Morning in Mammalipurim

These events take place on Oct 6th. We've seen historic sights and rested in nice hotel. Now we are getting up for what we thought would be the end of the trip and the start of a lazy Sunday afternoon back in Chennai. 

 This is Arjuna's penance. You may recall that I've discussed this some here. I posted there that I think its really Descent of the Ganges and not about Arjuna. In either case, we get there after a light breakfast at the Chariot Resort. Some of the flacks that I had brushed off yesterday were there waiting for us. I sometimes say "Perhaps later" instead of just "No" with these guys. I think no doesn't work as well with them and later gives us both wiggle room, so I go down that road. Of course now was later and one of them smiled gap-toothedly at me. "Remember yesterday you said tomorrow?" he chided. I had to chuckle. He was selling pervy Krishna palm drawings for way too much, though so I still wasn't buying.
Next came the guide question. One had pegged the car on the way in and asked after it. His English was good and he seemed personable enough so I fixed a price with him.

Guide or no guide- this wall is pretty awesome. He talked mostly to Ro as I filled up my flash card. The problem with guides is that your experience is, well guided by them. Their timetable and yours may not be the same. I would have liked to stay here a little longer. On the other hand, they keep the other salesmen away, so if you balance it right, it kind of works out. 

So, we got our snaps & story and moved on additional temples and Krishna's butterball. 

Oh, and there were cool goats around pretty much everywhere.

We actually saw a different temple than the last time we were here. In fact, we went a different way leaving the area. Of course you know where that road leaves: to unwanted shopping.
This time our guide announced he was afiliated with a sculpture school and wanted to show us. The "school" turned out to be a couple guys sitting on the ground scratching detail onto cut forms. I saw no signs that they did anything there other than that. They likely got the forms from somewhere and just etched them. The school was just a one-room stand with sculptures on the shelves.

They had a Michael Jackson sculpture here which I found amusing. Later we would find out that he is pretty much the only Western pop star with any traction here. But what to do about the sales pitch? I picked out a couple of small pieces and we did the dickering. He wanted way to much and I talked him down to just too much. I think its important for us to put something into the local economy and it wasnt that bad. But the real value came in that we were now going to walk through the town and go to an ATM to get the rupees. I enjoyed the town and chatting with the guide.
After the ATM, we were close to the Shore Temple and the guide suggested we just walk the rest of the way. I was very amenable to the suggestion as I was enjoying the morning walk. On the way we saw some people gathering behind a fenced-in large pool. I had seen the square pools in other cities and knew they were used in ceremonies.
This time it was a parade that was starting for a man who had died. Our guide was sketchy on the details, but we worked them out later that afternoon with a very different guide.
Fifteen days after a man's death, they have the parade.

This guy is dressed as Yama, the lord of the dead. In some versions, he is the first person to die and thus rules the dead by power of seniority. Here they are getting made up and ready for the show. Later we would see that he wore a large colorful, elaborate arced cloth behind his head.

The gent on the ground is dressing as Chitragupta. Sort of a Hindu Saint Peter, he keeps the books on your life, recording all your good and bad deeds. We also learned that the nature of your deeds impacts how long you live this current life. This had some surprising implications that we didnt dwell too long on.

So, the plan here is to tally up the merits and demerits and see if the local man was going to heaven or hell. A band was there as well, striking up an upbeat number that put me in the mind of a funeral in New Orleans. There was also a small political parade that went through town that morning. They were wearing the same style shirt as me and encouraged me to join the rally. This was the kind of stuff that made the sculptures I bought worth the price.

The Shore temple was good solid entertainment as well. The last time we were here we couldnt go inside, so that was a nice additional detail.

So, we wrapped up our morning in the town and found the car. We headed back to Chennai and had lunch at the hotel. That was when Gurjeet called and the day took another turn.