Another classic title for a wannabe Hollywood thriller. Hardly. Real life experience - 100%.
I had decided to visit the well preserved relics of the Chola dynasty along India's eastern shores this summer. Of import were two sites - Gangaikonda Cholapuram 100 km south of Pondi and Breehadeshwara Temple (Shiva HQ) another 100 km ot so to its south outside Tanjore (aka Tanjavore).
Having my next train connection in Tanjore I decided to cab it from Pondi (the onetime French bastion) to visit these one off and relatively inaccessible UNESCO sites before culminating at Tanjore station.
So I worked with my local contact in Pondi to find a relatively economical mode of transport yet with the luxury of stretching out, perhaps catching some much needed zzz's as well. The hotel manager came up with a dude named Hitler.
No kidding. I inquired with as much PC manner as possible as to the origin's and validity of the fella's name but came up with zilch.
Okay - I suppose I could simply call him driver. So on the appointed morning I checked out of my windowless double bed room in Pondi and was introduced to the driver by my hotel manager, 'Sir this is Hitler and he will take you to Tanjore'.\
'Hello Hitler' is all I could muster. He was a 5'4", dark skinned, relatively unkempt dude with a 3 day stubble who spoke Tamil and not much else. He also had a crooked smile that he lavished every so often. Seemed like a happy chap. Not bad for a ride that may be the next six or so hours.
He grabbed my duffel (only other item was my camera bag which I held on for dear life) and rasped - we go. Okay - we left - weaving through the outskirts of southern Pondi - past the backwater boat place I went to last night (they have motor boats that leave a boat house for INR 200 and you can visit a barrier island), on through Cuddalore toward my first site - the one King Rajendra Chola established in the 11th century defeating a Buddhist King of all people.
Gangaikonda is so named because Rajendra went to the Ganges and collected some water samples to inaugurate this place.
Not quite sure of the big expeditions people kept launching to grab this H2O. If you smell it (the Ganges) now it is worse than a public toilet at Singapore's airport (which is kept swank clean).
The temple greets its visitor with a massive brick and sand Nandi or Bull (Shiva's official Hummer back in the day).
So back to Hitler. He being Tamil and not much for linguistic abilities was curious about my trip and purpose (in life or for the trip not sure) and kept asking in halting words if I wanted to listen to music. I said sure - he said timepass.
Then he realized that the only mp3 he had was Tamil so he graciously chose to stay silent.
When we got into more serious stuff it was to figure out his background and beliefs - which I was amazed to see was more global-centric (see picture) and was truly indicative of his business savvy. All gods are equal sir - no preference - after all his clientele is varied and he does not want to seem indifferent to them?
Our exchanges were broken and brief and at one point he missed a turn - new traffic patterns and all but soon after some yammering in the local lingo was back on track - with Amma (aka Jalyalalitha) guiding us on (the erstwhile skirt wearing Tamil movie heroine and now lady Prime Minister through many shenanigans in political office remains a hot favorite for her constituents right next to their gods).
More than GPS it helps to follow Amma to where you are going. Hitler agreed.
I had decided to visit the well preserved relics of the Chola dynasty along India's eastern shores this summer. Of import were two sites - Gangaikonda Cholapuram 100 km south of Pondi and Breehadeshwara Temple (Shiva HQ) another 100 km ot so to its south outside Tanjore (aka Tanjavore).
Having my next train connection in Tanjore I decided to cab it from Pondi (the onetime French bastion) to visit these one off and relatively inaccessible UNESCO sites before culminating at Tanjore station.
So I worked with my local contact in Pondi to find a relatively economical mode of transport yet with the luxury of stretching out, perhaps catching some much needed zzz's as well. The hotel manager came up with a dude named Hitler.
No kidding. I inquired with as much PC manner as possible as to the origin's and validity of the fella's name but came up with zilch.
Okay - I suppose I could simply call him driver. So on the appointed morning I checked out of my windowless double bed room in Pondi and was introduced to the driver by my hotel manager, 'Sir this is Hitler and he will take you to Tanjore'.\
'Hello Hitler' is all I could muster. He was a 5'4", dark skinned, relatively unkempt dude with a 3 day stubble who spoke Tamil and not much else. He also had a crooked smile that he lavished every so often. Seemed like a happy chap. Not bad for a ride that may be the next six or so hours.
He grabbed my duffel (only other item was my camera bag which I held on for dear life) and rasped - we go. Okay - we left - weaving through the outskirts of southern Pondi - past the backwater boat place I went to last night (they have motor boats that leave a boat house for INR 200 and you can visit a barrier island), on through Cuddalore toward my first site - the one King Rajendra Chola established in the 11th century defeating a Buddhist King of all people.
Gangaikonda is so named because Rajendra went to the Ganges and collected some water samples to inaugurate this place.
 |
| Eastern Entrance greets the visitor with an eye popping Nandi standing guard to the Vimana or main temple |
Not quite sure of the big expeditions people kept launching to grab this H2O. If you smell it (the Ganges) now it is worse than a public toilet at Singapore's airport (which is kept swank clean).
The temple greets its visitor with a massive brick and sand Nandi or Bull (Shiva's official Hummer back in the day).
 |
| Hardly a lot of bull |
So back to Hitler. He being Tamil and not much for linguistic abilities was curious about my trip and purpose (in life or for the trip not sure) and kept asking in halting words if I wanted to listen to music. I said sure - he said timepass.
Then he realized that the only mp3 he had was Tamil so he graciously chose to stay silent.
When we got into more serious stuff it was to figure out his background and beliefs - which I was amazed to see was more global-centric (see picture) and was truly indicative of his business savvy. All gods are equal sir - no preference - after all his clientele is varied and he does not want to seem indifferent to them?
 |
| Green Ribbon is Islam, A Mother perched by the wheel with Ganesh and a motely crew making up the center console |
 |
| Jaya or Amma beckons the visitor into Tamilnadu |
Our exchanges were broken and brief and at one point he missed a turn - new traffic patterns and all but soon after some yammering in the local lingo was back on track - with Amma (aka Jalyalalitha) guiding us on (the erstwhile skirt wearing Tamil movie heroine and now lady Prime Minister through many shenanigans in political office remains a hot favorite for her constituents right next to their gods).
More than GPS it helps to follow Amma to where you are going. Hitler agreed.
the third Reich, I mean, ride?
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