It's okay, he's a Brahman~June 7

Today, for the first time since we've been here, everyone actually slept in. It was so nice to get some quality sleep. The mattresses here are interesting. It's almost like you're sleeping on the floor but at the same time they're oddly supportive. I am, however, looking forward to crawling onto my sinfully plush queen size mattress when I return home. I thought maybe the sad mattresses were just a dorm situation, similar to the ones at App, which it should be noted, I put a four inch memory foam pad on top of. The mattresses seem to be a wide spread epidemic however, as I've seen them being sold all over.

The cheerful sheets are a trap.

Today is another day of temples, which for the record never get old. The first temple on the agenda is Srirangam, which it actually turns out is more of a place than one single temple. Srirangam is actually more of an island of temples. This island was created by a dam, which a king built to split a river to run around the temples. When looking at the map, you can see that the streets are built in perfect squares to represent the different layers, which are marked by giant colorful archways. The whole effect is spectacular. We start with the largest and central temple. The whole complex-because really, that's what it is-is under renovation, so most of the archways are covered in cloth as they are being repainted. The renovations are supposed to be done in the next two years, so obviously I'll have to visit. I'm thinking the timing should work out perfectly with Shiva's nuptials.

You too, can take pictures that
will make your recruitment chair's heart warm.

Shiva calls up one of the Bishop Heber students who is actually a Brahman and an inhabitant of Srirangam. In my mind, a round man in a white cloth covering with paint and ash smeared all over his body, was going to come and give us the grand tour. We got a grand tour, but it was from a very short, very young man dressed in jeans and a t shirt. He was obviously more like Brahman lite. Come to find out, being a Brahman doesn't necessarily mean you have to work in the temple. It just means you're at the top of the caste and you can pretty much do whatever you want. He did tell us, that Srirangam is THE place to be if you're a Brahman. If you can't live there, you at least want to die there.

No shoes and wearing all the colors.
I'm a natural.

After walking around the temple, which is just massive, we eventually wonder back to the car. As we're getting into the car the Brahman comes up on his motorcycle and Sarah hands us her things and says "Sorry guys, I've gotta do this". As she hops onto the back of the motorcycle, Sarah and I exchange glances. I shrug and say "it's okay, he's a Brahman".

We head to another temple on the island after this. This temple is for Shiva, the god, not the student. It is also beautiful and too our delight not under renovation. We run into our old friend, the elephant, and my loyalty to cows is tested. I am so glad that we got to spend such an eventful weekend in Tirchy. Next weekend's adventure will be Pondicherry, the old French colony. There's the ocean and apparently a lot of wine and what I can only imagine to be great shopping, but all I really want is some pasta.