..Feeling like a local...

So we arrive back to Chennai - it is around 17 local time, and so i need to buy a couple of things for next week, soft drinks, a bit of snacks for the evening, a bit of noodles just in case i come home late - so we are off to the shop, so 10 min from where we live, the shopping is done relatively fast, we find a short-cut on our way back. When we come back to the hotel we meet the rest of the group there, and there is the first surprise, it seems like the hotel staff wants to give us a bit of a taste for what is waiting for us on Wednesday for diwali - so there are fireworks...- it is really nice... and when i am just about to go inside, i see Rajesh turning a corner, on a motorbike, and i fast "imagine", i am off i go to see if i can get a ride, and here i have to mention, that i have never been on the back of a motorbike before, i have never ever been on the back of a motorbike without a helmet (well done Martin - did you leave your sanity in Slovakia ??), and i have never been on the back of a motorbike in INDIA - where traffic is insane!! So Rajesh sets of, and there we go, like a normal set of friends on a motorbike, in and out in traffic, accelerate, decelerate, left, right, we get honked at a lot of time - but we are still enjoying the "freedom" of sliding through the traffic, the wind is blowing in my face, and i really feel like a local, a local that is just having a good time, oh and it is actually rather fresh and better than this air-condition i have had the last couple of hours in the car.. - we come back to the hotel, i get to my room - and i recall the advertisement i saw about India some time ago... "incredible India" - and i can only agree with that - the ministry of tourism in India hit is spot-on with that slogan, India you are indeed incredible... 

..A sight for s(h)ore eyes..

after some almost 2 hours drive we finally reach Mahabalipuram .. - now how do i describe this in a way that gives it full justice..- WOW, so we pull in on the parking lot and walk for maybe 2 min. to the ticket office to get our tickets to enter the site, so a bit of background so for those of you, like myself didnt know this about Mahabalipuram..As i understand from my reading the town of Mahabalipuram was a 7th century port city of the South Indian dynasty, located around 60 km south from Chennai, and apparently the name Mamallapuram is somehow believed to have been given  after the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I, he took on the epithet Maha-malla (great wrestler). Now the whole of Mahabalipuram is super-famous for its monumnets these monuments are mostly rock-cut and monolithic, and supposely constitute from the early stages of Dravidian architecture, where Buddhist elements of design are very visible. They are constituted by cave temples, monolithic rathas (chariots), sculpted reliefs and structural temples... Soo imagine this, withall said and done, you enter a court yard where there is a 4 meter sculpure of an elephant that is 100s of years old and small temples - it is fantastic, it really is taking you back in time.. we get to walk around a bit, take pictures and then we slowly more down to the temple near the sea shore - as we walk towards the templete we get closer to the sea, and yet again the Bengal sea shows its true beauty, the wonderful smell of ocean, and a light and much needed breeze hits us (by now i guess the temparetur is reaching around 40 degrees) this is truly a wonderful feeling, and as we get closer to the shore temple i cant hel but yet again being taken back into the past of India, imagining how it must have been, what it would have looked like, smelled like, i stand for a bit, i guess day-dreaming a bit - till the hot sun of India makes me seek shelter in the shadows of the temple, and at one point i find myself looking direct at a statue of Vishnu, and the shrine dedicated to Vishnu - i feel humble, as i recall some of the stories about vishnu, and when you look at how Hindus preceives Vishnu i guess you must feel a bit humbel,  after all he is perceived to be the "All-Pervading essence of all beings, the master of—and beyond—the past, present and future, one who supports, sustains and governs the Universe and originates and develops all elements within. Vishnu governs the aspect of preservation and sustenance of the universe, so he is called 'Preserver of the universe"

After having walked around for a good hour or so - it is time that we start to head home to Chennai, so this time around, i am opted to the Toyota, and while sitting in the car being driven back to chennai - i cant help reflecting over this weekend, and i must admit, that it was a blast, it was amazing, it was fun, it was great, it was insightful, it was an eye-opener, a team building trip, and much more for me to write about, what a pity it is already over ... tomorrow back to work - oh wait, i still have 2 weekends left in chennai so i am sure i will explore some more ... - and when i said "what a pity" the weekend was over, i couldnt have been more wrong - that was one more thing waiting for me ...

..And so the trip continues..

