Chennai's Sights, Part 1

We decided to spend today sightseeing in Chennai proper.  The city center is closer to the flat than the zoo or Mahabalipuram.  But in terms of driving time, it's not much shorter.  As mentioned in the traffic entry, it takes forever to move around Chennai.  Fortunately, the places we decided to visit were in the same area, so it only took us a few hours to go from one place to another.

Temple entrance

Kapaleeshwarar Temple is in the Mylapore section of Chennai.  The original Kapaleeshwarar Temple was built in the 7th century CE/AD by the same dynasty that brought you Mahabalipuram.  The temple was destroyed centuries ago, allegedly by the Portuguese.  I'm just pulling these "facts" from Wikipedia, so they may or may not be true.  What is true is that this particular Kapaleeshwarar Temple ain't no 1,400 years old.  This iteration of the temple may be 500 years old (Wikipedia again). 

Closeup of statuettes on temple

The temple is adorned by gazillions of brightly colored of statuettes of gods. Inside the main temple is...  well, I don't really know what's in there.  Non-Hindus are specifically prohibited in the temple.  So Thuy and I stayed out and debated polytheism vs. monotheism vs. atheism and contemplated the finality of life without reincarnation.  Nah, we just took pictures of the sign.

Keep Out!  This means you!

Basilica of St. Thomas

St.Thomas, the disciple who doubted Jesus' resurrection, [migrated/fled] to India [to preach the gospel/because he did not want to be lion lunch in the Colosseum].  OK, I don't exact reason, but that won't stop me from editing his Wikipedia page.  According to the story, he died near Mylapore in the first century and his remains were brought to the site of the basilica and entombed.  A church was then built over his tomb and elevated to minor Basilica status in 1956.  To get to the crypt, one goes into the lower level of the visitor center and then through a narrow passageway that leads to a small chapel.  There, at the front of the chapel is.. not his tomb, but a representation of it.  The actual tomb is buried below that.  Photography in that area is not permitted, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Having seen a Hindu temple and a minor basilica, we were wondering whether we could play Holy House Bingo and find a mosque, a synagogue, and a gurdwara.  There are no synagogues in Chennai and we didn't see a gurdwara, but we did spy a mosque from the van.  Chennai has a noticeable Muslim population judging by the number of women in abayas and niqabs.

Inside the model are tourists looking at a smaller model

Fort St. George was the British East India Company's foothold in India.  The Company set up a trading post here, loosely confederating neighboring villages into an area they called Madraspatnam, which later became Madras.  Fast forward 400 years and India, amidst it's anti-colonial purge of names, re-labeled the city Chennai.  Bombay became Mumbai, Calcutta became Kolkata, and Bangalore became Bengaluru.  New Delhi kept its name and Old Delhi kept its inferiority complex.  The end result was even more confusion in three-letter airport codes.
"How the **** do you get M-A-A from C-h-e-n-n-a-i?"

If you've ever wondered why Indo-American kids win so many spelling bees, it's because they can spell their own names, like Mahabalipuram, Kapaleeshwarar, and Venkatasivasubramaniamkirshnamurthymasaladosa.

All they need is a cannonball, powder, and a fuse.

The Brits had peaceful relations with the locals (unlike in North India) and this is a fort in name only because the moat was always dry and the walls were short.  A Cub Scout pack could overrun this fort.  So it was really an administrative center for the British East India Company and, subsequently, the Crown.  Famous residents of Ft. St. George include Elihu Yale, the founder of Yale University who served as the President of Madras (the chief executive of Fort. St. George), and Charles Cornwallis, the general who lost the American Revolutionary War and became the Governor-General of India.

"No A/C? We are not amused."

The Fort is now home the Tamil Nadu State Assembly and the Fort St. George museum.  We didn't visit the assembly.  Who wants to hear people arguing in Tamil?  I can get that at my in-law's house.  So we visited the museum, which contained relics of the colonial period including: swords, military uniforms (wool!), ordinates, and for the civilized, china services.  Upstairs were paintings of various important people, like Governor Generals, Nawabs (Muslim potentates in Tamil Nadu), and Queen Victoria.  The entire place was not air-conditioned.  Can you imagine what a fit the Smithsonian curators would have if their paintings were not in a climate controlled room?

More photos