Our Trip East

May 1st was Maharashtra Day, the day in 1960 when the state we live in obtained statehood. Chris had a rare day off and this allowed us to travel east to visit Chris’s friend Ramanan whom he met at a class late last year. We flew from Pune to Chennai on Wednesday afternoon and drove about thirty-five miles south to Mamallapuram where our friend’s family owns the Mamalla Beach Resort. It’s a nice place on the Bay of Bengal. We checked in and had a delicious dinner before retiring for the night. The next morning we had breakfast and went for a swim in the pool. After lunch we headed out for some very hot (108°F) sightseeing. Our first stop was the Crocodile Bank where about 5,000 crocodiles are kept in their natural surroundings in open pools. We also saw many turtles and a really interesting iguana. From there we went to the Five Rathas, which are monolith, Indian rock-cut structures dating from the late seventh century. Each shrine was carved from a single large piece of stone, pretty amazing. The next stop was Arjuna’s Penance, an open air bas-relief measuring ninety-six feet long by forty-three feet high. We also saw Krishna’s Butterball, a giant natural rock perched on a hillside. It may sound like a strange thing to check out while sightseeing, but it was Anna’s favorite thing after the Crocodile Bank. There was a smooth area under the rock that allowed kids to slide down. It was great fun! The following day we headed south to the former French colony of Pondicherry. On the way we stopped at Auroville, an experimental township whose stated purpose is to realize human unity in diversity. It was a lovely place that Chris described as the closest thing to a commune that he’s ever seen. Later that evening, we checked out a famous temple that had a huge elephant hanging around outside. Anna was quite taken with the elephant and actually sat on it for a few minutes. While in Pondicherry we stayed at the Dumas Guest House which is located about one hundred yards from the beach. It had cozy rooms and an open air balcony on the top floor. Chris could have spent our entire stay up on the balcony. The morning we left Chris and Anna went for a ride in an actual rickshaw, not like the auto rickshaws we have here in Pune. This one was powered by a very small Indian man on a bicycle. It was truly a sight to behold. We also visited the Sri Aburobindo Ashram, an institution that provides charitable benefits to the area, including free medical facilities. We spent our last day of the trip back at our friend’s resort searching for seashells and being knocked around by the large ocean waves. We returned to Pune Sunday afternoon and spent the remainder of the day resting up for the coming week. Please check out the pictures, it really was a beautiful trip. We had a small celebration for my birthday yesterday and Chris and I actually managed a night out. Our next big event is our trip to Australia in June. Keep your eyes open for more details. Take care and we hope to hear from you all soon!