Mahabalipuram

The first of the much-touted India posts!

On my first Saturday in India, I visited Mahabalipuram (now known as Mamallapuram), a coastal town located in the Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu. It was a 7th-century port city of the Pallava dynasty, and thus has zillions of amazing historical temples, carvings, and other marvels. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. [note: I definitely stole some of the above information from Wikipedia.] I'd never been to this city before, and I love historical places, so it was a real treat seeing all of the amazing things depicted in the photos below:

The first thing we saw at Mahabalipuram was the above bas relief carving, known as The Descent of the Ganga or Arjuna's Penance [thanks Wikipedia]. Notice the incredible detail in the carving. If you look closely above the small shrine carving (to the left of the largest elephant), you'll see a carving of an emaciated man in tree pose. This is supposed to be Arjuna, doing penance in order to receive a boon from Lord Shiva to help him fight the war in the Mahabharata, or Bhagiratha, also doing penance so that the River Ganga would descend from heaven to Earth and wash over the ashes of his ancestors.

Amazingly, this sculpture is monolithic--it was carved out of ONE rock!

I really like cooing over goats and calves in India, and I thought these goats with their heads together in the shade of this boulder were kind of adorable.

More bas relief carvings in a cave temple. The one above depicts the reclining Lord Vishnu, or Seshashayanam. He reclines upon a snake bed in the ocean, and is surrounded by attendants.

In this carving, Shiva's vehicle the bull, known as Nandi, leads an army. I don't know what story this depicts, but wish I did.

I found this tree, growing out of the side of a rock face, was pretty incredible.

I took the three pictures below while standing at the top of the ancient lighthouse near the cave temples. The Tamil Nadu countryside is breathtaking.


If you squint in this photo, you can see the tower (gopuram) of the Shore Temple (which will be featured below) near the horizon, about one-fourth away from the left frame of the photo.

Below is a photo of three of the Five Rathas, monolothic, un-consecrated temples. Tickets must be purchased to visit these, and the price varies depending on whether you are Indian or a "foreigner." My cousin bought Indian-priced tickets for all of us, and told me to keep my mouth shut until we entered the compound, because had I spoken, I would have outed myself with my accent. Humorous anecdote aside, these five temples are pretty amazing.

This is a carving on the side of one of the temples, depicting Ardhanarishwara, a deity who is half-male (the left half) and half-female (the right half). Apparently it's a really great example of Pallava sculpture.

Next we visited Shore Temple, a Shiva temple located on, well, the shore. Legend has it that this is one of 3-5 shore temples in total, and all but this one are no submerged underwater. Legend also has it that before the tsunami hit this coast, when the tide was going unnaturally far out, one or two of the other shore temples were revealed. Pretty cool stuff.

Hello, gorgeous Bay of Bengal

Because this is a Shiva temple, small Nandi sculptures line the perimeter wall of the temple. In this gorgeous shot, I was able to capture the silhouettes of these Nandis.

Beloved

It took me weeks to finish reading Toni Morrison's Beloved. I began reading it right as I was leaving India, and only finished it up last week. Chalk the slow pace up to its being a bit impenetrable at times. The book was very good overall, but if I were to try to piece together the plot meticulously, I'd still be baffled. Since I've chosen instead to focus on the themes presented in the novel and the moments of breathtaking writing in it, I'm mostly just happy I finished it. As I am wont to do with nearly everything I read, I dog-eared the pages containing lines that made me swoon as I read. Unfortunately, since I never underline or highlight said lines, I have to search for them on the dog-eared pages after I read the book and blog about it. So the following are (hopefully) my absolute favorite quotations from this book:

"...but even when she said it she was thinking how much her eyes enjoyed looking in his face." (46)

"She shook her head from side to side, resigned to her rebellious brain. Why was there nothing it refused? No misery, no regret, no hateful picture too rotten to accept? Like a greedy child it snatched everything. Just once, could it say, No thank you? I just ate and can't hold another bite?...But her brain was not interested in the future. Loaded with the past and hungry for more, it left her no room to imagine, let alone plan for, the next day." (70)

"He sat down beside her. Sethe looked at him. In that unlit daylight his face, bronzed and reduced to its bones, smoothed her heart down." (71) I lovelove the cadences created by the first two short sentences, and then the concept of a face smoothing someone's heart down, the same way I love the concept of eyes enjoying looking at a face. The idea that beauty can be comprehended severally by your senses and not just in a lump experience by your brain.

