Return to Mahabillupurim

The events in this post take place on Oct 5th.

After some discussion we decided that we go to Mahabillipurim for the weekend. While I had seen it, I  wanted to spend more time in the town and would enjoy the chance to visit the UNESCO site again. Faithful readers will remember the place from a series of posts that start here.

I found that the re-visit gave me a somewhat different perspective and filled in some questions. This will turn out to be true as we re-toured Chennai with a new guide. But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

We organized a car for ourselves and took off Saturday morning. Our driver was the white haired gentleman that also took us to work. His English wasn't great and some of the logistics of the situation weren't entirely clear, but we were happy to put some physical and emotional distance between us and work. We hopped in laughing and hit the road

First stop was an alligator park. Did we want to stop and see? Absolutely. 

These were mostly mid-sized, indolent beasts doing the best that they could to beat the heat. The most remarkable thing about them were there numbers. There were gangs of them in seemingly too-small enclosures. Only one or two lucky large ones had extra space. Draw your own metaphors here. 

The pond there had a thick verdant scum growing atop it. Occasionally a set of bubbles would appear and croc would break the surface and the monotony. 

But it was amusing enough and we looped through. I enjoyed scaring Ro in the snake house by saying "Oh, there's one there on the floor."

And soon enough we were at the gift shop and bathrooms. Ro bought her husband a hilarious bat mask and we braved the facilities. They were the worst of the trip - the old hole in the ground. We bought cold drinks and headed to the car. The usual set of beggars and salespeople made their bid as we passed. We shook them off. One little girl asked for money. I thought I had given her some on the way in so I said no. Well how about a drink of your coke then? Hmm. Ok. I finished off what I wanted from the can, gave her the rest and hopped into the AC of the car.

 

Ok, so next stop is Tiger Cave. Carved by the Pallava kings, the spot we are sitting in is supposed to be where an important king would sit and contemplate the rising sun. 

Important disclaimer: this information comes from the Coconut King and should be treated with the correct amount of skepticism. 

Who is the Coconut King and why shouldn't we completely trust what he says? He's this guy. 

Now, most of what he told us I believe and accept. I just think that the Raj isn't above telling a good story here and there. For instance, he told us how we was the guide of the beach and business was bad. Then one day, the tsunami came. This is the famous storm in 2004 that revealed some of the ruins in the area. Well, the king here claims he was standing there when it happened and he escaped by climbing this rock. 

You can practically see Ro disbelieving his story here. The King of Coconuts climbed the rock and was stranded there for 8 hours before the waters receded enough for him to climb down. After that, tourism at the beach was great. So, it was good for his business but 2400 people in the area died he tells us.

He showed us another Shivalinga temple after that. Good stuff, and you could see fresh worship had gone on there. These are historic sites and generally not for active worship, but the locals weren't entirely getting the message. Because 100 yards from that was this place

This is a small shrine. Coconutraj sat us down and solemnly asked us how old we were and if we had had children together. Whoah there Raj- we are business associates. He apologizes and goes on to explain that this was a fertility shrine. He points out several stones there where couples could come and sacrifice goats and chickens, make a puja and would be blessed with children. The graffiti you see around the door are people who have gotten kids from the shrine's magic. 

We split that place.

There was another dig site a ways further that we saw as well. By now though, the Coconut King had to compete for our attention with both the brutal sun and a hilarious puppy that lived in a cave in the ruins. 

He was game, but the tour was over. The puppy refused to eat strawberry Mentos so we went back to the car.