I woke up on the last train I’ll take on Indian Railways as we entered North Western Tamil Nadu. At 8 I got off the train at some random town called Chengalpattu, where I walked to the bus station and hopped on the local bus to Mamallapuram, a tourist town on the Bay of Bengal. It has a good beach, World–Heritage rock carvings because it was once the Pallava Capital and seaport, and lots of hotels, restaurants, and shops for westerners. Mamallapuram has always been a center for rock carving, and even today it remains one, with many of its sculptures being exported and used for temples around the world. So, when I got off the bus, the first thing I heard in the city was the clinking of a hammer and chisel against granite stone. Lining the street, hundreds of craftsman were hard at work, doing what their fathers and forefathers have been doing for generations Now, artisans use electrical saw blades, but all the detailed façade-work is done by hand, only armed with hammer and chisel. The sculptures ranged from Hindu gods and goddesses to modern political figures and Buddhist statues. There are supposedly 330 million Hindu gods and in front of each workshop, it seemed that all were on display. I checked into a random hotel named ‘Tina New Blue’ on the main avenue, which was surrounded with seafood restaurants, travel agencies, souvenir shops, bookstores, internet café’s, and Ayurvedic massage parlors. Then I rented a bike across the street and rode through the tiny streets to the Shore Temple. The Shore Temple is, well, on the seashore facing the Bay of Bengal. It is small and has a spire dedicated to Shiva, surrounded by a tank and wall of seated bulls and lingams, used to shadow during sunrise and sunset. The temple was pretty, but weathered, due to the strong saline winds. The next stop down the road was the Five Rathas, another set of Pallava temples. These temples were rock-cut and excavated, and have slash marks like they are works in progress. The Five Rathas are dedicated to the heroes of the Mahabharata, and consist of chariot-like temples with shrines, guarded by elephants, lions, and bulls. It wasn’t very intricate given they were excavations. I rode my bike up to the main hill, with tons of boulders, confusing pathways and Indian and European tourists. It was hot, but cooled by the seaside breeze. There were a bunch of cave carvings and pavilions, done in the same pavilion-style. A huge boulder on a hill looking like it defiles gravity is named ‘Krishna’s Butterball’. Obviously the concept of privacy doesn’t exist, since couples escape to parks in which to cuddle. The highlight of the hill carvings is the relief called Arjuna’s Penance, which has scenes of everyday Pallava life, as well as elephants, Shiva, and Arjuna. It looked kind of like a zoo exhibit, though. After quickly looking at the World-Heritage-listed monuments, I had two thalis for lunch. They weren’t any better than the other South Indian thalis I’ve had, but I was just hungry as usual. I ate with my hands, which beats eating rice with a spoon, which is just awkward. But still, there’s nothing like eating sticky rice with chopsticks; it’s the fastest, least wasteful, and cleanest way to go. The nice thing about India is that manners generally don’t exist. Where else do you pour sauce over rice, mix it with your fingers, and shovel it into your mouth with your whole hand? Where else can you litter anywhere without anyone caring? Where else can you urinate or defecate in public? Where else can you burp, fart, spit, cough, and sneeze in public, and it’s normal? Where else can you bump into people like a bowling ball without them noticing? Where else can you play loud music, talk on your cell phone in a movie theatre, cut in line, and pick fights without getting kicked out of the building? Where else does the language not include words for ‘Excuse me’ Sorry, ‘Thank You’ ‘Please’, or ‘You’re welcome’? Where else is it appropriate to ask politics, discuss sex, or call people fat/ugly/crazy/dirty/old/poor/ dumb, without eliciting a negative response? Get the picture? It’s not that India does not, have manners. Their concept of ‘good manners’ is just very different from ours. It seems to them being generally polite and nice is the requirement of good manners, as well as being hospitable. As an informant once told me, “You see, Indians are basically just undisciplined”. Whereas in the West, we are more curteous on the outside, which they probably consider fake. I spent the afternoon at Mamallapuram Beach, which was really relaxing and enjoyable, and a good note on which to end my travels in the south, and all of India. The beach was windy, and so it was actually a bit chilly and really choppy, but the sand was squishy, and the water warm and amazing. The only drawbacks were the stream of trash and sewage a few miles downshore, the garbage and fishing boots, and the six-year old naked children and Italian man in a Speedo on the loose. I hate tourists. Even though I am one, they’re so annoying with their safari hats, dreadlocks, and fake Indian clothes. I’m probably not any different, but I think I’m more of a hardcore traveler than others and even the Lonely Planet people. I take overnight trains for the bed, I take Sleeper Class which is ‘not recommended’, I always spend less than half the time required in the guide to see stuff, I consider the most dire hotels and temple pilgrim rest houses sufficient, I go swimming where I shouldn’t ( the Ganges of Varanasi and the ‘dangerous current’ beaches) I like places best that aren’t even in the guidebooks like Haryana, I never make reservations when needed, I’ve taken only eight planes, but over 30 trains and 80 buses and 150 metro rides since I’ve been here, I don’t look for ‘internet, money changers, bookshops, Western restaurants, or traveler hangouts’, and I’ve done more than what’s on the ‘six-months’ itinerary being in India for that long and still going to class at Delhi University. And I feel like an Indian, ‘I’m turning Non-Japanese’. By the way sitting in the sun today, I’m probably the darkest I’ve ever been. Makes sense, considering I am at 10 degrees from the equator. That being said, I threw what I said before about tourists out the window, and indulged in a Kerala Ayurvedic massage, famous for its healing powers, along with the right diet and other natural medicines. The massage was a mere $6 from an hour, about 1/10 of the price of a cheap massage in America. I was forced to wear something somehow smaller than a G-string. And in India the massages are all same-sex. A little uncomfortable, but it was worth it. I got an amazing oily massage, from my head to my toes. Then I went down to the beach and went for seafood, some fish and prawns along with the huge lobsters, kept in big tile tanks. I had a seafood platter with Calamari, prawns, and fish, which was delicious, all for $6. Mamallapuram is famous for its fresh seafood, served everywhere around town. The joints along the beach suffered damage during the 2004 tsunami, but are totally rebuilt now, rocking with reggae beats and illegally serving beers to foreigners, and with the occasional shady men who come up trying to sell you marijuana like it’s postcards or toys.
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