After a great evening in Pondicherry I'm rushed back into reality, once again the hotel is able to "impress" all of us, this time with a breakfast that, well let me quote on of my team members "if you could possibly find anything delicious at the breakfast, please let me know" so I leave this for your own imagination - I will however say this, the bed was good, and it was nice with a bit of hot water (still it didn't get that hot) for showering.. So we get checked out, which seems to be a much faster process as they know that no more rupees are being paid here. The driver drops us in the centre of Pondicherry for a fast shopping trip, and I manager to find a very (at least in my eyes) nice india short sleeve shirt, fine cotton - which is obviously the big thing here, I manage to buy yet another present for a friend, and I'm starting to thing if I can when I will finally pack my stuff to go home, fit all of my stuff in my bag.. :-)) After a bit of water, we get back in the bus, and now the trip goes to Mahabaliburam ..

..A silent but interesting walk..

Bus comes to pick us up at around 16 to take us to the historical centre of pondicherry, its a short but loud ride, people are excited, full of energy after lunch (everybody except ralph that stay at the hotel sick..)  We park the bus and is fast made aware of a totally different "age", it is quiet althoug full of people, we are taken to one of the more "commercialized" temples, where you pay for both "parking" your sandals and for the prayers.. It is very nice but I have to admit I did expect a lot more, the temple we saw in chennai was much more impressive..I have to admit one thing though and that is the fact that I did feel like a child again, at least for 5 min. There was a full-blown elephant on the street that would collect money from the people and give the blessings and of course I wanted to try that, so out with my coins and received my blessing.. It was so fun.. After this fun we moved on to the "aurobindo ashram" what an impressive place.. As any other ashram you need to take of your sandals, and specific for this place is that everything is done in complete silence, this is due to the many people that come here to meditate, I have to admit that this place is vibrating with emotions, passion, concentration and peace - I am taken by the this total sourrending your mind and soul to finding your highest purpose, this level of mind over body, not to feel stressed, not to feel tired, not to feel confused, but to have an absolute clear mind, I now start to see and feel the strong power of yoga, not only is it about "working out" and breathing, stretchhing and so on, more important it is to find that state of mind where everything just flows like a pure stream of energy, and with this feeling inside of myself, I have to admit I do feel a bit more happy...I feel a bit more happy because the dots are finally coming together, the mentality of people, their understand and behaviour, their take on life, on relationships, and what really happiness is.. Wow what an impression this ashram has made on me, and I hope on the whole team...

So leaving the main street we walk some 5 min down to the beach, wonderfulto smell the see from the the Bengal ocean, and it streches as a long as the eye can see - the sky is amazing, the variety of blue and grey makes this moment incredible, I wish I could share this with all m friends and family - this is a must see if you ever go to pondicherry..truly amazing..we get some pictures taken of the team and then it happens again, people comes to take photos of us, by now I'm use to it so I put on my "gameface" and smile for the camera..we walk a bit and then all of a sudden a couple of drops of rain, then a bit more, and then india shows its rain-season side, for 45 min its pouring down, like really pouring..we seek shelter at a shop, that fast gets full of people, funny enoug people are starting conversations with each, a street seller is talk to us about life, work and other interesting stuff, the time passes fast, and then its over..

Okay before I go on, I need share one thing, there are a lot of sellers on the street here selling wooden things, bongo etc, now if you like to buy great - remember to negotiate, if your like me that doesn't want to buy, the worse thing you can say to a person try to sell you something is "no" because means maybe, maybe after sometime means yes, here is what I have learned, ask what material it is made out of, they will say "coconut three" then tell them "I need out of palme three" that will keep them things what to say, and off you go.. The same thing with bongos -they are everywhere, so instead of answering "no" I tell them I play the flute...and - they leave me, now some of the guys (thanks Mike and Fred) actually surprised me a bit - by.....yes you guessed it, buying me a flute.. - it was sooo funny...

The rain has stopped and I got a flute and now of to the "le club" which is really not my favoured type of restaurant, sure it is nice, sure the food was great, and sure it was a nice evening, but to be honest I didn't travel 6000 km or more to have french food, so I end up with Tony and Rajesh to order indian food - which was ok, not the best I have had, and if you ask me about value for money it was not very good..(Maybe it is only me, but I want to see the "real" india while I'm here and upper-class hotels and fancy restaurants just isn't what I'm looking for..) So after dinner a couple of us decide to go for a couple of beers (kingfisher of course, my prefered choice by now) we end up in, what will be the surprise of the day, a bar where the ratio of men and women are 97 to 3 and friends not in my favour, in the whole bar there are maybe 4 girls, the rest are men dancing with men, at first I think I went to the wrong place but then I get it - this is a normal saturday evening out, we have a couple of drinks and then we get some "fist pumps" by a young india that introduces himself as a "hip hop" artist that just came back from Hollywood where he just made some films, and he asks us we're from and he finds out we stay in chennai all of a sudden he's from chennai, but when Mike asks him about bars in chennai, its because obvious that this guy is full of it, and maybe that is the final signal to go to the hotel - call it a night and sleep, tomorrow is
another day...