"Sethe rubbed and rubbed, pressing the work cloth and the stony curves that made up his knee. She hoped it calmed him as it did her. Like kneading bread...Working dough. Working, working dough. Nothing better than that to start the day's serious work of beating back the past." (73) This excerpt ended a chapter. An ending like that--it just makes me go "mm."

"...she wanted Paul D. No matter what he told and knew, she wanted him in her life....Trust and rememory, yes, the way she believed it could be when he cradled her before the cooking stove. The weight and angle of him; the true-to-life beard hair on him; arched back, educated hands. His waiting eyes and awful human power. The mind of him that knew her own. Her story was bearable because it was his as well--to tell, to refine and tell again. The things neither knew about the other--the things neither had word-shapes for--well, it would come in time..." (99) What a fantastic description of the things one can love about a man, and the way lovers can begin to occupy spaces in one another's lives.

"I'll plant carrots just so she can see them, and turnips. Have you ever seen one, baby? A prettier thing God never made. White and purple with a tender tail and a hard head. Feels good when you hold it in your hand and smells like the creek when it floods, bitter but happy." (201) Who else could write so evocatively about a turnip, for goodness' sake! This excerpt makes me want to hold one, see one, smell one, so much.

"There are too many things to feel about this woman. His head hurts. Suddenly he remembers Sixo trying to describe what he felt about the Thirty-Mile Woman. 'She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It's good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind.'" (272-273) I so desperately want to be described this way one day, as a woman about whom there is too much to feel, a woman who can gather a man's (or anyone's, for that matter) pieces and give them back in the right order. Mm.

"He wants to put his story next to hers." (273) Again, an amazing way to conceptualize (ugh this is not the right term; where is all my language gone?) love and marriage--putting your stories together.

NOTE: Boldface and italics were added by me, and were not in the original text.

Now You're in New York

Just because I haven't blogged about my India trip as promised (so much for putting pressure on myself; who was I kidding? Seriously, though, I will blog about it. Someday.) doesn't mean I can't write about the trip I'm currently on: visiting a friend from high school (and middle school) in New York City for a week! I was really excited when I first scheduled the trip, and I'm still definitely happy to be here, but upon consideration, I've decided that my trip here is too long: it spreads out the excitement a bit too thinly. Additionally, going to a tourist mecca like New York and staying with someone for whom this is just home dissipates a bit of the excitement of being in said tourist mecca. Still, I'm enjoying myself here, and have seen some wonderful things. For which reason I'm writing this post. So here we go:

The first night I was here (Monday), my friend and I had dumplings in Chinatown for dinner, which was pretty delicious. We then had our obligatory bubble tea and then sat around her apartment for a while before getting dolled up for a [Monday] night on the town! It was the birthday of two of my friend's friends, so we went to an Asian-themed bar called Forbidden City, where I imbibed a little. One of my drinks, called the Red Lotus, is pictured below. It had a lychee at the bottom!

The next day was cold and rainy, so we spent it inside at the Metropolitan Museum of Art!

This place is GORGEOUS, top to bottom. Beautiful architecture, amazing detailing in the ceilings and walls and everywhere, and the art is to die for. I really enjoyed this day, but by the time we got back to Katherine's apartment cold and a little wet, all I wanted to do was curl up with a movie and take-out, so we did just that: Thai food and The Time Traveler's Wife, which was a nice chick flick.

Katherine was busy the next day, so I ventured out into the city by myself. I was a bit nervous, but with the expert advice of hopstop.com, which gives public transit directions for many cities, I got to and from the New York Public Library, which took my breath away repeatedly with its sheer beauty, safely. The library is celebrating its centennial next year, so the front of it was covered in drapes while it was being cleaned, as a result of which I couldn't get a great shot of it. Notice in the picture below, though, the lion (one of two) in front of the steps leading up to the library. Mayor LaGuardia (whose namesake is one of the two airports here in NYC) named them Patience and Fortitude, because he thought those were the qualities New Yorkers would need to survive the Great Depression. I spent the majority of my afternoon in the library, part of it on a free public tour, and part of it just walking around and marveling. Trust me: there was much at which to marvel. Beautiful!

