Indian Friday: A Tourist in Thanjavur

My diary, revived from my trip to India back in 2007. This second part details my solo travels during the last three weeks or so.

A Tourist in Thanjavur

Saturday 24th November

Up betimes and off.  Why wouldn’t I be up early when I’d been woken by the Call to Prayer from the mosque at 5.30 a.m.?

The view from my window as I got myself organised for the day.

Gwen had told me how to get to the bus stop, so I did, and got on a bus and asked for ‘Temple’.  Though he indicated he didn’t go there, he didn’t turn me off, so I wasn’t concerned, as Thanjavur isn’t a big town.  However … we fetched up at the New Bus Stand, miles out.  Nobody spoke English, so I chose the most built-up road, and headed, I hoped, into town.  It soon petered out.  I had no choice but to go back, pick on the local part of the bus stand, wait for a bus and ask any prospective passenger if it was going to the temple.  Luckily it worked, and soon I was there.

It was a wonderful place.  Exquisite carvings, a lovely atmosphere and I even got a good guide, so I happily spent a couple of hours there.  Then the bank.  It’s just chaos. Luckily I didn’t have to queue, but I still had to wait 20 minutes white a bored functionary filled in endless forms and passed me along the line to get my money.

Bank of India Thanjavur. This shot was taken VERY surreptitiously because there were attentive guards with real guns. Needless to say, they are not in shot!

A walk along Ghandiji Road (I was able to check because of the presence of a Ghandi statue); lunch at a great cafe; an hour on the internet, then back to the Palace Museum.  What a dump.  Dusty, unkempt, piles of rubbish everywhere, long unmown grass.  But worst of all, a ‘guide’ who had the most rudimentary English attached himself to me, and I couldn’t shift him.  So I didn’t go and see the Chola bronzes, the most interesting part.  He also took me to a shop, which I fled from, though later I found another, with quite lovely things.

I walked back to the centre making friends with two stall holders in the outdoor market who wanted pictures sending on.  Then shopping there for Gwen – very friendly people with no English  who wanted to know my name, shook my hand and generally made me welcome.  They laughed when I proffered Rs. 70 (under £1)  for my purchases.  They wanted Rs 7. Oil laps everywhere because of the Festival.

 A rick home then a tour of the district on foot with Gwen to see the rangoli decorations lit with candles outside each house.  It was all very attractive, and everyone was out and about admiring each other’s lights.

Street decorations, Thanjavur. And this one’s squared to qualify for Becky’s #SimplyRed.

We went into two of her friends’ houses and sat down.  I nearly boobed in one by all-but sitting down in the easiest spare place – next to the husband. That would have been a real faux pas!  The home was very sparsely furnished: these people are young academics.  Gwen says two bedrooms are more than enough as families generally all sleep in the same room.

We made pasta sauce, ate… and so to bed.

The fearured photo of Brihadishvara Temple is from Unsplash, by Avin CP.

PS. One of today’s suggested tags courtesy of AI is ‘Fiction’. Really. This is not fiction.

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

39 thoughts on “Indian Friday: A Tourist in Thanjavur”

  4. It’s such a different attitude and way of life to ‘ours’, isn’t it? Different everything! Love those tealight symbols. There’s a festival here that has them in the streets later in the year. Favourite bit is the elephant in the temple xx

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    1. It’s great seeing how other people ‘do’ festivals. I wish I was with Emily and Co. this week. It’s their town’s Festa Major, and it’s wall-to-wall fun from morning till (especially) night.

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  5. In Delhi I took a taxi to explore the sights. He patiently waited for me, though I was worried I wouldn’t recognise him among all the cabs! Very cheap and much easier than trying to figure out buses.

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  10. I’m loving all these posts about your adventures in India! Of course I have to mention the beautiful carved elephant at the temple, while the rangoli decorations look lovely 🙂 A shame about the museum and guide, but your experiences with the stall holders echoes ours – Indians generally are so friendly and so keen to be photographed!

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