Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Yindia!!!!!!!!! Day 8 ... Poondi Madha Basilica

Woke up early to catch the sunrise again... and as usual it didnt disappoint.... amazing colours displayed before a glorious morning... it made me want to explore keelapudee further... so i walked tru the small streets as the women began cleaning the porch to start on their kollums... ....

From India Day 9 & 10

From India Day 9 & 10


India... was amazing lah... the beauty... was simple..... yet amazing.... but sometimes it can disappoint also ...felt that way that morning cos even though on my right was this amazing view .... but on my left ..there was a heap of rubbish stacked up and strewn across the street...... what i dont get is that there was a huge rubbish bin right there but it was not even half full... A herd of goats was eating the rubbish...... Then as one goat moved over to more fresher rubbish... i saw a kid... no not a baby goat but a human child... squatting next to the rubbish bin..... doing number two right there at the dump.......yes yes.. takin' a dump at the dump..... i will never forget the stare he gave me as he finished, pulled up his shorts and ran back to his house..... sigh...

Luckily the view on my right began to change from purple reds to a royal gold... decided to walk back to the house and go up to the roof to continue taking more shots of the sunrise...

From India Day 9 & 10


That morning we were in for a long drive towards the east to visit the Poondi Madha Basilica... its in a small village called Poondi which is in the northern province of Thanjavur . Jegan drove us there all the way along the Kavary river. We stopped for a break at a Kavary river dam. (cant remember the name but it was breathtaking).

From India Day 9 & 10

From India Day 9 & 10


Continued on through small quaint villages to reached the basilica.

It was the feast day which is celebrated around the same time as Vailankani feast. Hundreds of Thousands of people (Well it looked like that many) camped out at the grounds and also filled its hostels. We had watched the Vailankani feast on the TV two nights before and i was amazed by the magnitude of the celebrations and Mass. Maybe one day we will make a pilgrimage to Vailankani ...but Poondi Madha Basilica was equally fascinating and enlightening.

From India Day 9 & 10


From India Day 9 & 10


From India Day 9 & 10


We stopped at Uncle Mani's house to rest and we also had a late lunch. Uncle Mani was all too happy to show me around his backyard ...he talked about the frequent snake visits and also demonstrated how he trims the rattan trees. He had many fruit trees but unfortunately it wasnt fruit season.

From India Day 9 & 10

(his T-Shirt says it all on his take on life)


It was a long and interesting day and we made it back to Keelapudee just before the sunset and had a wonderful dinner prepared by F.I.L's cousin sister. She prepared fried chicken specially for me... this is hardly the normal style of preparing chicken over here but... it was delicious!!!!

end of Day 8
next up Fort Temple...