Sunday, 29 March 2020

Post #212 29 March 2020

Gentlefolk,

This post describes our drive from Chennai to Puducherry (aka Pondicherry, or just Pondy to the locals), and our stay there on Saturday night 7 March 2020.

Pondy became a French colony in 1674. The Dutch occupied it once, and the British 3 times, but it always reverted to France.  In 1954 it finally became a Union Territory of the Republic of India.

With its French history and atmosphere, Pondy has become a magnet for French (and Other) travellers.  The so-called French Quarter covers less than one square km, but most of the street names are French and much of the architecture has been retained.










We stopped for a 'toilet break' at this resort hotel (I think it was part of the Wyndham chain). The resort had wonderful buildings and facilities such as this magnificent swimming pool (and spotless toilets!). There was a beach close by, but we didn't have time to check it out. We saw few guests.

The site map of Auroville.

The Sri Aurobindo Ashram was established in 1926 by Sri Aurobindo (Calcutta 1872 - Pondy 1950) and Mirra Alfassa (Paris 1878 - Pondy 1973).  He was born Aurobindo Ghose, studied at Cambridge Uni, spoke 10 languages, and is described as a philosopher, yogi, guru, poet, and nationalist.
Aurobindo started calling Mirra "The Mother" and the name stuck. In 1968 she founded Auroville as a "model universal town" dedicated to human unity and evolution. 

The philosophy (Integral Yoga) of Sri Aurobindo attracted followers, including Mirra Alfassa; they jointly established an Ashram in Pondy in 1926.  He died in 1950 and she carried on his work.

As the number of followers of Integral Yoga continued to grow, in 1968 "The Mother" founded Auroville 12 km outside Pondicherry.  About 1,800 people from many countries now live in the township. All followers/residents must work in some field; work is an essential prerequisite to be able to live in this community.  

We had lunch in the busy restaurant near the big Visitor's Center. The food was all vegetarian.

We went to the Matrimandir, the spiritual center of Auroville. The huge 29m high golden dome is like a giant golf ball or golden spaceship. Construction started in 1971 and it was finally opened in 2008. Entry is restricted; apparently the inner chamber is lined with white marble, and the 'altar' features a huge crystal 70cm in diameter.

This magnificent banyan tree at Auroville, one of the biggest I have ever seen.

Another view of the amazing banyan tree.
From Auroville we drove to Pondy and checked into the Accord Metropolitan Hotel. Swim. Later Eugine led a walk around the French Quarter.  The city is on the coast, but the beach near the center of Pondy had to be reinforced with boulders, which unfortunately made it unsightly  and unsuitable for swimming. Apparently there are good swimming beaches not far away.
It was Saturday evening, and there were many people on the Esplanade along the beach.
The former residence of the French Governor, now the local government's HQ.

Many of the old French colonial buildings have been renovated.

A statue of Mahatma Gandhi. 

Street art of MG.

More street art - Mother Theresa.

Poster, in English!
Another poster, also in English.

Statue of a policeman.  They still wear the French-style hat!

Former colonial-era building - looked better at night, all lit up.
There was a crowd at the Sri Manakula Vinayagar Hindu Temple dedicated to Ganesh. 

The elephant in front of the Temple gave blessings for a fee - a pat on the head with his trunk.

Impressive memorial to Tamil writer Ambedkar Manimandabam.

One of the many Catholic churches in Pondy. In French 'Notre Dame des Anges'.

The entrance to the church. It was re-built in 1858; attractive pink & cream colour.


Inside the church.

Eugine took us to a local liquor store to stock up. He said that liquor prices were cheaper in Pondy because there was no State tax here.

We had dinner in a boutique hotel, a tastefully-renovated colonial era building. It was a lovely setting, but most of us were disappointed with the food. 
For me Pondy was a little disappointing after all the build up of "a slice of France in India". It had potential, but I guess we just had too little time there.

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Early the next morning we left for our next destination, Trichy.

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Womens basketball

I neglected to mention a significant event which took place in Canberra last Wednesday night. The Canberra Capitals beat Melbourne's Southside Flyers 71-68 to win the WNBL for back-to-back titles. 

Well done, girls!

Vera & my favourite player, Olivia Epoupa, was named Most Valuable Player of the Finals. She is the smallest player in the Capitals, but wonderful skills and tireless.

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Coronavirus update

Tragic scenes on TV of many thousands 'migrant workers' in India walking back to their villages (sometimes hundreds of km). They have lost their jobs as a consequence of the national lock-down, and can't afford to stay in the cities and towns.

Our tour ended just in time - we were lucky - even Singapore has stopped allowing transit passengers.

Tonight PM Scott Morrison reduced the size of permitted groupings from 10 to just 2.  Mandatory, supervised 14 day isolation started today for all new arrivals.

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Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Vera & Alex Olah
Canberra, Australia
Sunday, 29 March 2020













Friday, 27 March 2020

Post #211 27 March 2020

Gentlefolk,

This post describes our visit to Chennai (aka Madras, and before that Mylapore), the capital of Tamil Nadu State, 5 & 6 March 2020.

Everyone told us that north and south India were very different, and that's what we found too. The people here seem friendlier, more open - maybe because Chennai is on the coast and it's warmer, more relaxed??  They also seem more devout.