Thursday afternoon (we've been skipping breakfast altogether and starting our days around lunchtime), Katherine and I went to SoHo, a district known for shopping and food (sounds like a lot of other districts...). We ate fusion dosas (Indian rice crepes, often stuffed with curried potatoes) at Hampton Chutney Co. I wasn't terribly impressed with the food, but it was an interesting experience nevertheless. We then browsed the stores in SoHo. I bought a slightly unnecessary shirt at H&M, but not much else.
We swung by NYU, Katherine's alma mater, and Washington Square Park on our way back to her apartment. The park is really beautiful, with the gorgeous arch depicted below being the standout feature. Similar to our tradition with the Sallyport at Rice, students at NYU aren't supposed to walk under the arch in Washington Square Park at all until they've graduated. Katherine and I walked under it together, officially marking her graduation from NYU!

Special note: outside of Washington Square Park is one of my favorite things, so far, in this city: A DOSA CART! Two men stand there and whip up masala dosas (as I mentioned before, that is an Indian rice crepe stuffed with curried potatoes). I haven't tried out the cart yet, but I plan to before I head back home.

Next on our trip back to her apartment was the Strand, a bookstore the logo of which is very recognizable (red oval, white lettering, says "The New York City Strand: 18 Miles of Books"). This place had TONS of books, and as I was browsing the fiction stacks, I realized that they probably carried one of my favorite books that was stolen along with the rest of the contents of my friend's gym bag when I let her borrow it. So I asked the friendly people who worked there if they carried The Tale of Murasaki and they sure did! This was probably my favorite purchase so far of the trip. = )

Thursday night I had the best burger ever at the Shake Shack, located in Madison Square Park. This thing didn't have a veggie patty; instead, it contained a portobello mushroom coated in cheese...and deep fried. Sounds horrible for your health, and probably is, but it's also incredibly tasty. The Shake Shack also has great custard desserts called Concretes, because they're theoretically thick as concrete. They start with a normal flavor of custard, and you get to choose your "mix-ins." Amazing! Go here when you come to NYC.
Katherine was also busy on Friday, so I spent the afternoon (which started out so hot I really thought I would melt) in Times Square and Rockefeller Center. Here are the obligatory shots of the billboards and digital displays of Times Square:

I explored the flagship Toys'R'Us, which has an actual ferris wheel contained within the store. Kind of amazing. My favorite part of the store, though, was the public restroom on the top floor. I was beginning to get desperate when this one came into view. Yay for Toys'R'Us. I also explored the M&Ms store (three floors of merchandise dedicated to M&Ms! Amazing), which put the nearby Hershey's store (one floor and tiny) to shame. The other stores I visited (Gap, American Eagle) were not quite as impressive. I caught a glimpse of the inside of the under-construction flagship Forever 21, and it was CAVERNOUS. I actually thought I was confused for a second and was looking into an under-construction hotel lobby. That's how huge it was. I wish it had been open while I was in Times Square...

It took me a while to find Rockefeller Center, but with the help of the handy dandy map I procured at the visitor's center in Times Square (go there when you're here, too; it's useful for good maps), I eventually got there. Back in 2006 when I visited NYC with my family, my Dad and I woke up at 5 AM or so on two consecutive mornings in order to be part of the crowd that cheers during the Today Show. This show was a big part of my life growing up. I would wake up to the opening strains of the theme song every morning during middle school, and I almost always watched it in the mornings before going to school. I'm not as into it anymore (Katie Couric is gone, and she was my childhood idol!), but it still holds a special place in my heart, as does Rockefeller Center. So it was fun being there and just looking around. Also enjoyable is the NBC experience store, which contains memorabilia for tons of NBC shows, from The Office to Saved by the Bell to Friends to The Today Show. Check out the clearance section! Here's a shot of me in front of Rockefeller Plaza. I look a little dumb, but I guess that's okay. It was still very sunny and pretty hot at the time:

And that has been my trip so far. Think of this as my halfway-done report. I still will have to blog about today (Saturday), Sunday, and Monday. Sneak preview: today we saw the financial district in downtown Manhattan, and tomorrow we're seeing an off-Broadway play: Avenue Q! Exciting!

Note: Post title lifted from, of course, "Empire State of Mind."