Mysore - Vacation Part I

As Priya and Ashwin had two weeks of vacation from school after their quarterly exams, last week we went on a holiday. We travelled to Mysore, and then the region of Coorg both in the neighboring state of Karnataka (sl north and west of here). We travelled to Mysore on the Shatabdi Express. It's no bullet train, but it was a great ride - with lots of wonderful scenery and tasty food served along the way. In Mysore, a city of about one million which is quite historic as it was home to the Wodeyar Dynasty, they were having a big celebration - Dasara. Here is a little info on Dasara from the tourist brochure for those who are interested:

Dasara in Mysore commemorates the legend of the slaying of the buffalo demon Mahishasura by the goddess Durga. It is believed that during one of the wars between the demons and gods, the demon Mahishasura overpowered the gods. On seeing this, goddess Durga is said to have incarnated herself as the fierce Chamundeshwari, and killed Mahishasura atop the Chamundi HIll near Mysore. Ever since, the Mysore royal family has worshipped Chamundeshwari as the palace deity, and held the annual ten day festival in her honor.

As we arrived during the festival, the city was bedecked with lights every night, and there were lots of concerts, dances and other special events. There were also ten elephants who had been brought to town especially for the parade on the last day of Dasara. (I cant resist one more comment from the brochure "A specially chosen elephant adorned with golden anklets and bells carries the city's patron goddess Chamundeshwari, in a majestic 'howdah'" - not sure what a 'howdah' is,but I thought it sounded good). oops, addendum, just checked wikipedia, howdah is the name of the carriage that sits on top of the elephant.

So, while in Mysore we visited the famed palace (sorry, no interior photos allowed, but it was amazingly beautiful), toured the local market, went out for 'chat' (Indian savory snacks) visited the church of St Philomena (note Mary's traditional Indian garb) and took a trip to the locally famed 'Brindhavan Gardens', the setting of many a Bollywood song and dance scene.

While in Mysore, we stayed at the lovely and funky Green Hotel. It is the restored Palace of a Maharani, which was built in the early 1900's. Ashwin and Priya loved having the run of the common spaces in the Hotel, and the beautiful garden - some photos of the hotel and garden are the last of those you see above.

Field Trip

This Monday, since Ashwin and Priya are now on vacation, we took a trip to one of the (only) notable sights in Chennai proper - St George's Fort, and St. Mary's church. Briefly, the Fort was constructed by the British starting in 1653 with additions and modifications over the next 200 years or so. It's still being used as an active military site, so a lot of the area is off limits for tourists. However, there is a small museum there, which gave us lots of interesting information about the colonial period here. We were interested to find out that after being run out of the US by the Patriots, Cornwallis was reassigned here in Chennai and had a long, and more successful (from the British point of view) tour. There's a photo above of us with a statue of Cornwallis at the Fort Museum. We were also amazed by the dark woollen uniforms that the British soldiers had to wear - cant believe that they could even LIVE here, let alone conquer.

On the grounds of the fort is the oldest existing English church in South India, St Mary's (1680). It now belongs to the Church of South India. Besides being of historical interest, it was a sweet stone structure with a large beautiful garden. Sometimes when one finds a spot of beauty and sanctuary amid the din, dust and crowds, you just have to stop and enjoy - so included several photos.

Some additional snaps

Here are a few more photos that wouldn't fit in prior posts (we are limited to attaching 5photos/entry). Here are Ashwin and his beautiful cousin Helen at the wedding, Priya in her school uniform with flowers in her hair, Priya and our lovely cook, Parvathi, making chapatis, and a photo of Prabhu and I going out to celebrate our wedding anniversary (thanks Mom and Don). We went to the Raintree Restaurant at the Taj Connemara here in Chennai. (Taj, the premeir hotel chain here in India, also has an outpost in Boston, formerly known as the Ritz) The Raintree has exquisite South Indian food in the chettinad style (very peppery). It also has a wide variety of wines and mixed drinks, which are available at outrageous prices due to the local taxes on liquor. The amount we spent on dinner was roughly equivalent to the monthly salary for 50% of India($100). Nevertheless, we had a great time.

Our First Wedding

This week, we were invited to the wedding of Sheba, the daughter of some old family friends. Sheba and her new husband, Robin, were married on Wednesday, Sept 24 at Lutheran Adaikalanathar Church (the church Prabhakar grew up in, with a reception at a nearby marriage hall following. We all enjoyed the wedding. The bride was gorgeous in a red and gold silk sari, with a flowing white veil. The groom was handsome, but looked awfully warm in the sultry 90deg air and his black suit. At the end of the ceremony, the couple was showered with rose petals by all the guests. Ashwin and Priya loved that part - Priya helped distrubute the petals to the guests. At the reception, there were speeches (no toasting - Indian wedding receptions lack the lubricating effect of alcohol generally found in the west...), then the obligatory cake cutting (pretty much like cake cutting around the world) and finally a sumptuous feast with the preferred Indian wedding main dish, Biryani. Thanks so much to Sheba, Robin and their families for inviting us to share their special day. The photos above include - the bride and groom during the ceremony Ashwin and Prabhu watching Priya in her new pavadai, Ashwin in a handsome kurta Prabhu's sister and brother-in-law, Rani and Raja, with Ashwin and Priya

