BANG and I’m here in the Southern most state of India .
My immediate feeling as I emerged into the sweltering heat , humidity & roaring, hooting traffic of it’s capital , Chennai, tired & bewildered from my journey was Fear !
Perhaps my first mistake was getting seized by spontaneity & clambering into one of Chennai’s in – famous tuk tuks . It took me a while to make myself understood ” cheap ,safe hotel ” ( suggested to me by the a kind travelling couple I’d met just an hour before ❤️) but we finally managed , perhaps only because both parties wanted desperately to get out of the heat . So there I was , clutching my Tiba & Marl bag , in a silk dress ,sliding this way & that & hoping that I didn’t slither out ( no doors!) as we wheeled through traffic at a ferocious speed . Tuk tuk’s are open on 3 sides so I soon cooled off & the fear dissipated & fell away on a bend . My head was rotating avian-like in all 3 open directions…….. Corner temples, street-food kiosks, Hindu statues , high-rise after high-rise, scooters zipping past- riders and drivers plying across every motorable space and creating a wide-eyed , swift montage of Chennai .
He found the recommended hotel (Zostel , no shoes to be worn inside …..clean 💚 friendly ) & not having the exact fare I let him ” keep the change”. He beamed back , nodded profusely & suggested. ” I wait & take you to marvellous eating establishment close by ?” Why not ……. & he took me , without knowing anything about me , to the original SARAVANA BHEVAN http://www.saravanabhavan.com/ the world’s largest vegetarian restaurant . I ate the largest , most delicious masala dosa …& he insisted on waiting outside then returned me to my safe ,quirky little room refusing any more tips ,telling me ” I have never had the experience of carrying an old lady by she-self before . It is a great honour ”
I melted .
An hour later I was off – this time on 4 ,stable wheels with Veeramani or ” Money you can call me for shorts ” to the towering Kapaleeshwarar Temple complex which was built in the 7 th century & is dedicated to Lord Shiva . Money told me it would take half an hour to walk all around it . It took me 2 hours & I took over 100+ photos
Next was the Parthasarathy Temple , an 8th-century Hindu temple dedicated to the Lord Vishnu & with it’s every surface carved & painted. With a further 2 hours of looking upwards amidst hundreds of devotees & smelling strongly of incense I wanted nothing more than be driven down to Marina Beach ,Chennai’s natural 6 km wide & sandy shores & relax . However , spoilt by those soft,white sands of the South Goan beaches I was miffed to discover that swimming is prohibited because the undercurrents are too dangerous & my vision of sitting in a mediative,yoga pose in the setting sun crumpled as I learnt that it is one of the most crowded beaches in India – it attracts about 50,000 visitors a day week ends & this was Saturday !
I singled out somebody from the throng of saunterers to take a photo of me ” with my toes in the waters of the Bay of Bengal ,please” something was lost in translation as you can’t even see my body let alone my toes 
but , bless him , he managed to captured my happiness
Karrie’s blog 