To avoid the second day of noise and smoke some people call Diwali, we set off to Mamallapuram (also known as Mahabalipuram).
We stopped on the way at the Crocodile Bank.
It was quite peaceful there with the birds chirping away and the crocodiles lazing around. However the marshy environment the crocs liked stank and it was quite nauseating in some places.
There was this one loser who was throwing sticks at a poor sleeping croc. I told him off and he left sneering at me.
Then it was lunch time so we continued our journey to Mamallapuram. We had a lot of seafood and meat at Moonrakers. I didn’t think much of the food but I heard that it was quite popular. It was filled with Czechs and other white people when we were there. (Now don’t ask me for photos of them. It would have been rude to take shots of them without asking their permission, and I wasn’t going to interrupt their meal.)
We reached Mamallapuram and it was boring. We saw some monkeys and took some photos. Pretty much it. The most interesting thing was a monkey snatching a bottle of water from a tourist, unscrewing the lid and drinking directly from it using its feet to balance the bottle.
On the way back we decided to go boating at Muttukadu. We paid for a boat with an outboard motor since no one felt like taking a pedal boat. It was Rs. 240 for 3 kilometers on a six seater boat. Too bad you couldn’t pilot the boat yourself but that’s a recipe for disaster.
When we got back to the city the ‘celebrations’ were going on in full swing. Crackers were explosing everywhere as we drove home. We had to roll up the car windows. Barbarians.
November 11th, 2007 at 6:51 am
The photograph of steps cut in the rock.
Wheere exactly is it?
Dont remember having seen it on my visit.
Is it the ones at the Shore temple?
November 11th, 2007 at 8:20 am
You look like Dhoni in the last picture. A rather slim one.
I hate Diwali man. Luckily, my family does the lighting diyas and candles and all. No bursting crackers. And my Building is full of middle aged or old people, who cant celebrate Diwali in that explosive manner.
And dude, why the mahabs? It’s like T.Nagar these days. Wasn’t there some other location?
November 11th, 2007 at 10:43 am
whats with repeating word “barbarians”???? dont overdo it. you gotta live with things.
November 11th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Oh noez white pplz! Gib mi fotos pls!
November 11th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Well you had a nice time away from noise. Here people started it in the evening. It was so nice in the morning and afternoon but idiots started it in the evening. Was unable to see tv. Compared to crackers, fireworks much better.
November 11th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Ottayan, it was some cave with a temple of some sort on top. There were huge boulders all around the place. It wasn’t next to the shore, and there was no entry fee.
Vin, I don’t keep track of cricketers. In fact, I ignore them completely so I’m not sure what he looks like now. We ended up going there since it was the closest place to the city. Yes, it was somewhat crowded.
Sindhu, the whole place was filled with hooligans. Some of them were yelling and cheering at women. A few started urinating on a tree besides some rocks in full view of the tourists passing by. I mentioned the losers bothering the crocodile. ‘Porikkis’, as we say in Tamil. What’s the English equivalent?
George, there’s one holding the baby croc. I told you, I’m not going to shoot photos of foreigners. It’s rude.
I forgot to mention that we encountered a large group of Chinese girls and boys about my age touring the temples. Damn pretty they were. I told Arun I saw Asians and he’s arguing that Indians are also called Asians. Indians are always called Indians (our country is a sub-continent) and people from most other countries in Asia are called Asians (except Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka).
Vinod, loud crackers are pointless and totally suck. Sparklers and rockets and everything else are pretty and interesting to watch.
November 11th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Actually i also visited Mamallapuram on the day you went
it was loads of fun, i have 2 videos in which a monkey took my water bottle and drank
all my water
i wud like to share it wid ya
but now i dont have enough time to sit and upload
pardon me
November 11th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Ha ha, Marc, of course. You’re very polite to a vellakaran. Besides, I was only joking, they’re everywhere these days.
November 11th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
By the way, Marc, it’s only the North Americans who mean East Asians when they say Asian. The rest of the English-speaking world includes South Asians. Also, unless I’m wrong, even in the US, the Government counts people of Indian origin as belonging to an Asian race.
Also, you already mentioned what you call them: hooligans, rowdies.
November 11th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
retards man those guys are, cheering and howling at women.
at least we aren’t a racist country eh?
diwali is once a year. stop complaining. you’re constantly exposed to louder sounds throughout the year in the form of traffic. blog about traffic everyday.
technically we are asians but that term is used to refer to people of oriental race. we are east indian.
November 11th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_people
And George he said you’d disagree.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:25 am
George, you’re wrong. Name one country that calls Indians as Asians and I shall ask some random people of that country through chatrooms and forums to show that they don’t.
Suren, we aren’t racist too. You just don’t see it in the open. Traffic sounds are not as loud as diwali firecrackers. Also it’s three days per year that the explosions go on for.
Arun, obviously the dictionary will have a technical description of things.
November 12th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Nice pics Marc. Even though the whole idea of Diwali in Chennai now is “barbaric” I still miss it. All the sweets and crackers and wishes.
November 12th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Shaddap and go celebrate Onze Novembre.
November 12th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Actually, quite a lot of people in the UK talk about Asians meaning Bangladeshis, Indians, Pakistanis. You’ll see it if you read contemporary English literature, their newspapers or talk to people. Asians means South Asians or all Asians.