A SHOCKING ARRIVAL
Arriving in Tamil Nadu was certainly a shocking experience … After a month spent with some friends in the paradise on earth of the Andaman Islands, arriving alone in chaotic Chennai, the fourth largest city in India was not easy at all: traffic, pollution, dust, and heat. In fact, in the Andaman Islands, I did not have an Indian dress code but rather a western one by the sea, shorts, skirts, swimsuit, and this did not constitute a lack of respect for the local population. Back on the ground, on the continent also meant re-embracing their uses and customs respecting local sensitivity, so this involved going around with leggings, kurta, or in any case long pants, and wearing non-unglued shirts, all with temperature and crazy humidity.
It is incredible how the body responds to external factors, how it tries to communicate an impatience to us. Just a day after my arrival in Chennai, my ears and throat hurt. After the previous silence and quiet, I was putting too much stress on my body and mind. So I decided to escape the city to start exploring this immense state.
WHY TAMIL NADU?
Tamil Nadu is one of the largest states in India, which I decided to visit to continue my exploration of the Subcontinent, in this case of its southern part. But of course, I had chosen this state for various reasons.
Tamil Nadu, rich in history and culture, is known for its rich literature, music, dance, and art, it is also famous for its monumental ancient Hindu temples. Furthermore, a great curiosity had prompted me to undertake this journey: I wanted to visit Auroville, known worldwide as an example of an alternative society (I talk a little about it in the post “Auroville: successful experiment?“). Last but not least, I had chosen the South because I wanted to reach the southernmost point of India and then reach Sri Lanka by sea. Unfortunately, then I reluctantly discovered that the sea connection between the two countries has been interrupted for some years, due to various unrest and political issues.
The seaside town of Mahalibipuram with its UNESCO sites, the utopian society of Auroville, the Indo French citadel of Pondicherry, the spiritual Tiruvannamalai with its magnificent and sacred Mount Arunachal, the mountains and the tea and cocoa plantations of Ooty and Coonor, the fantastic temples of Tiruchirappalli, Thanjavur, and Madurai, the pretty Kanyakumari the southernmost town of the subcontinent. A trip to this part of India is for all tastes, and this state has a lot to offer, even if it is much less touristy than many others. Once again, one is amazed and delighted by how much history, culture, art, legends enclose this country, it is like a treasure chest where the treasures of which never end.
After a series of incredible adventures, because those must and cannot be missed, my trip ended with a cloudy sunset, on a rocky hill outside Madurai, a quiet place, no noises except the music of the Hindu temple just down from rocks …
India… this country that has the power to take away all your energy but at the same time is able to give you so much in return… Being there in that silence and listening to the rites of the temple, I already knew I was going to miss it… But I wasn’t sad, first of all, because this trip had been more tiring than expected, but above all, because I knew I would be back…
If it is true that, in every place where we live something important, we leave a piece of our heart, I probably have left here a great piece of mine…