Temples of Tamil Nadu (4): Impressions

Itinerary (1)
Chennai to Thanjavur (2)
Thanjavur to Madurai (3)

It’s interesting that I am writing an article about my impressions of travelling in Tamil Nadu given it's my own country! But at times things felt so different - the culture, the language, the people - that I felt I should write about it.

• Religion was omnipresent in Tamil Nadu, and at a different level than I am used to. Religion just felt like a very huge part of many people’s lives. And there was a lot of tourism around religion and temples. There were thousands of people dressed in similar clothes, on pilgrimage to the various temples, being driven in groups in huge pilgrim buses. And they were everywhere, in every city we visited, near all the temples. And everyone was ok waiting for hours to get darshan. I was truly impressed but also overwhelmed by it all. 

• 

  Gates of Brihadeshwar
  temple

  The temples and their scale of architecture was just huge and mindblowing. It was at a completely different level than the rest of the country. Some of these temples are so old, and so massive! They all have so many colourful sculptures on their gates (gopurams). And so much more artistry inside. They all looked so elegant and mesmerising. And there were so many more smaller temples everywhere, they felt omnipresent too.
• The rituals followed in the temples felt so different from North Indian temples. There were no bells ringing during prayers, no water or charnamrit given as prasad, no boondi laddoos as prasad, no coconut being offered, rarely flowers offered to the deities, the women did not cover their heads, no red tilak put on the foreheads (only ash), and so on. Everything was cleaner and there wasn't any wet or slippery stuff on the floor either. It felt like different parts of India have the same gods but a different way of workshipping them. 
• All the temples closed in the afternoon roughly between 12 and 4 pm (or some similar time) which was a big shock! What is one supposed to do in the afternoon, drive back to the hotel and sleep?
• Of course, people take off their shoes in the temples. But many of the temples do not have a proper place to keep them outside. So most people leave their shoes in their buses and just walk without shoes to the temples! Through the streets! Sometimes very far!
• We also realised that at such places it made sense to leave our shoes in the car and walk to the temple without them. Though I must say, I took some time to get comfortable with it. I don’t think I have walked barefeet in my entire life as much as I did on this trip. 
• Also, I don’t know if it's linked to this, but I saw so many people don't wear shoes, even in daily life. Our driver drove the car without shoes, and even got out and walked around without shoes! I was shocked to see it. Many shops also asked people to take off their shoes outside. It was just a lot more acceptable and common than I was used to.
• Visiting the most popular places required us to drive far as they were spread out around the state. Also not all of these places had hotels nearby, so we had to stay a bit far off and do day trips. It led to a lot of driving every day. We mostly ended up visiting only the temples, which were amazing though got a bit similar by the end. In hindsight, we could have explored nature a bit more too, but somehow didn't.
• The driving was so much better here though. Calm and cool, with limited aggression - such a contrast from the North. There was limited honking on the streets, people gave indicators while overtaking and generally followed rules. It felt like a different country altogether!
• Interestingly, Pondicherry needs a separate permit to enter the state, and all drivers who drive there have to wear white shirts when in the Union Territory! Wow!
• The food on this trip was so tasty, even in the small local restaurants we visited. And so cheap too! They all had waiting outside, but were so quick with their service that the queues were cleared quickly. Interestingly vegetarian and non-vegetarian restaurants were separate. Also, many places did not have dosa at lunch! And plain curd was also not available whenever we asked for it.
• As a culture, there was very limited showoff around. No one dresses up much. Most people dressed simply. Women in sarees in temples, a lot in cottons given the weather but some were in silks for festive occasions. Most women put at least one flower in their hair. And a lot of men were dressed in lungi. But overall, there was a lot of simplicity around. I also now understand why a lot of women wear sarees so high. And with chappal. It all helped if one had to go to the temple suddenly.
• The only thing that wasn't as simple was jewellery. It looked like wearing gold jewellery was quite popular. Also, we saw loads of huge jewellery showrooms in every city.
• Overall, I didn’t find people to be warm or welcoming generally (or at all really). I felt unwelcome at most places. It almost felt like the locals didn't want tourists to come. So many times when I asked someone a question, they would just turn their head the other way, ignoring me and not answering. Or if they answered, do it in a very clipped manner, not really being helpful. For example, I got shouted at by an attendant sitting outside one of the museums at the Thanjavur Palace, when I asked him some questions about the Palace. Who does that in tourist places? I was asking my questions in English, he shouted back rudely in Hindi. It was a really bad experience, and kind of ruined the whole trip for me. In contrast, when I travelled to Guatemala recently but didn’t know how to speak Spanish, people went out of their way, even finding someone who could speak English, to help, when they themselves couldn’t. 
• It was quite tough to get around knowing only Hindi and English. I hadn’t expected a lot of people to speak Hindi, but surprisingly even English is not that common either. I also sometimes got the feeling that there was definitely an anti North Indian feeling. It’s tough to explain but it felt real. I got this feeling by the sixth day of my trip, and it never left me. There was this whole vibe of ‘we are Tamil and different from 'India'’ which was quite off-putting. I have had this feeling for the first time in all my travels across the country. I think language is a big reason for this. And politicians campaigning against hindi is a big driver for it. I didn’t enjoy this part of the whole trip at all, this Tamil vs India vibe.