They say that Tamil Nadu State has more than 3,000 Hindu Temples.  Religion - Hinduism - is alive and well here.  That was certainly the feeling we got. We saw many wonderful temples, and they all seemed busy with worshippers and priests.

To outsiders Hinduism seems like a complex and confusing religion with its multitude of gods and belief in reincarnation.  Perhaps that's why it didn't spread to other countries - you have to grow up with it to understand its complexities?

In southern India, this part of our tour, we visited: in Tamil Nadu State: Chennai (Madras); Puducherry (Pondy); Tirucchirappalli (Trichy); Madurai; then in Kerala State: Thekkady; Alleppey; and Kochi (Cochin).


Map of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

We were met at Chennai Airport by our new guide for southern India, Eugine Gevarghese, a delightful character, 52 years old, single (but engaged) and Catholic. His home town was Kochi, Kerala. 

Our bus sor southern India was modern and comfortable. The driver was Murti, and the condutor Muthu. They were both from Tamil Nadu State.

City map of Chennai. The City follows the coast, the Bay of Bengal.

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel - very nice!!

I made good use of the lovely swimming pool at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The water was a very pleasant 28C (much warmer than northern India).

What a swish wedding car!

Vera & I admiring a Ganesh (elephant god) statue in the foyer of the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Hinduism seemed more pervasive in southern India.

That night we had a drink in the bar and met the singer Mali, from Mizoram (bordering Myanmar). You could see the Chinese influence in her features.  Mali told us that she was 26 years old, she taught herself to sing, and she was supporting her family (farmers). 

We visited the Kapaleeswarar Temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva.  The original Temple was largely destroyed by the Portuguese in 1566, but then rebuilt 300 years ago.

The impressive gopuram (Gateway Tower) of the Temple.

Eugine arranged a local expert to show us around the Temple.

The Temple was busy with many worshippers (mostly women) and priests.


We passed this slum when driving around.  Haven't really seen this kind of urban poverty till now.

A colonial era building, now the City Hall.

San Thome Catholic Cathedral originally built be the Portuguese in 1503, and extensively renovated in 1893.

The beautiful interior of the Cathedral.

The basement of the Cathedral contains the tomb of St. Thomas the Apostle (Doubting Thomas) who brought Christianity here in 59AD.

After the Cathedral we visited Marina Beach, which extends for 12km. An impressive stretch of sand even by Aussie standards - here it was about 80m wide.  But the beach was deserted except for a few people along the water's edge, Indians don't really swim and also avoid direct sun.  Apparently it is popular early morning, and late afternoon with families and kids playing sport. The 2004 tsunami killed over 200 persons here, mainly fishing folk.

A family was paddling in the shallows.  Few Indians can swim so they don't go in far. There is a fishing village nearby, and we returned in the morning for a look.

An advertisement in the local newspaper for study in Australia. They are promoting 4 years post-study work rights. Not sure how honest that is, as I thought the Australian Government had cracked down on post-study work, as many courses were seen as just a way to work in Australia???

Australia hit the news because of fighting over toilet paper.


The following morning we returned to Marina Beach to see the fishing village. 

A stall with last night's catch.

Customers buy the fresh fish on the right, and the fish are cleaned be ladies on the left.

The Govt is trying to phase out single-use plastic bags - polluting.
After seeing the fish market, we left for our next destination, Puducherry (aka Pondicherry or just Pondi).

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My next post will describe our drive to Pondi and our stay there.

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Coronavirus update

Covid-19 cases

Date 2020
Global
Australia

Infections
Deaths
Infections
Deaths
23 March
335,972
14,642
1,353
7
24 March
381,499
16,557
1,823
8
25 March
423,543
18,876
2,317
8
26 March
466.353
20.942
2,677
11
27 March
525,614
23,706
2,810
13
Source: Thenewdaily.com.au

Bloomberg 26/3
In just a few months, a microscopic virus plunged the world economy into a recession and hammered global trade harder than the 2008-9 global financial crisis, the 2001 Sept. 11 attacks, or the 1973 oil embargo.

World War II couldn’t even muster the same kind of sudden knockout that has paralyzed supply chains and rendered the world’s most bustling cities into ghost towns.

Shipping has been hit hard. Container throughput in February 2020, compared to a year earlier, decreased by 20% in the Port of Shanghai, 20% in the Port of Savannah, and 23% in the Port of Los Angeles. And the figures for March won't be any better.



It's amazing how the world has changed in just 3 or 4 weeks.

Although India only has 650 infections, yesterday PM Modi announced a lock-down of the entire country for 21 days. Drastic, but he can see what happened in Italy and elsewhere.  It's a good thing we left India when we did.

Today 27/3 the USA (83,000 with 1,200 deaths) passed China (82,000 with 3,200 deaths) and Italy (80,000 with 6,800 deaths) as having the most infections - it has become the new epicenter of this virus!  A huge economic stimulus package worth close to US$2 trillion (roughly 10% of GDP) has passed the Senate and will now go the the House of Representatives for approval.

Australia has, at last, started testing new arrivals at airports; and all new arrivals will be placed in supervised 14 day isolation in the city where they enter.

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Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Vera & Alex Olah
Canberra, Australia
Friday 27 March 2020
(now in Day 10 of our 14 day self-isolation)