Trav, I think that even if we were not leaving for South India on Feb. 11th I would still be loving your words. What a gift you have!!

Can you recommend (other than ones already stated) any resaurants or unique shops???

Many Thanks for your time!

Thanks so much impacked. I don't know that I have any specific reccommendations, but where will you be visiting in case I think of anything?

We start in Chennai – Mahabalipuram Ideal Beach Resort - 2 days
Pondicherry – Colonial Heritage
Tanjore – Anandham Swamimalai 2 days
 Trichy – Hotel Sangam-
Karaikudi – Chettinad Mansion 2 days
Madurai – GRT Regency 2 days
Thekkady – Elephant Court 2 days
Munnar – Blackberry Hills
2 nighst in a houseboat
and Cochin – Old Harbour Hotel 2 nights before home.

If you have any suggestions that would be wonderful and if not Thank you for sharing your adventure. It is such a pleasure!
 
 

trav: We'll miss your presence when you return to cyber purdah. Be safe!

Hi Pearl -- I'll miss being here, too!

impacked, can't think of anything more than what I've written right now. Wish I could -- this trip wasn't as well planned as others have been, so there may be fab places out there I just don't know about.

Indian Marriage

The Deccan Chronicle was hanging on the hotel door this morning. Headline: “Bizarre Ritual Continues in Village.” The story is a must read, so I have to post it.

“The bizarre ritual of getting minor girls married to frogs to ward off evil spirits continues to thrive on Chinnapalipattu village, located on the Puducherry-Tamil Nadu border in Villapuram district despite sustained awareness programmes conducted by the official machinery to sensitize the villagers.

“The villagers of Chinnapalipattu who are mired in superstitious beliefs and age-old customs have made it an annual practice to get girls married to frogs during the Tamil month of Thai to ward off suspected evil spirits and to appease the gods.

“’The children are not even aware of the crime they are being subjected to. The practice has deep cultural roots and is very difficult to eliminate due to illiteracy. The district administration should sensitize the parents on the mental hazards along with strict enforcement’, say the social activists.

“On Saturday, eight-year-old V. Arthi of the village was married to a frog that was fished out from the Mariamman temple tank. The bridegroom’s party proceeded to the venue in a ceremonial procession carrying tumeric, coconuts, plantains, betal leaves, flowers and gifts. The frog was placed on a marriage platform erected in the village and all the rituals associated with a wedding formed part of this marriage. On behalf of the frog, the local temple priest tied the nuptial knot at 8 pm amidst showering of flower petals.”

I have so many questions, but I will let you ask your own.

Speaking of marriages, we talked with one young man who told us he is on his way to meet the family of the boy whom his father has arranged to marry his sister. Actually, he tells us, there are two boys, and this young man and his uncle, as representatives of the girl’s father, will decide which boy is appropriate, as well as finalize the dowry that the family will need to pay to the boy’s family.
“Does your sister get a say at all in which boy she will marry?” I ask.
“No.”
“No? Why not?”
“She just doesn’t. She says she will be happy with whichever boy we choose.”
“Really? Does she have any other boys she might be interested in marrying whom she actually likes?”
“No. She doesn’t know any other boys.”
“What will you pay for her dowry?”
“Some money, maybe a car or a motorbike, some things for their home or things like that.”
“Jewelry?”
“No. The boy’s family will buy that, all but a few pieces. They need to buy it as part of the engagement.”
“I just have a hard time with this whole concept. It disturbs me that the girl, a human being with emotions and feelings, has no say about the person she will be most intimate with and have to live with for the rest of her life.”
“I know, most Westerners can’t understand this, but it is tradition in India and everyone does this. And we need to make sure the family is happy with the dowry, because after they get married if his family thinks they didn’t get enough and wants something more, maybe they or the husband will hurt my sister or put her out. Maybe they will burn her.”
“What?! Why would you even consider marrying your sister to someone who might hurt her?!!” We've seen homeless burned women several times.
“This is my father’s choice and we must do it.”
Ugh.

The Pondicherry traffic police have kindly posted public service signs all along the roads in the city. Here are a few of the better ones: “Don’t Over Speed”; “Avoid Rash Driving”; and my favorite, “Never Encourage Your Child for Driving.”