All in all a great day with the tradional highs and lows, oh forgot to mention, I did my first souvenir shopping - its not a strong side of mine, but I believe I have been successful..

..A not so fast check-in

Somehow we managed to get a "recommendation" to stay over at the hotel Ginger (a modern and international hotel) - and I am seriously concerned with who would do such a bad thing to us, okay I know I'm in india, I know it is not the same as in europe, but come on after almost 2 hours of paperwork, waiting, arguing, explaining we (a group of 15 people) are almost done with check in, the staff here seems to have "zero" overview or idea of how to coordinate each other, one checks the other all the time.. - great idea..okay here another good one for you, they just asked one in our group to tell them who has paid and who hasn't paid yet (needless to stay but if I was a bit harsh and direct I could imagine this not being a audit-able process!!) So is it all bad, well I get to share rooms with fred (he has the same humour as me so I'm sure that will be fun) oh yes they have what is called a give'n'take which allowed me to re-charge my blackberry..so out of 5 stars, for blackberry charger that gets some points, overall however this is terrible - oh this by the way is considered a very upper-class hotel, I would say the staff at our hotel in chennai, is much better and nicer - half the price, but not at all as visual and fancy as this one.. Okay I'm out of here - off for lunch, need something positive after this experience, Pondicherry here I come..

..Back to the 60s..

So your just pulling out of auroville, the bus is curving on the road like a snake, this driver has talent, okay so how is my impression of auroville, hhmm I guess if you look at it from a pure visual perspective it is very nice, the centre with the "golden sphere" is amazing (and took more than 20 years to build) the garden is beautiful, its truly well taken care of. Now what my concern is, is the philosophy behind it - I heard some hard sentences that made me on one hand surprise on the other a bit worried. No I don't want to discuss religion here, if it exist or not, but building society - because that is or was what "the mother" was trying to do, on the principles of getting rid of religion, to focus on the true meaning of life which according to them is to reach the highest level of concentration - which I would say can be discussed, whether or not it really is the meaning of life..I think some of the ideas are great, but are following common sense I think, respect for each other. As we are leaving auroville I can't help thinking that after all people are free to believe in what they want to, and who they want to - but it all seems to me a bit to similar to our old hippies, with peace, love and happiness, which is just fine as well - but don't include me into that, the search for me and my personal highest level of happiness goes on..

..Who said a bumpy ride..

It is 7.30 and its saturday, on this trip to india there is no time to waste, we are staying busy, staying active,  maximizing every hour of your here, a fast breakfast (this time a portion of coco-rings with milk,serves as a nice change..) And we are off. We are sitting in a minibus the whole team (I'm with jana, dilminder, ralph,joel, bas, christian,fred and quynh the others has uped for a bit more luxurious transport, a  toyota..) We are of to the former french capital city of "puducherry" which was founded in 1674 by the director of the french east india company - Francois martin, and it is like chennai locate on the coast line of the bengal sea.. There are a ton of things to see there, good that we are able to get some advices from the many travelers books, the team had brought, so I guess I will want to see "church of our lady of the angels" build in 1865, the status of mahatma gandhi, the government square, "raj nivas", "aurobindo ashram", the "manakula vinayakar temple", the church of the sacred heart of Jesus and of course get a glance of the sea front from "goubert salai" the boulevard, oh and these things are only things to see in Puducherry - not to mention all of surrounding wonders..one interesting thing to mention is that Puducherri or Pondicherry, is that this for a long time was the homeplace of Sri Aurobindo Ghose, a famous bengali poet - philosopher, that took refugee there as he was trying to escape the british impire (he had so pretty strong views and was fighting for the freedom of india in the 1900s) in puducherri he became very drawn into the "spiritual" realms, and he became a schoolar of and popularized the principles of yoga. one of his disciple "Mirra alfassa" was later known as the "the mother". She was so taken by aurobindo that she after a brief visit with her husband during I world war, decide to move to puducherri, she was a woman of mystic, paint and music and she later became the cornerstone in the establishment of aurobindo ashram (which as mentioned we will go and see) - even today this "serene" ashram will host meditation sessions as done in the past.. (I might just go and participate..) Okay, enough writing I'll leave you for a minute or so to see us leave chennai behind and enter of what looks to be a very interesting and exciting weekend trip... I will keep you updated.. First stop auroville..