Another Day, Another Festival or 2!
After our morning coffee we headed out to visit another temple in Trichy, Sri Jambukeshwara. Just as we rounded the corner to see the temple, we heard the beating of drums. It soon became apparent we had happened upon a festival procession, similar to thaipusam but on a smaller scale. There were a couple of men with spears pierced through their cheeks, bigger than the ones we saw in Malaysia. There were women carrying urns of milk on their heads There were also a few people who were in a trance like state who seemed possessed and needed help standing and walking. Further along there were women dancing in the street. All quite a sight to see.
We then headed into the beautiful coloured hindu temple and in through the various courtyards. In one area there was an elephant who, if you gave him money, would place his trunk gently on your head as a blessing. He would then pass the money to his mahoot.
After we left the temple we went in search of food. We found a nice a restaurant and had a 'meal'. We used to know this as a thali (a banana leaf of rice with small dishes of pickles, curries and puddings). They keep refilling everything until you literally cannot eat any more.... All for the princely sum of £1 each.
As it was now late afternoon and still particularly hot we decided to head back to our accommodation to get out of the sun. We sat and chatted to our friend's parents until he came home. He then said, put on some old clothes, we're going to celebrate holi. We quickly changed and headed up to the roof of his house. Various friends started to arrived and we were given water pistols to fill with coloured water.... And the the fun began. Everyone was squirting everyone and then grabbed handfuls of coloured powder and threw it at each other... We were covered in red, green, purple,.yellow etc etc... And then out came the hosepipe and we were all drenched and dripping in various colours. As the sun set on us we saw the most enormous bats flying around, we think they were probably fruit bats.
Once all the colours were gone and lots of pictures were taken we headed in for a hot shower only to find that some of the dye didn't really come off.. Christine ended up with a slightly purple face and purple steaks in her hair and Darryl ended up with incredible hulk hands!
Our friend had to go out that evening so his parents kindly invited us to have dinner with them. His uncle also came over and we found out he had written a book and kindly gave us a signed copy. We sat and chatted about all sorts of things including the Hindu religion and the 'Britishers' legacy in India.
Dinner was very tasty homemade pancakes made from mung beans, rice and spices along with 2 different types of curd to dip them in.
After more conversations with our friend's parents we discovered our next stop in India is where they had their honeymoon, 30 years ago. We have inspired them to go on another holiday there which they are they now planning for the end March. Our friend's dad kindly gave us some of his superfood Masala mix which you can make into a drink or add to your cereal or curd etc. He also gave us some moringha soap from the same range.
