India part 1: Chennai, beautiful temples, and the sad fact that I still don't know any Tamil

I always remember my first day in India. It is marked by certain things that happen in a certain order:
1. I step off the plane and am greeted by the smell of smoke/pollution/whatever the heck that is.
2. I start sweating.
3. We pace nervously, waiting for the last of our many suitcases to show up at the baggage claim, hoping to god that none of them show up in Africa this time.
4. We finally spot my uncle in the crowd of people mobbing the new arrivals outside the airport.
5. We ride home, swerving and honking, feeling weird not wearing a seatbelt.
6. My aunt forces hot beverages on us (yes, it is 104 degrees outside).

This time, my first day was distinctly memorable as in addition to all of the above, the power went out for six hours (and with it, the AC and fan) upon our arrival. We sat and sweated until 3 PM, when I fell asleep (or passed out from exhaustion/heat stroke).

If you have ever been on vacation with my family, then you know that we don't believe in leisure time. I was woken up at the crack of dawn and given 8 minutes to shower and get dressed before we were all packed into a van that would take us on our temple tour of South India. A gang of seven tourists were we: me, my brother, my dad, my grandparents (dad's parents), and my cousins Raghava and Pujitha who luckily also had holidays.

Our van. 

"Why are you taking pictures" ~ Vishnu. We stopped to eat somewhere.

Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple, Srirangam, Trichy

The temple from the front. 

This was our first stop. Sri Rangathaswamy is a reclining form of Lord Vishnu, and this is the temple's main deity. We stood in line for about an hour and half before finally getting to see the deity. 0.5 milliseconds later, we were pushed forward by the people behind us (this is normal and to be expected).

This is probably what it looks like. I wouldn't really know. 

This temple is probably the most important temple of all for Vaishnavites (devotees of Vishnu) and is said to be the largest temple in India, at 156 acres, and the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world. Believe me, it's big. I experienced this firsthand while trying to walk around the temple's inner courtyard at midday. I was able to walk about a fifth of the way before blisters started to develop on the bottoms of my feet.

I tried to take a picture of a map. You can vaguely see that the temple is massive.

So biggggggg

That afternoon, we bid farewell to Srirangam and drove even deeper south to Madurai, where we retired into a couple of hotel rooms. Raghava, Pujitha, and I spent the evening exploring Madurai and buying pirated dvds to watch in the van.

Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai

The next morning, we were up bright and early to avoid a huge darshan line. This temple is special in that it is one of the few (maybe the only) super massive temples that has a female main deity: Goddess Meenakshi, a distinct form of Parvati, consort of Lord Shiva. There is also an additional shrine for Lord Sundareshwar, a form of Lord Shiva.

So many colors

You should click on this picture to see it in full detail. 

"Whoaaaa"

So freaking BIG

Outside. Luckily it wasn't hot yet. 

Arjun!

This is a very beautiful temple, with four gopurams (towers, basically) that are very tall and colorfully painted. Inside, there are tons of sculptures, including a huge statue of Nataraja made of pure silver. Everything is beautifully lit and you just want to take photographs of all of it even though there are people yelling at you not to. And of course, there is an elephant that gives you its blessings in exchange for a rupee or a banana.

Didn't expect to see the elephant's butt, did you? 

KITTAAAAAAAAAY!!!

That afternoon, we set off to Rameswaram, a small island off the east coast of Tamil Nadu, located partway between India and Sri Lanka . We stopped for a bit on the bridge connecting Rameswaram to a skinny peninsula off the mainland, which is surrounded on either side by the Indian Ocean. It was very windy and as we were right up against the coast, it was extremely humid.

That evening, we also visited the beach, though our grandparents forbade us to go swimming since it was full moon and we probably would have gotten swept away by the tide. So we whiled away the time eating biscuits, collecting seashells, and making strange sand sculptures.

Continued in India part 2