Sticky in Chennai

Here is Ulsa. I spotted him while buying malipoo, the jasmine flowers I buy regularly to fragrance our flat. Ulsa's owner or walker was very friendly and happy to let me photograph Ulsa. Ulsa was so fidgety and violently wagging his tail that it was hard to snap a digital photo of him without blurry results. This is the best I could do after several minutes of trying to calm him and petting him to relax and sit still for a few seconds. People around seemed to know Ulsa as I heard shouts calling out to Ulsa to quiet down and stop barking. He was a howler.

I don't know who Ulsa prayed to or what he prayed for. Pooja is personal. "Pooja" or "Puja" (Sanskrit: reverence or worship, loosely) is a religious ritual which most Hindus perform every morning after bathing and dressing but prior to taking any food or drink. Puja rituals vary between Hindu sects, but generally involve the chanting of a particular mantra on a mala (rosary) and optionally the offering of food and drink to one's personal murtis (idols) of god and guru).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pooja -
He's still got a lot to howl about.

ABOUT THE RED MARK ON ULSA'S FOREHEAD:

Tilaka or Pundraka is a ritual mark on the forehead, of sandalwood paste, coloured earth or vermilion. It is a sign of sectarian distinction, and of auspiciousness.

The spot between the brows where the tilaka is applied is considered the seat of latent wisdom and mental concentration, which is very important for worship. This is the spot on which yogis meditate to become one with Brahman. It also indicates the point at which the spiritual eye opens. All thoughts and actions are said to be governed by this spot. The tilaka, initially of either sandalwood paste or some other cool substance, was applied on this spot to keep it cool so that man could be of stable mind and thought. Most Hindu scholars, even today, sport a sandalwood paste tilaka.

As various sects arose with time, it was the tilaka that indicated sectarian distinctions. For instance, the devotees of Shiva apply three horizontal lines of vibhuti (sacred ash) on their forehead. This is to remind themselves of the God's threefold nature of creation, preservation and destruction. The ashes also indicate his main function: destruction.

The devotees of Vishnu apply three vertical lines of sandalwood. This is the sign of his preservation and protection. The devotees of Devi (Shakti) apply the kumkum, which is a round or slightly elongated red mark. This evokes the supreme power of Adi Parashakti, the Universal Mother, from whom all life and energy, even the power of the Trinity (see Trimurti), is believed to emanate.

For the lay worshipper, the most common tilaka these days is the one applied ritually after a puja or arati, of red kumkum or sandalwood paste.
Copied and pasted from - http://www.gurjari.net/ico/Mystica/html/tilaka.htm

The sign.
He is a famous astrologer our driver said as we drove by. He is known as the astrologer for the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, the famous grand woman. I think later we can go. After all, I now know my time of birth, a critical piece of information if one wants one's astrology chart done. I did not have this bit of knowledge earlier so that is why Ian had his reading and I did not. I only was able to have a numerology reading. All I would like to say is that this astrologer, within 10 minutes, not looking at my hand but only taking my name, birth date and time of birth, pointed out a specific date of my life that marked a significant moment. I don't know where that came from. I never had that happen in all my palm-reading-astrology fun. Of course the astrologer was off on some things, close on others, but I was freaked out by the early date revelation.He did say something else a temple priest in Kanchipuram said to Ian, who only paid to have a couple of questions answered, that he should start a business in my name (Iris ) and it will be successful. The office was as you can see amazingly cluttered and the walls were covered. There was a constant stream of chanting and music playing the entire time. He was a gentle man who did not speak much English but was able to convey a basic idea. Through our trusted driver Denzil, we were able to learn the details of his predictions and past readings. Needless to say, Denzil now knows a lot more about me and Ian than he previously did. I wonder now what he thinks when he looks at us.

Any basic list of must-see sights in Chennai will include the international headquarters and gardens of the Theosophical Society.  If you are a New Yorker this name may strike you as strangely familiar.  Perhaps this is because the U.S. office of the Theosophical Society is located mid-town on 53^rd street, and they also maintain a store called Quest Book Shop at the same location.   You may have walked pass it on occasion. 

