TNB - Blissfully Unaware in Mahabalipuram

Mahabalipuram's famed World-Heritage Shore Temples were interesting and uninteresting at the same time. Their 7th-century architecture was, of course, showing significant wear from being beaten by the ocean breeze for 1300 years. They looked a bit like old sandcastles, and the closest thing to a priest is the occassional niche-market vendor in a lungi. But I was amazed to see designs I remembered from Akshardham. I guess that validates the claim in the Making and Experience book that Akshardham combines elements from some of the oldest temples in India. Other than that, though, there wasn't much to say about the temples...

... So Jean-Marc and I headed toward the beach like proper tourists with nothing better to do. Our walk up and down the beach took us through a maze of fishing boats beached on the sand and toward what looked like the only resort on this stretch of beach. Out front sat a very odd mix of people, most of whom were taking LP's suggestion to kick-back-and-relax a bit too seriously, blissfully unaware of their own state for one reason or another.

1) There was the solo (amazing!) Japanese (male) tourist - but with high-tech camera - who was blissfully unaware that the "Indian Hammer Pants" he wore were really the bottoms to a lady's salwar-kameez. 2) Slightly further down the beach was the lone dread-locked, rudraksha-mala-bearing, aum-necklaced, tie-dyed-shirt-wearing 25-year-old-who-forgot-it's-2006 who was blissfully unaware that it was probably 100%-authentic garden-grass that she was smoking. 3) And then there was the middle-aged-midlife-crisis solo woman traveller who was blissfully unaware that the middle-aged Indian man with the thick mustache giving her company wasn't just doing it to be nice...

Then JM and I headed toward the 5 rathas - temples that were made to look like chariots. The information board said these temples were, get this, never used as temples; they were built to show people what a temple looked like... I find that odd considering that less than 500 yards away was a real temple in the same style. VASTLY more interesting was the carvers' market. The entire street resonated with the sounds of hammers plinking away at the chisels. Artisans of all ages, from probably 10 years old to a 100 years old were sitting on little wooden blocks with a piece of stone, hammering out the details on a gorgeous statue that would become part of a temple or a beautiful decoration at someone's home. The statue gardens in front of their shops (pieces that hadn't sold) were amazing. They had carved everything, from your personal ishtadev here, to a granite replica of the Pieta. After gaping at the plethora of statues, we decided we were done with Mahabalipuram and its blissfully unaware residents and headed out to Pondicherry.