animals in chennai

This post is dedicated to my niece, Jennifer. Jennifer loves all types of animals, particularly horses and dogs. Along with her parents and elder sister, she is taking special care of our dog, Phoenix, while we are away in India. Thank you Jennifer, Emily, Leslee and Todd - we are so appreciative of your loving care! Historically, feral dogs have been a major problem in large cities in India, including Chennai. These poor creatures roam the streets eating garbage, and I suppose hunting rats and squirrels. They are not treated well by the locals, and are not unjustly feared, given the high incidence of rabies in the country. In the past, we have frequently seen females with a litter of cute little puppies on the streets or in the parks. During our present stay, we've seen lots of strays, but interestingly, no litters of puppies. When we investigated this change, we found that actually significant progress has been made on the feral dog problem here in Chennai. An organization called Blue Cross of India has partnered with the city and for the past several years has been picking up strays, treating them with birth control, and vaccinating them for rabies. Consequently, fewer strays, and less rabies. If you want to read more about this, see www.bluecross.org.in/aboutus.html . They also have an adoption center, where they keep rescued puppies and put them up for adoption. There is a growing awareness of the "Indian Dog", and it's desirability as a pet. They tend to be short haired, 20-30 pounds, and in two basic colors, tan or black and white. The photos accompanying the blog show a guy on our block in the basic tan variety. I also included a photo of the preferred Indian purebred variety, the Alsatian, who was taking a walk down our street the same evening I photographed the tan guy. And now, on to the venerated Indian cow. These too are in much less abundant supply in the city then when I first visited ten years ago. I imagine this is due to increasing congestion and traffic in the city. However, one still frequently sees bullock carts (water buffalo) pulling loads through town, and the occasional stray cow. One of the latter is pictured here. I took this photo across from the entrance to Prabhu's sister's house. It's in a neighborhood called Pursawalkam - a very crowded area with lots of shops and neon. Think Times Square with vastly narrower streets - then impose a cow in your image! Finally, there is a photo here of a lovely katydid, approximately 4" long. We found him (or her) in the corner of a bedroom one night this week. It seemed to have strayed indoors from the mango tree just outside the window (a quick web search informed us that katydids are nocturnal, and some Asian varieties are very fond of mango and hibiscus trees, both of which we have nearby). Prabhu went and hid in another room while Ashwin, Priya and I trapped the offender, and then released it on our balcony. If Ashwin's science teacher, Mr Cassie, reads the blog - we included this picture especially for you! Cheers to all - Leann

Happy Onam!

Greetings all - Here in Chennai we have had an unexpected four day weekend.  All you parents will love how school holidays are announced here.  Although there is a calendar for the school year, holidays can be added at a moment's notice.  So, last Thursday, when I went to pick up Ashwin and Priya at school, I got a notice that school would be cancelled on Friday in honor of the Onam Festival(more on that later).  Additionally, since the next two weeks are exams, school would only be half days that entire time.  So, we settled in to enjoy a long weekend.  Then, this morning we awoke to find that the state government had decided to declare today a holiday too!  (this is in honor of the one hundredth birthday of Annadurai, a renowned political leader here in Tamil Nadu).    Of course, Ashwin and Priya were crushed to hear that school had been cancelled!  

So, Onam is a Malayali (people from the neighboring state of Kerala) festival which celebrates the harvest.   People decorate their homes with elaborate floral creations, but the thrust of the celebration seems to center around a lot of eating. Apparently 36 dishes are customary, with several special types of payasam for dessert.  It started last Friday, and goes on for ten days.  We hated to pass up the opportunity to celebrate a holiday centered around food, so on Friday night we went out to a local hotel for an Onam Buffet.  There were literally dozens of dishes, all wonderful - 10 or more salads to start, appam (special coconut based crepe type items), many types of vegetable and meat curries, special rices, and of course, the kids favorite, a dessert bar with at least eight types of dessert, including a special cake and ice cream.    The photos accompanying this blog show us with some typical Onam decorations in   hotel lobby.  There are also pictures from this Sunday's harvest festival at our church.  After the church service,  large numbers of the congregation adjourned to an open area nearby for a festival with games, a bazaar and lots of food (of course!)  There are photos of Ashwin and Priya playing some of the games(Ashwin is trying to knock downcoconuts  with cricket balls,and Priya is playing kids roulette), and also of our friend Rebecca making what must have been one of hundreds of dosa (another crepe type snack, this made with a lentil/rice based batter).  Yum...