(Above: The Theosophical Society's official logo.)

As stated on their website: “The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body whose primary object is Universal Brotherhood based on the realization that life, and all its diverse forms, human and non-human, is indivisibly One..”

The TS was founded by two extraordinary characters, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.  Check out: http://www.ts-adyar.org/founders.htmlto read their fascinating biographies.   In short, these two high society & highly successful people, who had been mesmerized by, believers in and eventually practitioners of occultism, astral projection, telepathy, plane shifting and so on, decided to create a religious / philosophical society that would work towards obtaining a higher truth.  And for their headquarters they selected a large plot of land located on the coast of India within the city of Chennai. 

 Years later after the successful founding and development of TS the successors of Colonel Olcott and Helena Blavatsky decided to cultivate a supreme guru, or new Buddha, to be the final teacher to reveal the ‘truth’ to all humanity.   In their search for a suitable candidate they happened upon J. Krishnamurti, the very young son of one of the society’s Indian administrators.  Several Theosophical Society members worked together to cultivate the young boy’s ability to be their supreme teacher. They even created a new society, The Order of the Star of the East to ‘herald the coming of the world teacher.’

In 1929, when the now mature Krishnamurti was finally ready to assume his role as the World Teacher, he stunned the members of The Order of the Star of the East by delivering a superbly powerful opening address, and then promptly dissolving the society for all time.  Krishnamurti declared that “truth is a pathless land” and that no organization or guru could possibly help anyone else find the truth.  If you are not familiar with the writings of Krishnamurti I strongly recommend that you read at least the text of this speech:  http://www.katinkahesselink.net/kr/star.htm  His words are at the very least thought provoking if not outright inspiring. 

Now I have been a fan of Krishnamurti’s for years, so I have been very much looking forward to visiting the headquarters and gardens of the Theosophical Society where K spent his young years.   I also greatly enjoy the poetic image of the American and European occultists cultivating a young Indian boy to be their philosopher king.

So after our bitter Thanjour disappointment, Iris and I jumped into the car to visit the gardens of the Theosophical Society.  I am happy to report that they’re beautiful.  The gardens provide an almost spiritual sense of relief from Chennai’s deafening urban roar not unlike a stroll in Manhattan’s Central Park.  The key difference being that the Theosophical Society only opens its massive gardens to non-members on 10:00 – 12:00 and 14:00 – 16:00 Saturday’s only.  So I guess a more apt comparison would be to Gramercy Park at 19^th and 3^rd in Manhattan, which only opens its doors to the general public ONE DAY a year.  (If you hear some bitterness in my voice, you’re right.)

The gardens are home to several religious shrines to various world faiths – a testament to the theosophical belief that truth can be found in all religions.  It was easy to imagine all sorts of bizarre occult practices and rituals being held in the gardens many interesting structures.    As Iris and I strolled around it began to rain heavily, a bitter reminder of our cancelled Thanjour trip, so we did not have a chance to see and photograph all we wanted

But here are a few good shots. 

 

Here's Ian exasperated. We went to buy tickets for the cartoon blockbuster hit "Hanuman", the story of the half man half monkey god. This is the parking lot of a major multiplex showing many foreign and local movies. The multiplex from the inside and the screening rooms themselves is very much like most multiplexes in the U.S.
The parking lot however is another story. Here we are stuck, surrounded by parked cars around our parked car. There is no way out. The parking lot attendants told us to park here. We mentioned we were just buying tickets. They said that is fine. We return 10 minutes later to see we are blocked in every direction. Of course we are not the only ones and there are plenty of others annoyed at the situation. The parking lot attendants are all smiles and embarassed. I pull out the camera as this will be a funny blog post for the little details about life in Chennai. One of the parking attendants tells me to put away the camera as photography is not allowed. Too late, I snapped the photo. Later, we did see "Hanuman" and enjoyed it very much though it reminded me how confused I will always be despite my attempts at learning who is who in Hindu stories. I think I have a few characters down and then I see something that let's me know I have it all wrong. The movie show itself was interesting, especially the commercials which I had forgotten are slated before each commercial starts. The interval, completely unnecessary for a children's one and half hour film, was fun to watch as we could see the little tots that were making all the noise in the theatre. It was good wholesome fun and the floors were sticky just like home.

