Indian Friday: In which Gwen is my Tour Leader for the Day. 

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.

In which Gwen is my Tour Leader for the Day

Sunday 25th November.

Up, and early breakfast, then took the scooter to New Bus Stand to get the bus for Kumbakonam- the 1 ½ hour journey for 2 of us cost Rs. 30.

Kumbakonam, a not exactly enormous town, has 18 – eighteen – temples.  We saw 3.  The first, Sarangapani is dedicated to Vishnu, and boasts a temple elephant, who for a small sum, blessed us both.  We were much bothered by the monks and so on, but the carvings were magnificent and we did a little shopping too.  Lots of the statues are painted here, unlike those in Thanjavur.

Kumbeshwara, the Shiva temple, was exquisite, with very fine and detailed carving.

The Nageshwara temple was not unlike the first one.Then we went and watched some bronze casters at work using the lost wax technique, and Gwen nearly bought one.

But lunch called and a hard hunt eventually found us a not bad spit-and sawdust lunch.  Then the bus to Dharasuram.  Again, the temple here is superb.  Wonderful rows of miniature and not-so miniature sculptures,  But the pavings were so hot.  Really uncomfortable.  Because of course, on holy ground, our feet were bare.  It was great – we thought – that the sculpture was unpainted.  But talk about sculpture to excess! No surface was unadorned.

On the way back to the bus we came across a park: and this friendly bunch, thrilled that Gwen could chat to them in Tamil.

Our friends in Dharasuram

Then we hunted for the loo and caught a bus home.  We sat at the front, and Gwen saw someone be sick out of the window.  It was that sort of journey.

I’m sorry my entry for this busy day, full of new experiences, was so brief.  We went out for the evening (more about that next week) and I must just have been too tired to write more.

And I hope you worked out that my featured photo is today’s offering for #SimplyRed.

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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.

44 thoughts on “Indian Friday: In which Gwen is my Tour Leader for the Day. ”

  5. Very full day no wonder you were brief with your words.. your pictures speak volumes. The stone carvings and metal castings are intriguing and the castings make we wonder how it’s done… trying to wrap my brain around the method. Thank you.

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  8. The sculptures in those temples are stunning, although I can imagine that standing with bare feet on hot stones to photograph them wasn’t ideal! I always wear socks on visits like that as you get some protection 🙂 I love the photo of the young school boys too!

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  13. I don’t think was too brief at all, so many photos and I like you took close ups to showcase the details. I have a little statue of Shiva sitting among my containers in the courtyard.

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  14. Dear Margaret
    We made this journey many years ago in a rented Landrover. That was more comfy for us than the public buses. We admired the sculptures. We can’t remember walking on the hot surface.
    Thanks for your reminder on our time in India
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

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      1. I know what you mean. Sometimes, when traveling abroad, we get in one of those daily tours so that we can learn more about the history of the places we visit.

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  16. We didn’t visit these towns, but did spend a few weeks in Tamil Nadu. We found the people in the south absoultely wonderful and so curious about us. How did you manage to learn Tamil? Maggie

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  19. Sculpture to excess sums it up pretty well, Margaret. Love the back end of the cows wandering through the temple. Extraordinary place, isn’t it? And that lost carving method! Sensory overload all round. What fabulous memories xx

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