Hurricane Diwali

Teg- After spending most of our trip (thus far) right along the Western coast, it was exciting to venture through to the middle of Tamil Nadu, taking a stop in Madurai before continuing along towards the Eastern coast.

Of all the places we could have gone, we chose Madurai because of it’s UNESCO World heritage site – the Sri Meenkashi Temples. We got in to the city early in the morning, roughly 5am, and the first thing we do is find a hotel and get some much needed sleep. Luckily enough, when we wake and take a look out our hotel window, the first thing we see is the many towering Temples right in front of us, no more than a couple kilometres away!

Soon after, as we make our way towards the Temples, we are quickly reminded of the date, the eve of Diwali. The streets were jam-packed with people and vendors and motorbikes.

Once 4pm rolled around, the gates to the 6-hectare complex finally opened and we were inside, able to browse the huge space. The exterior of each of the 12 towering gopurams was gorgeous, each covered with carved gods/goddesses, heroes and demons; there was just so much colour and craftsmanship. We were not able to go into any of the temples themselves, but there was a huge interior that connected each temple to the next. Inside was again beautiful, with long corridors, small shrines and a quiet pond. As beautiful as it all was, we were quite surprised to see the amount of tourist attractions and shops set up in such a sacred place. Also, considering it was a UNESCO world heritage site, the place was poorly managed. Some places were extremely well preserved while others festered with litter and mud. Let’s just say that I left the complex with mixed impressions.

The next day, DIWALI, was quite an interesting day for us! Well actually, it starts more or less in the late hours of the night before. Fireworks and fire-crackers of all kinds acted as our night-time lullabies haha. It was crazy loud! Neither one of us getting much sleep, the next morning we ventured out into the streets filled with gun-shot like sounds to run some errands, grab some food and experience the festivities.

I couldn’t believe how many fire-crackers, etc. were continuously being lit up as we walked down the streets. Plus, the remnants of these activities from all the previous hours were scattered all along the streets, it was absurd! Just when you think you’re getting used to the sound of constant ‘BANGS!!’, one small moment of silence makes it all quite the surprise for your ears again when one gets set off.lol

Okay, so in an attempt to not over-write, there is just one more thing I must quickly share about our experience in Madurai. It rained on and off throughout the day of Diwali. And considering how well the drainage systems are in this city :S… after a day of downpour it was unbelievable trying to take a stroll from our final meal in the city to the train station. We were lucky to have been walking when the rain had stopped, but still. I’ve never witnessed so much water on the roads and sidewalks…especially considering it was the result of one days’ work.

Happy Diwali!!

Mike – We were pretty excited for Diwali (the festival of lights), to the extent that we made sure to be in a city for the festivities. There were three main things that I’ll take away from the experience:

1) The Shopping:
I didn’t know this prior, but Diwali is a huge shopping extravaganza; every type of shop from pipe fitters to electronics ensure they’re well stocked for the holiday shoppers, and apparently, Diwali is when they have their largest sales. This meant big business for the bicycle porters and rickshaws, many of which were over-loaded with washer and dryers, LCD televisions, and air conditioners to the point of tipping over. It was madness. This is definitely India’s boxing day equivalent.

…now, amongst the euphoria, picture a monsoon-esque rainstorm…

2) The Male Camaraderie:
Night-time was a large-scaled version of “guys-night-out”. On the eve of Diwali, I went out for a stroll to grab some snacks and beer (Teg stayed in the hotel). I saw around 10,000 people in the span of minutes, and maybe two ladies… The amount of drunk middle-aged dudes holding hands was astounding; true bro-mance, I must say.

3) The Firecrackers:
This was utterly terrifying. There were firecracker stands on every corner. Kids of all ages launching rockets, cherry bombs… you name it. It was as if every kid was let loose on the city with bombs and rockets, and told to “go hard”. I felt like I was in Khartoum.

I saw a boy, he must’ve been around eight years old, lighting a rocket bigger than his arm. As we anticipated the thunder, plugging our ears, his friends start throwing rocks at it, until one of them knock it over. The boy runs out to pick it up to put it right-side up (the fuse is still going). We’re screaming at them, but everyone around us is just laughing. He runs away having successfully re-mounted the rocket, and the thing fails to go off. The whole thing just made us cringe.

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