, for which the applause and cheering was insane. A poor mans red arrows display followed and a marching band before the whole thing was topped off with fireworks. The police's tactics for riot control i found rather amusing too, threatening to hit the members of the crowd with a big stick they were carrying.
Internetted in the evening where i was approached by the usual gang of kids all asking the usual questions, however this gang was far more intrusive than any i have encountered so far, constantly touching my face and running their hands through my hair. It reminded me of in Hook when Robin Williams comes back to neverland and the kids don't believe he's pan, then the fat kid touches his face and his cheeks. One of them even looked like the kid who rolls up into a ball too (that kid is a legend!).
Next day i bused it to Mamallapuram
