Srirangam

Srirangam

Friday, Oct. 13, 2006--Trichy (Cont.)

I spent the last half of the afternoon and the evening in my room. I finished reading The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. It was the second book I had read of hers. Previously, I read Interpreter of Maladies, a short story collection, which won her the Pulitzer Prize. This new novel is just as well written. She is from Calcutta and lives in the U.S. now. She writes about the experiences of Indian immigrants to the U.S. This latest book is about a couple who move to the U.S. after their arranged marriage and have and raise their children in the U.S. The children, of course, can never relate to India in an intimate way, and the parents can never really leave India behind in their lives. It builds a gap between them. I could relate to it myself in a couple of ways: 1) My educated, middle-class life in comparison to my family's small-town lower-class life, and 2) My life split between the two cultures of the U.S. and Denmark for 20 years. Anyone whose life seems to be in a different world from that of their parents or friends should identify with the story. I gave it 4 stars out of 4! The book is now a movie made by Mira Nair that had its world premier on Sept. 11 of this year.

I have now started reading Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It has been the HOT book to read in India for the past two years. I kept intending to get it, but it is such a big, heavy book--almost 1000 pages. But Nurse Grethe gave it to me as a gift recently, so I HAD to bring it with me and read it while here this year. It's a true story that is now also being made into a movie being made by Peter Weir with Johnny Depp in the lead role.

Didn't go out for dinner. I was still full from lunch.

Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006--Trichy

Today, I knew I had to go to the main tourist sites here in Trichy. I caught a bus from near my hotel to Srirangam. It's a huge temple complex north of Trichy. There are seven enclosures. The entrance to each has very tall sculptured temple towers. My guidebook suggested getting a guide, so I did. He talked a lot about all the Hindu gods and what they represented. I found it all rather confusing and uninteresting. But the guide also answered all my questions about the architecture of the site and got the key to let me go up to a special viewpoint to take photos. There was a temple elephant. There was a solid gold dome on the inner sanctum. There were old frescos from the 1700s, etc. Oh, and there was the usual temple elephant who happens to be pregnant right now and has religious markings on her forehead to represent that fact.

I am now downtown inside the Rock Fort. I will climb some of the steps up the rock to get a good view out over the city. I will not climb all 400 plus steps to get to the temple on top, however. First, I don't want to pay to see another temple today, and second, my guidebook says it is somewhat disappointing. But the view from the rock is supposed to be quite nice.

I ate lunch here inside the Rock Fort. I had the daily thali (luncheon) plate. It consisted of rice and many different sauces and dishes of vegetables. It also came with a nice warm coconut-milk dessert that delicious and refreshing. The waiter seemed to like serving me (which means he probably thought he would get a good tip [I gave 20 % which is 3-4 times what Indians give] since I am a westerner). Anyway, with my bill he brought something extra. He said, "Sweet Paan." At first I thought it would be a candy. But when I opened the menu-like cover to the bill, it was a wrapped leaf. Then I realized what he had brought me. "Paan" is the word for beetle nut concoction that men chew. It consists of a beetle nut leaf spread with lime paste and rolled with pieces of beetle nut and other sweet tasting items inside. It's chewed all over Asia as a light intoxicant. It's best known for leaving the chewer with red teeth. Anyway, as he watched me, I bit off half of it and chewed. It was both bitter and sweet. It wasn't a taste I particularly liked. After a few chews, he indicated that I should spit it out. So I put it into a spoon and back on my plate. I also put the other half on my plate and left it there. I'm glad I have had the experience, but I don't want red teeth and I don't want to pick up a bad habit. Chewing paan is the equivalent to chewing tobacco in the U.S.