City Life - Madurai : A city founded around 500 BC

It’s a long time since I spent a few days in an Indian city – not in a tourist hotel on the outskirts, sipping Cappuccino and eating pizza, - but in the city centre with all of the buzz and vibrant atmosphere of a bustling city. I only wish that I was a little more comfortably mobile, because I was far too proud to bring my walking stick with me from Mattindia, and I find my replaced hip just doesn’t have the balance it should have. This especially true on pavements full of potholes, with high kerbs and steep steps. It doesn’t hold me back too much, but I’ll swear that the super-strong penicillin jab I had from the doctor really hit hard, and has sapped a lot of my energy.

It’s the day after Pongal, and has what once might once have been called a “Boxing Day lull” about it. Most of the shops are opening late, if at all, and I have searched everywhere to try and find an internet café, but even those that are open are unable to offer wireless because their supplier has closed for the day. No, I know that doesn’t make sense, but that is as far as the discussion has progressed. In the end I headed to the temple area to look for gifts, on the basis that tourist shops are always open. Not that I wanted touristy stuff – I was looking for some of the cottons and silks for which Madurai is renowned, and perhaps some kitchen knives for my latest collecting fad.

Shops in the Temples quarter

It is definitely becoming increasingly difficult to find hand-made everyday items. 4 years ago I bought a beautiful, small, blacksmith-made penknife with brass fittings and bone sides to the handle. Now they are mostly factory produced with plastic handles. I did find a lovely pair of hand-made scissors and one pocket knife which isn’t really artisan, but it’s original.

The market bazaar area is crowded with the little wild men in black, but it appears they are actually not fakirs or sadhus, but pilgrims heading to a major holy site further south. The fact that they are pilgrims makes them nonetheless fearsome as they parade in gangs, haggling threateningly with market traders over brass lamps and trinkets to take back to their villages. I wonder if they’ll still be around in a decade.

The West Tower

This is one of the four towers of the amazing Meenakshi temple. Each tower is about 160 feet high, and the temple is estimated to house over 33,000 sculptures and statues. 

I managed to get round the temple compound on the day before Pongal when it was not too crowded, but this morning there were long queues. 

I am still working out how I relate to Hinduism. In the past I would have been very dismissive of the whole religion, but I can now begin to see the value in using stories and metaphors that emphasise human fallibility and the benefits of humility, generosity and kindness  – which I think are some of the core messages.

This evening I went looking for a different restaurant and wished I had stuck to my vegetarian favourites. I had dry, tasteless Tandoori Chicken with leathery roti bread. And the cost was more than three times what I would have paid if I had stuck to pure veg. That was my first meat for almost a couple of months, and it was not in the least appetising.

Tomorrow is an unplanned day apart from going back to the bazaar for a couple of things that caught my eye. Feet up and read in the afternoon, then off to the bus station for the night bus to Kerala and a few more days of tough Ayurveda to see if they can get the circulation in my legs working better.

Overview of the temple compound -
  © Jorge Royan / http://www.royan.com.ar. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons