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INDIA
Alan & Alison Hurndall traveled to India with Audley
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t’s late afternoon in the coastal city of Chennai. Twenty hours ago, we were in England, slip-sliding through snow and ice in our winter boots. Now we’re sweating in the heat and sun, barefoot and jet-lagged, negotiating a jungle of pushbikes, rickshaws, scooters, and tuk-tuks. Welcome to India. We are at the start of a 950 mile road trip across the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It’s a public holiday, and outside the Hindu temple – our first – there are thousands of people. It’s chaotic, but friendly.
The scene is a heady cocktail of noise and smells, incense fills the air, mixing with the aroma of the street food vendors, the scent of jasmine, diesel fumes and spices. People shout to make themselves heard above a cacophony of hooters and horns. At the temple’s entrance, a line of visitors jostle to deposit their footwear in a hut, others just toss their sandals and flip-flops onto a heap on the pavement. Flower sellers offer beautiful yellow and mauve garlands. Inside, a holy man greets us with a bow, his hands clasped together in prayer.
Kapaleeshwarar Temple dates back to the 7th century and is the size of a block of flats. It stands as a magnificent, colorful, if somewhat spooky attraction. A cast of myths and legends – gods (some halfhuman, half-animal) peacocks, elephants, snakes – stare down at us. Here they worship Shiva, the protector against evil and one of the most important gods in the Hindu pantheon. Whole families drop to the ground before his image, girls and women on their knees, boys and men flat out on their stomachs. A human line
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