Along the road between Pondi and Mallubalapuram are massive salt farms. The low-lying area is close to the Bay, so the fields are flooded, then dried and the residual salt collected. The salt pans go on for as far as the eye can see. We stop to steal a pinch of the salt, which is piled up high along the sides of the fields and covered up with palm fronds to keep it dry.

Mallubalapuram is an interesting place – yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site. The rock carvings and free-standing stone animals are incredible.

DD was having a bad day. She damaged her camera when it hit one of the stones and then her sandal broke. She pinched her toes around the part of the thong that was still in tact, hobbling along trying to keep up with us and avoid stepping on the goat and monkey dung. Suddenly a young man appeared alongside her – about 25, tall and pretty good looking. He spoke fluent American-style English.
“You busted your sandal?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh Sheet.”
Silence.
“Can I help you? Maybe I can fix it?” he earnestly asks,
“No really. No thanks, I’m fine.
“Oh. Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Are you married?”
“No!” says DD, now with her best “go away” voice.
“No?! Then you are divorced? Do you have childrens?”
“HAH! No, not divorced. No children, but I do have a boyfriend.”
“No childrens?”
“No – not married, no children. Really, I don’t know why we are even discussing this.”
“Can I show you some kama sutra positions? After me, you can make them with your boyfriend and have childrens.”
“What?!!” GO AWAY!!”
“I can show you and also you can see some of my stone carvings – just over there is my shop.”
“Oh Sheet. Go, Just GO!”
Classic!

After wandering around Mallubalapuram for a while we drive an hour to Chennai. We are staying at the Lemontree Hotel (http://www.lemontreehotels.com/lemon...e-chennai.aspx, I think its about $125/nt.) We are given a spacious suite – its clean, great bed, fabulous shower, even if everything does smell like pledge furniture polish. It is on a very busy street – don’t think I’ve ever heard so much constant beeping in all my life. We’re hungry after the trip, so we eat at Citrus, the hotel restaurant. It okay. (BTW dogster, what is your verdict on the placemats?)

After a rest and refresh, we decide to go see a movie. We order tickets online for “Pyar Impossible,” starring the gorgeous Priyanka Chopra and the unrelated Uday Chopra. Along with the tickets, we order and pay for our snacks online. Pretty nifty.

We get to the theater about an hour or so early, so we hang out in a nearby patisserie called “Ecstasy.” It’s a minimalist, French-inspired place. The coffee, tea, chocolate and desserts are delicious and we easily wile away the wait for the start of the movie.

The theater is pretty comfortable and has big leather seats (all seats are assigned). About halfway through the movie our snacks are delivered to our seats. I love it! Why can’t our theaters do this? The film is a chick-flick. We liked it, but the Indians who we talked to tell us it will be a flop, even though they can’t say why.

Kollywood

According to one of the guidebooks, in Chennai you can visit Film City where the Tamil films (also known as Kollywood – don’t know why) are made. The hunt for the place takes a while – we know we are in the general vicinity, but have difficulty finding it, and no one we ask has any real idea either, even though they are all willing to give us directions. We are sent on more than one wild goose chase. Finally, we spy a gate that looks like a possibility and we drive in. The guard tells us that to visit, we need to get permission from the principal. We enter the main building and go to reception, where we are asked to provide our business cards (if you have business cards, you might want to bring some along – I was asked for my card several times on the trip).

We are led down the hall and out to a different building by a stern, but smiling sari-dressed older woman. We are told to wait. When we are finally shown in, we find ourselves in a classroom with the principal at the front instructing students.
“Welcome!” he says bombastically. “Please join us!”
We are shuttled toward the front of the room and asked to sit.
“This is my director’s class. All these young men (there were no women) are studying to become film directors. Please tell me who you are and why you are here!”
So, we explain that DD is working in Bollywood and that we just wanted to see the Film City grounds.
“Film City closed five years ago. There is still some shooting here, but not very much. Films are now mostly done on location and by private studios. This is now a government film academy, but I think you should still see it – why not? You are here and we can show you some things.”
The sets and the sound stages in the back lots, 50 acres worth, have been sold by the government and torn down to make way for huge skyscrapers currently under construction. They will be HQs for software companies. (Chennai is a boom town – there are skyscrapers and tall apartment buildings under construction all over the city and beyond, as it is pushing out its borders.)
We have a nice chat with the principal and meet all of his students. He volunteers one of them to take us around the academy and then accompany us to visit the private film studios in the city. Prubaker is a 2nd-year film student, tall, sweet, and quite shy – though his syness may have been because he has been thrust into being a guide for a bunch of English-speaking foreigners. After a while he warms up and tells us about the academy, shows us all the equipment (now being housed in the remaining film city buildings) and all about his future plans to be a Tamil film director.