Late last night we arrived at the Chennai Central Train Station ready to depart on our Chola pilgrimage. Sadly when we arrived we were confronted with a crushing disappointment: nearly all trains were cancelled due to widespread flooding. I had heard a couple of people mention the flooding during the day but I had allowed myself to indulge in blissful denial. The monsoon season is really quite a serious event around here.

Denzil, the driver, suggested we take a sleeper bus to Thanjour. Seemed like a good idea to me, but the wife wasn’t so enthusiastic so I had to accept defeat. Seems our pilgrimage to Thanjour will have to wait a few weeks.

The headline from this morning’s newspaper : “145 feared dead as floods wash away 2 buses.” I guess the wife knows what she is talking about.

 

Madras house early 20th century. Now a fancy shop and garden cafe for tourists and Indians alike. It's called Amethyst.

Garden cafe. One can catch a breeze here.
Raj and Kiliani, the Amethyst couple. Kiliani was the first dog that approached me in Chennai, wagging her tail, looking for a massage. Kiliani is on the right with a white neck.
Raj taking care of an itch.
Raj protecting the watchman.

Yes, Iris and I are going to take a night train to Thanjour Friday night to see more temples, and, far more importantly, to see first hand how the traditional artisans make Chola sculptures.  To be honest I am outright giddy with excitement. 

Chola statues, when done well, are simply stunning works of art.  The truly inspired Chola sculptures capture movement so well that you almost expect them to start dancing right before your eyes. The texture of the bronze is soothing, the expressions on their faces captivating, and the story within each piece fascinating.  

We hope to return with lots of good stories and plenty of photos of the artists at work.  Here is a website of one of the sculptors we intent to visit: http://www.sthapathi.com/

We are having a huge household debate about whether we should actually purchase or commission a piece.  On one hand we hate clutter, and we find that we end up regretting about 98% of all purchases we have ever made.  (The great exceptions being cooking utensils for Iris and musical instruments for myself.)

Furthermore there is a big debate about which subject to purchase.  We are interested in getting a Buddha, but Chola sculpture is really about Hindu folklore.  And while we love the Hindu fables, and the more we learn the more we are surprised and very delighted by what we  learn, Hinduism is simply not us.  I am sure you can all understand that inviting an idol into your home is a very personal matter.    (Oy! My Jewish ancestors and Iris’ Muslim ancestors must all be flipping out right now!)

Interestingly enough there is also a tradition of Chola Buddhas.  (See above.) But a Chola Buddha is merely a diversion from the main Chola tradition of Ganesha, Pavrati, Vishnu, Shiva and the usual cast of characters.   We’ll see…Thanjour awaits!

The living room of the 90 year old house Kanchi Kudil. Very pretty and rustic little home. The women running the place were all smiles and very friendly. The non-pushy type after a day of pushy temple priests. Thanks for the advice on how to deal with them. It may just be best to visit village temples. Alas we are going to Tanjore this weekend to see temples and Chola bronzes. Lots of harassment on the weekend tourism menu. We enjoyed the charm and "quaintness" of the home. My favorite part was the flying bat. As in the Jain temple, this became my fixation. We tried to capture a close-up but the digital camera failed us. Here's the attempt. It was cute have no doubt. Can you see it?The old kitchen
The old pooja room.
They also had nice tourism souvenirs, sculptures and various other small but tasteful items that I may have purchased some years ago but now consider most things I have collected clutter and unsightly as memories of mistaken purchases. If in Kanchipuram this old house is a must visit.

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?