Madurai

Madurai

Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2006--Madurai (Cont.)

Tailors work the main street here searching for tourists. I've met two today. They all start with the typical questions that always lead to someone wanting something from you: How are you? Where are you from? What city--New York, Los Angeles, Florida, Mexico? What is your name? Then they tell you they are a tailor and want you to come to their shop and order something. They say it will only take 30 minutes to make an exact copy of my pants for only 30 rupees (70 cents). Of course, they haven't said that there will also be charges for the fabric, the zippers, etc. Anyway, they are a hassle here.

I did some laundry when I returned to my room. I had worn a pair of zip-off leg pants too long. I could see dirty spots, but I kept hesitating changing to clean ones as long as I was riding dirty buses every other day. I needed to wash underwear and socks, though, so I through the pants and a t-shirt in with them. The room as a closet with plastic hangers which made it easy to let them hang there to dry with the doors open so that the air movement from the ceiling fan could hit them. I did a better job of washig the pants than the laundry did when they were washed before. I was able to get out all of the black stain from my cheap Indian leather bag rubbing against the side of them.

The sun sets so that it is shining on the faces of the temple that I can see from my hotel room. I sat on my bed and watched them glisten in the sunlight in the late afternoon yesterday. They are tall structures with relief sculptures of Hindu gods and goddesses painted in bright colors. I was surprise to see, however, that the towers were not lighted at night; they have only a warning light on top for airplanes.

I went back out in the evening around 8 p.m. I was hungry and went back to the same vegetarian restaurant where I had lunch--Meenakshi Bhavan. Their food was so spicy and good that I wanted to try something from the menu (which isn't available at lunchtime). I asked which was the best dosa, and he recommended the "hat." The huge thin crispy pancake had been shaped into a cone. The containers with the four sauces--mint, coconut, tomato, and lentil--were placed under the cone on the serving tray. Then a smaller flat dosa with a small hole in the middle was placed on top of the cone like a hat. (It reminded me of a Mexican sombrero.) It was delicious. The sauces were thick and flavorful except for the lentil one. I ate the whole thing and enjoyed it all.

Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2006-Madurai

I slept in this morning. The hotel was quiet and there were thick curtains to keep out the sunlight. Then I read a chapter in my book before getting out of bed. It was 10 a.m. before I left the room.

Today, there were more tailors. As soon as they asked me where I was from, I asked them if they were a tailor. I preferred shortening the interaction. Then I told them that I didn't need anything. They persisted some, but I kept walking and repeated that I didn't need anything.

I went to the Gandhi Museum today. It was a rather good museum which first told the history of the independence movement against Britain and then had exhibits on Gandhi. One of the exhibits was the bloodied loin cloth he had been wearing on the day he was murdered.

My knee is bothering me again today. It was feeling so much better last night that I thought it was on its way to being okay again. But today it was popping and feeling as if it was out of place again. Too bad.

I am beginning to be tired of India. Part of it is that I am tired of the food of South India. But I am also tired of the crowded streets, the honking horns, the fact that pedestrians are the low-man on the totempole when it comes to traffic, of the high prices charged tourists for admission to sites (including extra fees for taking photos), the difficulty in finding clean hotels, etc. I think I will return to India one last time on a trip to Kashmir. That would be next year. I will cross over into Pakistan on that trip and fly out of there. Then I don't think I will return to India for a long time unless it is just for a short stopover to break the long flights from Asia to Europe.