There is a film shoot in progress on the grounds today – a bus with lots of extras and a scene between a lovely young actress and an unlikely-looking “hero.” We watch for a while – it is being filmed in digital – the director watches the filming on a small laptop screen.
“Make-up!” They touch up the actress’s face again.
“Check light.”
“Check!”
“OK, places!”
“Action!”
Extras run to catch the bus, while the hero gets off and his and the actress’s hand romantically touch.
“Cut!”
“Let’s do that again.”
They film the same bit several times. Interesting that although it is a Tamil film, they are working in English.

We also visit the demo theater, the projection booth, the editing room (where film is being stripped and transitioned), the color correction lab (all done on computers these days), the TV production area and see some of the track and dolly cameras.
Prubaker also takes us to see AVM Studios – which has a revolving globe at its entrance – and Prasad Studios – both very old and established studios that produce dozens of Tamil films every year. Fascinating. At one of the studios we see a TV set for a singing show under construction. We also meet the director of the private Prasad Film Academy, who graciously carves out an hour from his busy schedule to
sit and chat with us about film theory, Hollywood, Bollywood, Indian culture in film, how Hollywood keeps trying to capture India in film and continues to fail at it, and of course, Kollywood. He gives us a list of Tamil films we “must see!” All in all, it is a fabulous tour of the Tamil film industry!

Late afternoon we find some time to visit Fort St. George and the little museum there (which needs some curator help). We find it interesting that Elihu Yale, Governor of Madras for the East India Company in the late 1600s, who erected the first Union Jack over the fort, is the same Elihu Yale who started Yale University later in his life. St. Mary’s, the Anglican church in the fort, is the oldest Christian church east of the Suez, according to a sign. The “fort” is still pretty active, with lots of security as it houses the Tamil Nadu state government buildings. The place is not well geared for tourists, even though all the guidebooks recommend a visit there. Afterward, we drive along the Chennai waterfront – there is a huge sandy beach, lots of monuments, and plenty of traffic.

Dinner is at the hotel once again. We’ve got lots of creative packing to do, but amazingly we fit all our accumulated stuff into our burgeoning duffel bags. Hope they don’t explode in the cargo hold! Tomorrow it is off to Kuwait and on to Baghdad.

So, that’s it. I’m not sure I would attempt to post from the road again – it is cumbersome and doesn’t provide for rumination time. Thanks very much to those who have followed along with me and provided me with the much-needed encouragement. A few times I almost abandoned the project only to log on and find a kind comment. It is hard to do this without some feedback.

Bye for now.

Back to nation building.

Have a safe trip back. Thanks for a most enjoyable read!

Thank you for letting me see India through your eyes. I'm such a fraidy cat, I never would have had the same experiences given the same circumstances. My favorite parts were your recanting of specific banter...loved it! Now I must leave your fabulous report and start pulling tax documents together...oh sheet!

Trav, I have not allowed myself to read your final installments because it will be my treat to sit and read it at the end of the day (but it's waiting on paper). I've loved reading every word and have saved it to pass on to my friend who is hoping to visit at the end of the year.

All of your report has been printed with some temples underlined as well as other stops which will be repeated by my husband and myself.

Thank YOU so much!!

I read an article in The Atlantic several years ago about an Indian woman in a rural village we married a cobra. I wonder if the cobra takes out the trash???

Awesome, amazing , fun report and descriptions, one of the BEST ever on Fodors. Thank you!!
and thanks to another Fodorite for referencing this in a reply!

What a surprise to see this post revived. So happy you enjoyed it -- thanks so much CaliNurse!

I enjoyed reading your report. I am starting to plan a trip to southern India that covers some of the places you visited. In fact, I just posted asking for people to review my itinerary. I am thinking of breaking up the long drive from Cochin to Mysore with a stop in Ooty? Any thoughts on that?

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