Arunachala2013: Fifteen

Hi, you've arrived at the second of my blogs written from Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, southern India.
If you wish to view my first blog from 2011 just click on this link....
arunachalakiwi2011

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Please enjoy

Wandering sadhu

Constantly fascinated by the trucks and their loads

A very smiley, pose-striking, bike-wandering sadhu

This little boy was crouching down watching the rice paddy guys (to follow)

Bike-wandering sadhu and walking-wandering sadhu

This little girl was always hanging around my coconut lady's stand, she had the most stunning little personality

This is the temple priest from a nearby village

I would stop to eat some biscuits or something on a seat somewhere and instantly surrounded by any number of dogs that are always wandering around, Scary for a start but they are all very friendly and most are surprisingly healthy due to an organization that raises money to ensure they are taken care of, de-sexed, wormed etc.

I always thought this was a very hard job, ramming the coconut down onto a spike to remove the outer shell, there were mountains of these coconuts to do and this would be a full-time job for this man, this would be his life.

And this is one of the rice paddy guys. From what I could see they were bunching up the plants that would then be sold and planted for the actual rice growing, this was like the nursery I suppose. I would stop to watch and take photos, which they would love, but they could never speak a work of English.

And here's the little boy again who was just sitting there watching these guys work.

Always a photo-op ! These guys started doing their Bollywood style dancing on the back of a truck

Another Kollam outside a front door

The dishes have just been done outside this family's home.

And here is the rice guys. They were so smiley and happy in their work and loved being photographed.

I just love the purpose of this rickshaw....I hate to think what this is and where it ends up !!!

With Arunachala in the background

Rice guys again

I would often sit and chat with some of the sadhus. Many of them are highly educated and speak many languages. This man in particular had been a wandering sadhu since leaving school and traveled constantly around India living on the streets since leaving school. As old as he may look he is actually only 44, it's a pretty hard life. I shared potato chips with him, he thought it was very healthy food !

The temple priest outside the village temple again.

An Ambassador car, based on the 1950s Morris Oxford and still produced in this same form brand new today with diesel engines, power steering and such-like. They are still something of a status symbol in India.

Monkeys everywhere, keep very much to themselves except when they are trying to steal your stuff !

This is the room built onto the front of Virupaksha Cave. You can see the very large piece of rock the wall is built up to and the very small door on the left leads into the cave itself where Ramana Maharshi sat in silence from 1899 to 1916. Visitors would go in and sit with him, this is how he taught, in complete stillness and silence. The cave inside is relatively open once inside but you have to bend down really low to get through the entrance. It was pretty funny sitting in there in a way because almost everyone who walked in there for the first time got a really good bang on the head when they stood up too soon. I really wants to get a couple of photos of the inside of the cave but was only prepared to do so if there was never anyone else in there, I didn't manage that. Seeing as photos were not allowed I was breaking the rules even taking this one.

Banana delivery

One of the rice guys

The rice guys with the random child again

People delivery

Express cycle service

Some of these groups of people travel probably 40 to 50kms or more in the back of these trucks to come to temple or whatever, very uncomfortable I imagine.

The rice plant nursery again

Great bike load, you could lose an eye with this one !

Rice guys again, very happy in their work

Great for the tan ??

Another shot of the little entrance to Virupaksha Cave, probably 1200mm high.


Mobile chai guy. 7 rupees gets you a chai (though this could well be the western price, I wouldn't know) 7 rupees is probably 16 NZ cents

The dog crowd again

Typical Pradakshina Road scene with cows and people everywhere. Pradakshina Road is in particularly good condition for an Indian road and definitely not the norm. This is something of a sacred raad, if there is such a thing.