Kanchipuram

Yesterday everyone (except Indiapapa) went to visit the highly regarded temple town called Kanchipuram. Indiapapa was able to do some work on the old dissertation and Kaia was able to enjoy one of his great pleasures in India—temples. It is really quite funny and remarkable how he has taken to Hinduism, particularly the different places of worship—knowing them by name (just today he told me that a temple that we go by everyday is a Kali temple, which I did not know) and being able to anticipate them coming as be drive on by. Of course, here in India there are temples literally just around every corner and in all sizes. I would really be interested to know how certain sites are deemed holy enough for a temple—not the big ones, but the small kinds like you see sandwiched in between peoples homes and in seemingly odd places, like the on the beach that is just up from our home. Is there some bureaucratic arm that sanctions these?

Anyway, as it turns out, it was a good thing (at least for me) that I didn’t go. After they ate lunch, Sekar locked the key in the car and that set in motion a chain of events that involved finding the spare set of keys here in Madras, driving them out to Kanchipuram (2 hours away) and then coming back. Kaia and his mama and ojiichan took a taxi back, so they were able to get back in time, but poor Sekar didn’t get back here until nearly 8pm. To make matters worse for him, he shattered the rear window when he was trying to pry it open to get access to the inside. Poor guy felt so bad about the whole incident. I was just so shocked that the remedy went as smoothly as it did! Where’s AAA when you need them?

Why I Love this Time: How words will sometimes take on a “d” at the end—like “paperd” or “goned”.