Mamallapuram

Located just 57km (35 miles) south of Chennai is the town of Mamallapuram. I had heard about the carved temples and bias reliefs, but was not prepared for the number of sights to see. On my short day trip there I was not able to see the main temple on the beach, so we'll be back soon, allowing a few days to explore and get some more pictures. What I did get to visit was an area of large granite outcroppings where you are free to wander. This open air museum is full of carvings and dry fit stone buildings dating back to the 7th century.

It's hard to get a sense of proportion here, but the elephants are life size.

Many of the temples are shallow caves carved right into the granite. Others are partially carved out of the rock with pillars, and huge slab roofs, or dry fit stone walls.

A person could wander for hours through this maze of sculptures, climbing around on steps carved into the steeper inclines. The whole area is open to the public with no restrictions. You can see where countless hands have touched this cow being milked, where people can sit on the calf and have their picture taken.

I don't know the reason, but this balancing rock was placed here by one of the gods (Shiva I believe). The story goes the British where concerned that it was a safety hazard and attempted to pull it down with a team of elephants, but were unable to do so.

Mamallapuram gets it's share of tourists and is also full of stone carvers who want to sell you intricate nick knacks. These guys can be very insistent and follow you around, acting as a guide with the expectation that you will buy something. They think all Americans are rich. After I couldn't shake a young man, I finally got stern and told him to go find some other rich American. That seemed to work. I couldn't resist taking a photo of this mother & youngster who where hanging out on a large transformer tower.

Chennai beaches

Chennai has several beaches. Marina beach is located near city center and the original British fort and dockyards. It is one of the longest beaches in the world and is kept relatively clean. We live apx. 3 km (1.5 miles) from Elliot beach which is a very popular hang out. Unlike American beaches, you don't see many people out sunbathing during the day. In the heat of the day it is just to hot, and the surf and undertow do not allow you to do much more than wade in the water. At dusk however, people swarm to the beach to enjoy enjoy the water and the welcome ocean breeze.

In the mornings there are many small brightly painted fishing boats that head out for the day's catch. Many of the fishermen live in slum dwellings located at the far ends of the beach. No one knows how many, but many fishing families lost their lives in the Tsunami that swept over the beaches in 2004.

The Christian community is not large here, but this open church at Elliot beach was all lit up for Mary's birthday, which is a week long major celebration. They had a public address system large enough for a big rock concert blaring out a very interesting mix of traditional hymns and Indian popular/tradition music.

Another site you see often during the day is men and boys stalking the beach looking for sand crabs. When they spot something they pounce on the spot with their heel and start digging frantically.

This boy and his father are heading off with their bag full.

Char's school

The American International School where Char is teaching is a very impressive new campus that covers grades K-12. The school is growing every year, with a large percentage of Korean students, but there is a real mix from many different countries here. Char has children from Korea, France, Sri Lanka, Finland, Japan, UK, Australia and America.

Char gets to and from school in Murugan's auto rickshaw everyday. We hire him on a monthly basis for 4000 Rs. ($90). A bit steep by local standards, but worth it to have a dependable driver.


The school is built around several open courtyards. This one is just outside Char's classroom.
Char hard at work in her classroom.

Classes are limited to 15-16 students and because there are so many students who are non-native English speakers, each 1st grade teacher has a full time aid.

The school also has a full sized swimming pool, that the staff & spouses get to use.

One of the interesting features of the school is that is was designed to be very self sufficient and the with the environment in mind. This holding pond is where much of the rain water is captured and recycled for irrigation and toilets. The building was also designed to capture the ocean breezes which is greatly appreciated in this hot environment.


Here's a mural on the wall in the elementary playground area.

Even though Char is having to re-learn how to teach 1st grade again, she is getting her feet back on the ground, and many of the changes she was looking for in terms of curriculum, resources, philosophy, support & class size are happening, a much needed change for her.

Shiva on the street corner

This display seemed to magically appear overnight on a nearby street corner. It is obviously telling a Hindu story about the gods. The actual structure is made of stick scaffolding tied together with rope and then covered with yards of starched cloth.

