Flat Tires

Before you read this blog, I’d like you to know that I have written two blogs today. So, please also see “Helping Friends”, which is just as important, if not more important, than this entry!

Sashi, my translator, and I were halfway to the village of Kottikari yesterday when she told me that she was feeling “lazy”. When she said this, I made a spur of the moment executive decision to not continue to the village. I stopped the bike and said “Sashi, are you spontaneous?” She responded with, “I haven’t been lately”. I took that as a no. I then told her that I needed to go back to my hostel to get my money because we were going on a road trip.

So, we traveled to Mammalapuram, the stone-carving capital of India, where stone carving shops are more common than Starbucks in NYC (for those of you who don’t know, there is pretty much a Starbucks on every corner in NYC). To get to Mammalapuram we traveled two hours north on the East Coast Road (ECR), passing through villages, heavy forest, rice paddies, and a salt production site on the bay. It was a great drive/bike with views of the ocean for about 80% of the time. In Mammalapuram we had lunch and then Sashi showed me around the town. We visited the Shore Temple, the earliest built stone temple in South India (built in the eighth century), the Lighthouse and Old Lighthouse Temple, and Arjuna’s Penance, a 5-story rock sculpture depicting gods and various types of animals. At Arjuna’s Penance, there were also a few families of wild monkeys that I watched attack people’s food that they were carrying in bags or holding in their hands. Luckily I had already eaten.

On the way home, Sashi and I were making great time…..until we stopped to get petrol. As we pulled into the petrol stand we popped the rear tire of the bike. Sashi asked the attendants where the closest mechanic was and then informed me that we would need to walk about 1.5 kilometers into a village to get the bike fixed. So, we went on our way. While walking down the road to the village a man stopped to see if we were okay. Sashi told him our problem, told me to get on the bike with the man, and told me that she was staying with the bike to make sure nobody stole the bike or the petrol we had just put into it (people here have the tendency of siphoning petrol from bikes here!) The nice gentleman took me to the village bike mechanic, muttered something to him in Tamil, and then motioned for me to get off the bike. For the next hour I drank chai with some village men, drew pictures on the ground to express myself (because nobody spoke English), smoked a beedie with the men, and waited while the tire was fixed. Finally the tire was ready. I said by goodbyes with my new friends and was promptly taxied back to Sashi. We got back on the bike and safely arrived home just after sunset………

Tomorrow I am going to Ahmedabad via Air Deccan to visit Suresh, a friend of our family (our family being Ellyn and I). I am staying with him through the weekend so I should come back with some good stories……I hope. Other important dates/events to look forward to are my trip to Bangalore next weekend via overnight bus to see two friends I made here and also the arrival of Dave Stewart, aka “The Loffer”, aka “Stew Maloff”, a friend from college who lives in Cologne, aka Koln, Germany with his German girlfriend. He will be arriving July 15^th and we will be backpacking South India for two weeks. Go us.

Here is some sweets for your ocular enjoyment…………

Rice Paddies

Shore Temple

Quails for Sale on Side of Road

Men on Beach (Shore Temple in Background)

People at the Beach

A series of Jackfruit