I'll get you my pretties....

Yesterday, some of the group made a site visit to the Government hospital at Tirchengodu, so we took the chance to visit the temple there, which like the temple at Trichy, is high up on a rock mountain. I don't know if i mentioned this before, but the geography here is insane. It is pan flat, except for these gigantic red-gold sandstone outcroppings just plopped, it seems, at random. If you were ever unsure that India used to be attached to Madagascar (and Mozambique) then you just need to see the landscape. For those of you who have seen pictures of either of these places, you will see the similarities. The rock outcroppings are impossibly steep, sometimes cut at angles that seem very unlikely to have been created by movements of water, techtonic shift, or really anything else geological at all- maybe more lunar. I guess for this reason, the towns are centered around these mini-mountains with either a fort or temple (or both) near the summit. Since very ancient times here, it seems these areas have been both sacred and very practical for defense purposes to the people living here. The temple at Tirchingodu is no exception. Since it was quite hot out (when is it not, really) Antony and Anandhi decided we should take the bus to the top. I really wanted to walk up the several hundred (or maybe 1000 steps to the top). They protested, so I said I'd meet them up there, but then Antony came with so that i wouldn't be alone. They were very worried that I, the white American, would not be able to manage this climb in the 100 degree heat. I, the American who works out daily, was worried that these flat-landers, whose exercise is walking to work, would not be able to make the climb, or would take an hour to do it. So, Antony and I set out by foot, leaving Anandani and Anandhi at the bus stop with plans to meet at the top. Antony set out quickly, becoming out of breath at the first turn of the stairs, and I asked him to slow down because I could tell this might end badly otherwise. We stopped for rest at a small shrine 1/2 way, where a woman in a very beautiful, gold threaded saree was lying down, nearly fainting- and so we gave her husband water for her. They told us that they were newly married and so they were making the pilgramage to the top, as is traditional for newlyweds, except that she was also pregnant (pregnancy, heat, and 9meters of gold fabric wrapped around you= bad idea). As we started again, Antony kept telling me he would have to take the bus down because his legs were hurting and he was very tired...mmmm..somehow I was doing fine.
I made him promise that in the future they wouldn't be so protective of me- whenever we walk anywhere, our friends are constantly worrying that my lazy, pampered American body won't take a 15 min walk, can't carry my own bag, or deal with the heat- their conception is that I drive everywhere and so I must not be used to this. (That, and they somehow think that just cause I have light skin I've never seen sun...I don't think they realize that no matter how much sun I get I don't turn dark... I think to them it's not so much that we were born looking different but that they're dark because they've lived 25 years in sun and my light skin is just an absence of tanning an not a hereditary difference).
Anyway...as we got near the top, there were monkeys and monkeys- sitting on the steps, hanging from the trees...they came towards us and Antony took my bag and held it tight so that they wouldn't get at it. I knew they were pests, but I didn't realize that we should be scared...but they didn't really approach us. I yelled at one and it hissed back...which frightened me, but they left us alone.
At the top, we got cold drinks and waited for the bus to bring the other girls up (yes, we got up in 35 mins and they took 1hr by bus). People leaving the temple gave us packets of rice wrapped in banana leaf that they had brought to be blessed and then distributed to the devotees coming in (this confused me- I am only used people giving food to the poor, but somehow we ended up w/ 5 packets of dinners). The 4 of use then entered the temple, went to the various shrines, and observed the ceremony of the newlywed couple- they placed flower garlands over eachothers heads and then received a prayer from the priest. Then we headed down by the stairs after stopping to wash our feet at the tap.
There was a monkey sitting about 4 feet above me at the tap, looking the other way. I splashed him with some water to see if I could get him to go away...but this unfortunately caused him to turn quickly and jump- AT ME. or well, at the water faucet where I had been until I ran. Believe me- these are not cute monkeys that you feed- these are scarey thieves that will bite you if you don't give them your bags (even if you don't have food in them...and oh yeah, we had 5 bags of rice). But, this monkey just turned the tap back on and proceded to drink the water from his place above on the wall...I was safe...from this one. We dediced to quickly descend. We were a little sad actually that the monkeys had all disappeared from where we had seen them on the ascent. But then they appeared a bit lower down... they started all coming towards us- maybe 15 of them...coming from all sides. So Antony took off his show and started growling at them. This made them very mad and the nearest one growled back. I started praying..."Oh please...don't let me get a monkey bite and have to fly to Dehli to get the rabies immunoglobulin and then 5 rabies vaccines....oh please". The couple ahead of us told us just to hold our bags close and pick up sticks and walk quietly....that they would only be threatened if we yelled at them. So we picked up sticks and quietly went down.... the monkeys just sat and looked at us. We threw some rice into the bushes. I threw In old shoe I found into the bushes...they just sat and looked at us. But none of them came closer....Some of the moms were tumbling with the babies and they looked so cute, but we just kept going down quickly....we didn't want to get fooled by monkey cuteness. Thankfully, we descended to the level below which the monkeys don't go without any problems....I think that it would have been ok had I not splashed the monkey and had Antony not yelled at them....maybe they wouldn't have been so defensive. The whole time I was thinking about The Wizard of OZ and the scene where they are in the Wicked Witch's castle with the monkeys all around them. "I'll get you my pretties....."
The rest of the trip home was fine. The priest at the bottom shrine offered a puja for my family since I'm a traveller....and then he charged us 20 rupess for his efforts....very nice of him. I wonder if some of the priests here take off their little loincloths and put on a nice silk suit and drive away at the end of the day...