Day 48-50: Madurai — IndefinitelyOOO

We might have been a little sad to say au revoir to Pondy and its breath-taking breakfasts, lunches and dinners. We were sadder still when our 10pm Uber texted to cancel our journey 20 minutes before we were due to leave and we were staring down the barrel of a missed train and a hefty car hire bill to Madurai – and the temple to end all temples – the six hectare Meenakshi Amman temple complex. A few frantic digital pleas to other hopefully nearby Ubers got us to the station with moments to spare only for the train to roll in an hour later. Of course. Still, we were thankful for our bunks for the overnight journey and the absence of an unexpected hotel bill and a 10,000 rupee taxi fare.

Arriving anywhere at 6am doesn’t tend to present a place’s ‘best side’ and the area around a town’s train station only serves to amplify the ugly in many cases. In Madurai’s case certainly. It felt like we were back to India’s everyday reality with a bang as we stumbled through the dawn light to our very average guesthouse. Dust, horns, dirt – all the hallmarks of a working city and the India we knew well by now (and for better or worse loved) but it did feel hard to acclimatise being, as we were, fresh and clean from our week at the seaside.

One of twelve gate towers that ring the Meenakshi temple

There was of course only one thing for it. Embrace the early hour and make like a pilgrim to the dozens of temples which were a twenty minute walk away.

Meenakshi – the fish eyed and triple breasted warrior goddess – has quite the abode. The complex has four entrances, each with something to recommend it – ours had a blue bull (Shiva’s choice of vehicle) which Indian visitors all touched on the head as they passed. The colourfulness of everything is what’s most striking – not least because so many of the structures date from the 1500s. That and the sheer intricacy. Hundreds of faces and scenes stretch over each of the temple facades, multi coloured and mesmeric if the agog gazes are anything to go by.

Just a we were leaving (we’d been there 3 hours and it was still only 10.30) we were casually passed by the temple elephant. It was magnificent at first sight. Draped in temple finery and gold jewelry. People rushed impatiently to feed it money and have its trunk touch their heads by way of blessing. But on second sight its haunches looked red raw and chains dragged on its hind legs. On our way home we googled to find out more about the conditions for temple elephants – surely that meant they would be more prized and well cared for…? It seems not and whilst there were moves by the local government a few years ago to ensure better standards and even an elephant retreat for them to ensure they had the space they needed to wander outside of the temple confines, this has never come to fruition shamefully.

We had in truth only come for the temples and whilst I worry in hindsight that our opinion of Madurai might have suffered because of glimpse of coast and slower pace of life we'd just experienced I'd be fibbing if I said we weren’t ready for Christmas a deux in Varkala and our first taste of Kerala.

First impressions of Madurai are not good. Overnight trains hold no fears for us at this stage but usually because of the anticipation of new thrills and adventures on arrival. Likewise we’re well used to dust, dirt, seething humanity and municipal ugliness but Madurai is dismal even by these standards.

There’s only one thing of note here (with apologies to anyone who knows better, I accept we might not be giving the place its due) and that’s the huge 14th century Meenakshi temple complex, dedicated to Parvati, wife of Lord Shiva. The temple buildings cover an area the size of fifteen football fields, and the imposing perimeter walls are punctuated by twelve gate towers that reach 50 metres into the sky, each one covered in thousands of carved and gaudily painted idols. It’s a riot of colour and intricate detail, starkly at odds with the grubby hues of the town that butts up against the walls.

The place is packed with pilgrims and as we follow them in, it’s clear this is a working temple, not just a historical monument. The Hall Of A Thousand Pillars throngs with people, queuing for blessings and vendors sell trinkets and bric a brac from the bazaar stalls within the temple itself as they have for centuries. It’s noisy and lively and worship is upbeat and enthusiastic. We meet a temple elephant inside, though, miserable and abused and this badly upsets us both. Furiously reading up on the subject, it’s clear that this is all too common although it should be pointed out, not universal. Many temple elephants are revered and live fine and happy lives of leisure. Still, the encounter does nothing to warm us to Madurai. It was definitely an interesting experience and the scale of the temple is impressive but on balance, we’re very happy to be moving on, putting Madurai behind us and looking forward to finishing this coast-to-coast stretch of our journey and reaching Kerala in time for Christmas.