I'll Have a Pinch of Culture With That Please

It rained heavily early this morning. Heavily enough that I opened one eye only to see daybreak and to hear a continuous flow of raindrops.

Marie and I want to do something cultural today. Trivandrum has a well-known museum so we were thinking of visiting it. Unfortunately, Justin tells us it is closed. Well then, we'll go and see a very famous temple which is located just on the outskirts of the city : the Sree Padmanabhava Swami Temple, dedicated to Krishan and the Snake God Anantha.

And, low and behold! A ray of hope amidst the low sky and ticklish wind, Marie and I see working men stopping in front of our home, installing the internet cable connection!!!!!

In my case, all I had to do was to think to myself last night, on the way to the theater, that the best thing was not fight and just give up hope, plain and simple. Now, see!!! Something concrete!!! As Marie remarked, now, maybe we will have internet in two weeks instead of three.....

Off we go to the temple, zipping along in the little rickshaw. A pause to reflect on how much I love rickshaws : they always make me think of these superpowered, highly intelligent flies that just speedily buzz along the roads. As I was saying, our superpowered fly drops us off in front of the temple and we find ourselves under a blazing sun, with the main street leading up to the building, deserted and dusty. An occasional open souvenir stall doesn't even bring life to the atmosphere : the gadgets as well as their sellers are quietly dozing in the shade.

A little man gives us a tour of the building. I warn Marie that it isn't out of spontaneity that he is doing this but to get money. She accepts the implicit deal.

Although the monument is quite old and is guilded with intrisic details, I find it rather basic and not the best example of historic Indian architecture as we may think of. After the tour finished, a couple of pictures taken with our guide and a rather large tip, Marie and I are off to explore the surroundings of the temple.

In front of it has been built a vast ritual bathing area. I suddenly realize how hot it is and look longingly at the glistening and promisly (or so I think) cool water of the baths. I tell Marie that we must go to the Taj and dive in over and over again in their pool.

We continue to walk around the area of the temple where we see brightly coloured shops, filled with plastic toys, fresh juices and synthetic garments. We even dare go in an Ayuervedic Pharmacy to figure out how it works. "What is the symptom?" the pharmacist asks. We try to tell him that if for example....But the example idea doesn't work and we finally grasp that where we are is a counter where you can only get prescribed medicine.

As we continue to walk on, the heat becomes to hard on me. I ask Marie if she would mind us going to get something fresh to drink. We decide on our favourite hang-out place "Coffee Beanz". Hey, with such heat, even a cold coffee sounds like heaven to me!!!!! Now, how to describe this place? Well, it's definitely where the young, hip crowd hangs out. Fortunately, the music doesn't blare out too much. it's like a cafe only the quality of the service is like that of a three star restaurant. The waiters are dressed in black and orange, they open the door for you, guide you to your table and take your order with extreme politeness. We had gone their once before just to have a bite to eat and were surprised by the quality of the food. This time, we just wanted something sweet and cold to drink. Aaaahhhh! Total bliss...Air conditioning and cold chocolate coffee.....

Marie and I happily hope into one of the buzzing flies on our way back home. We realize how much it is nice to go out of the house and explore our area. We miss being out and about; we can longer easily hope on a bus or the subway to go somewhere. On the other hand, we are just as delighted to come back to the familiarity and quietness of our home.

It might seriously be time to think of getting a car....