Gareth's Culture and Travel Blog

There’s nowhere else like India. A throbbing mass of humanity which is both anarchic (illustrated perfectly on the road, where they ignore every rule going) and deeply spiritual. It dawned on me here why the two most populous nations on Earth have taken divergent approaches to economic growth. Unlike China, this is a democracy, the world’s largest. The economy is spread across more sectors. There is less urbanisation (half as many cities over 1m). Above all, though, they haven’t made a faustian pact for materialism at all costs; India retains its spiritual dimension. 

It’s around twenty years since I was last here and my previous three trips have all been in the north. This one is coast-to-coast in the south, from Chennai (Madras) to Kochi (Cochin) with a solo extension back inland to Bengaluru (Bangalore). I covered three of the southern states, each with a very different character and very different things to see.

Here’s the photos, in case you can’t be arsed to read on. https://goo.gl/photos/EobEQTZKqEezEMNXA

We started in Tamil Nadu, the temple state, and its capital Chennai, the country’s fourth largest city, at nine million people. It doesn’t have a lot for the visitor, but provided an entry and starting point. It’s enormous fort, originally built by the Portuguese but mostly occupied by the British, is full of government buildings – and India does bureaucracy better than just about anyone else – with the first Anglican church outside England sitting incongruously in the middle, fading away before your eyes. Nearby Marina Beach is a long stretch of sand on the Bay of Bengal with fishing boats and people lazing, but when you get close the litter is overwhelming. There’s a catholic church where believers flock to see the relics of Thomas, Jesus’ disciple, and more interestingly for me, an enormous colourful Hindu temple full of people doing unfathomable but fascinating spiritual things.

From here on it was temples-a-g-go starting with Mahabalipuram on the coast, a Unesco world heritage site with monolithic rock temples (each carved out of one piece of stone), a shore temple, some extraordinary bas reliefs beside a cave temple and modern day stonemasons carving for contemporary homes. One of the great things about India is the survival of so many crafts like this. We also encountered rope-makers, tile-makers, potters, weavers and bronze casting. India is such an enterprising country, where people just seem to set up a business at the roadside. If you have a sewing machine, you can just sit by the road, people will bring you clothes to repair and you’ve got yourself a business!

After a chain hotel in Chennai, Pondicherry provided our first boutique hotel in a side street mansion in the Tamil quarter with rooms overlooking two courtyards. You wouldn’t really know it was a French colony until just over 50 years ago if you stayed in the Tamil quarter, but when you cross into the French quarter, you find yourself in wide tree-lined boulevards with French names, a very different architecture, a corniche along the Bay of Bengal (with a cleaner beach) and the odd statue of some Frenchman associated with the colony. If only they’d left the recipe for croissants behind. Out of town we visited Auroville, a very welcoming alternative community struggling to continue since its founders died. 

Another fascinating temple complex in Darasuram en route to our next destination, Thanjivar, where the biggest temple complex yet awaited. Here we had a 48-hour veggie experience and I loved it, though the lack of gin became a bone of contention as it was what I fancied most for my 65th birthday. In the end I took my own and they were too embarrassed to charge for the tonic after I awarded them my Worst Stocked Bar in India prize. They don’t really get meat or alcohol here.

Chettinad is a state within a state where wealthy merchants have dispersed around the world leaving behind enormous mansions and an amazing cuisine, some of which was demonstrated for us before a brilliant banquet at one of the mansions (our hotel) with lots of dishes served on a banana leaf which you could fold up and recycle to the animals. No dishwashers needed here.

Madurai was our second big city, whose only attraction was…..yes, you guessed, it’s enormous colourful temple complex, but well worth the visit for that alone. Whilst inside the heavens opened and we left drenched, wading ankle-deep in the water which had accumulated in a matter of minutes. The Autumn monsoon had failed, but this was some attempt at catch-up.

From here we climbed into the hills, into tea country, and our second state Kerala, a combination of mountains and backwaters. Munnar is surrounded by carefully manicured tea plantations, probably the most beautiful agricultural landscape you will find anywhere in the world. In fact, there wasn’t a lot else there, well apart from tea factories, a tea museum and lots of opportunity to drink and buy tea!

Back down at sea level again for the backwaters of Kerala – a combination of lake, river and canal, a sort or rural Venice. Our lakeside hotel was in gorgeous grounds with each cottage having its own outdoor plunge pool / Jacuzzi. A lazy cruise through along the rivers and backwaters was a real highlight. Nearby Kochi (Cochin) was back to street-life, though we had another lovely hotel delightfully named Fragrant Nature, in the former East India Company building. The Chinese fishing nets on the riverbank were particularly enthralling. Here we dispersed, a sad moment as I’d enjoyed the company of the group and formed new friendships with some.

It was me & driver Ali for the next four days, returning once more to the hills, heading into third state Karnakata, but this time to proper hill stations (like Simla and Darjeeling in the north), based in Coonoor in a 150-year-old priory converted to a hotel at the beginning of the 20th century. They had ginger sponge pudding on the menu (though no custard!). A side trip to Ooty saw some proper colonial hangovers – a botanical garden, boating lake, formal gardens and an Anglican church with a 100% Indian congregation belting out familiar hymns in English. The return to Coonoor on the ‘toy train’ descending 1500 feet in twists and turns capped a lovely day.

The descent from the north took us to a more barren landscape of red earth and scrub in which tigers and panthers hide, and in my case remained hidden. Mysore proved to be a treat, notably for the OTT Maharajah’s palace, but there was also a mountaintop temple complex containing a beautiful 2000-year-old solid gold statue and we managed to get a real close-up view whilst it was waiting for it’s boat ride prior to being paraded for pilgrims at an all-night vigil. The Hindu’s do have the best gods!

Haider Ali and his son Tipu Sultan may be the most fascinating least known figures in 17th century Indian history and my brilliant local guide brought their story to life in Srirangapatna where the highlight was the summer palace painted with scenes of successful battles, later occupied by Wellington (who didn’t seem offended by the depiction of losses to the French, though later less statesmanlike Brits did’t feel quite the same). We ended at the ghats where all life was on view – bathing, swimming, washing and rituals to mark the dead’s passing to the afterlife. After this, there was only enough time for a whistle-stop tour if Bengaluru (Bangalore)’s public buildings before the last night and early flight home.

You can say what you like about colonialism, and I certainly won’t defend it, but we did leave India with one of the world’s best rail infrastructure, a common language which has facilitated the democracy they love and given them a competitive advantage in global competition and a passion for education. The Portuguese left Catholicism and little else and the French didn’t even leave the recipe for croissants! A lovely trip to a unique country.