The tricycle is how many of the goods are delivered throughout the city. The one in the above picture is a very high end model that is powered by a tiny chain-saw type motor. Most that you see are human powered and look like they have seen better days.

We are greeted every morning with a new Kolam in front of our neighbor's door. This is one of the first things the Hindu women do in the morning by first washing the entryway down then creating a geometric design with rice flour that they apply by letting it fall in a controlled fashion from their hand, which they execute with amazing speed. I understand this is done to invite the god of prosperity into their house.

Theosophical Society and Flying Foxes

We have discovered a very large plot of land that is not more than 1/4 mile from us which is the headquarters for the Theosophical Society. It is open to visitors at certain times of the day and a wonderful retreat from the city. It's also CLEAN and well maintained, which is something we don't see very often.

This worldwide society was started in the late 1800's, and their basic philosophy is that at the core of all religions or beliefs is truth and they attempt to foster a universal brotherhood. They are also very interested in unexplained human phenomena and the occult. Their headquarters is a place to study and they have retreats here as well.

As I was strolling through the grounds I saw what I thought was a large vulture, but soon realized these "birds" had fingers on the leading edge of their wings. They were obviously enormous bats, which I have since learned are called fruit bats, or flying foxes. I understand they can have a wing span of 5 feet, which I can easily believe. I wasn't able to get a good photo of them flying, so I took this one off the Internet.

I would guess there were 75 to 100 bats in this colony that I easily discovered by all the racket they were creating.

There are also some very elaborate granite carvings spread throughout the grounds.

Butterflies were also abundant.

Monkeys & Deer

Looking out the window the other day I was surprised to see a monkey underneath our balcony. By the time I got my camera he had gone to the other side of the street where his other very fat companion was sitting on a wall. Our apartment guard told us that there is a small band in the area that often come down, and said one of them made off with his banana the other day.

To elaborate on the guards, every apartment complex and private house has guards who watch the place 24 hours a day. They don't really seem to do much at all during the day and we live in a very safe neighborhood, but they look after the place and greet you when we are coming & going. Being a guard has to be one of the most boring jobs in the world, but there seems to be a bit of prestige involved.

We walked to nearby Guindy National Park just about a mile from our apartment. Most of the park is closed to the public and set aside as a natural area, but it does have a small zoo and snake farm.

We see many of these trees in the wild areas, where parasite trees grow up the mother tree and drop roots down to the ground. They eventually kill the mother tree and leave a maze of trunks holding up parts of the dead host tree.


Guindy park is one of the few places you can see deer that are native to the area.

There are quite a few loose monkeys at the park. I caught a photo of this guy after he snuck up on an unsuspecting youngster and stole his bag of chips.

The Adyar River

So far I have mostly shown the best side of Chennai, but there is another side which I will try to document now and then. We are located about 3 blocks from the Adyar River which is one of two major rivers that runs through Chennai to the sea.
This would be a good thing and from a distance it is very scenic, but when you get near the river you are overpowered by a horrible stench. On closer examination, much of the shoreline is covered with garbage and the water is a dark, sludge color. In fact all the rivers and canals in the city are extremely polluted with sewage, garbage, and stuff I don't want to know about.
The waterways are often lined with slum dwellings where people live in shelters made with a stick frame, tied together and partially enclosed with palm thatch, old tarps or scraps of sheet metal roofing.

We live in very upper middle class neighborhood (for India), but these pictures were taken just 4-5 blocks from our apartment.

The divisions from affluence to poverty is even more distinct in the high tech campuses around Char's school. Here you go from high rise modern buildings, nice landscaped streets and people eating their lunch at KFC & Pizza hut at the campus cafeterias, but when you turn the corner you encounter a street that is mostly paved, lined with small concrete row dwellings with narrow alleys between them. Family dwellings are very small, often with only a cloth for a front door. It looks like most of them have no indoor plumbing, and open or inoperable sewers are common.

It is hard as a westerner to understand why people don't respect their environment more. But I realize education is not the only issue. In this land of a caste society, it is karma that some are destined to live in poverty and filth.