Sticky in Chennai

Last Saturday we made a day trip to Kanchipuram, a small city full of temples. It used to be just a city of temples but now it looks more like any other small Indian city. Our favorite chain restaurant Saravana Bhavan is there. As far as I am concerned that is the one thing I need when I travel around here, plus a westernized and reasonably clean toilet.

Anyway…we visited 3 Hindu temples and 1 Jain temple that Ian blogged about earlier. The Hindu temples were very impressive in size and beauty. They were in mostly big open spaces with lots of greenery around where one could enjoy a stroll and cool yet warm breezes, gaze at grazing cows, colorful butterflies and iridescent dragonflies and other miscellaneous small wildlife.

On the low level stress-inducing side were the temple priests who harassed us to receive their prayers and/or tour and hear the story of how their family has been in the business of temple priests for hundreds if not thousands of years – and please a donation for the temple please. At times like this, I believe it may just be better to charge visitors for the upkeep of the temple and the staff of priests. I imagine only non-Hindus would be charged but that is okay as long as it is not the usual 5x the regular Indian fare for foreigners as it is on the airlines. The temples are serene and beautiful, though in need of serious and regular cleaning. Now that I know to take socks, it is not so bad (all relative) that I am walking on thick layers of bird and bat droppings. The pestering of tourists is jarring and annoying. One should simply be able to enjoy and appreciate the site in a peaceful way.

We did come across one very calm priest who actually had a soothing voice. Were it not for the stuffiness and heat of the little room of idols he took us to, I could have stayed longer but felt I needed to breathe. Otherwise, we were taken on a tour of another temple after we broke down in our resistance where Ian was told to start a business in my name because it would prosper. Not a bad idea but I don’t want my name associated with a failed business either, especially if it is one of entrepreneur Ian's looney ideas.
Walking to the Ekambareswara Temple

The highlight of my day was to be seeing the 3,500 year old mango tree at Ekambareswara Temple. This mango tree supposedly bears 4 different kinds of mango and has the power through its fruit of making one fertile. The temple is situated on 20 acres of mostly open space and has one of the tallest gopurams in South India at 57m (192 ft.). It is a principal Shiva sanctuary and was built in 1509 and houses 1,008 Shiva lingams.

As our first temple, we had the energy to repeatedly turn down a guide. After entry, we encountered our first priest. He was to teach us what to expect at all the other temples thereafter. He told us the story of how his family has worked at this temple for hundreds of years, how to pray to Shiva, he placed garlands around our necks and prayed for us and lit candles in our name, and rubbed a little of the white powder on our foreheads. After which we were asked for a generous donation. We gave the donation and moved on. A few minutes later we were harassed by other priests at another part of the temple. We realized we should remove our garlands as this marks us as suckers.

We walked through beautiful dark hallways lined with Shiva lingams. I was eager to see this ancient mango tree being a mango lover. We approached a square and saw a light brownish cyclinder-like thing in the middle and some green branches behind it. I didn’t know what it was until I realized we were at the end of the walk. It was the famous mango tree.
Ian by the dead mango tree, or something like that Description of mango tree's history and importance People can say anything and a legend is born
People touching and praying at tree
This tourist wanted to eat mango.
I don’t know what I was really looking at. All I can do is describe it as a giant dead log laid out and a small mango tree in the center. This mango tree was alive but it was quite small. I have been to a few mango orchards in my time and this was like a bush. But what do I know as I always say, I am no mango farmer or botanist. All I know is that I was disappointed. As you can see in the photos my tourist expectations were deflated and I was disappointed. Truthfully and more importantly, it is a lot of fun reading about such places, going there, knowing it is unknown what one will see, finding it and seeing the reality for oneself.
Take a sample and test it?