'He who litters opens evil's door'

At the weekend I braved the buses and visited Mamallapuram, a coastal town and World Heritage Site, with some interesting temples and an entertaining anti-litter campaign. My trusty LP guidebook describes this place as a traveller ghetto, so I turned up expecting to have a day off from being the only non-Indian in the village, but I soon realised that I am in a minority of foreigners daft enough to be travelling in this region at the hottest time of year, so the town was hardly bustling with backpackers. However there were plenty of Indian tourists and a good vibe, and I enjoyed wondering around taking in the temples and beautiful stone carvings. And eating an icecream- essential, of course, to cope with the heat.

The Shore Temple, Mamallapuram

One of many anti-litter signs in Mamallapuram.
I think we should get some of these up in the UK.

On Sunday I took a stroll down to one of Kanchipurams many temples (Kanchi goes by two other names - Temple City, because there are so many ancient temples, and Silk City, for the high quality silks produced here- you can't turn a corner in town without seeing at least 20 silk sari shops, and people come from many parts of India to get their saris in Kanchi). The rest of the 'must see' temples are further into town and not walkable from where I'm living, so I'm going to see these with Jeraraj when the RIDE driver can give us a lift.

The back entrance to the Devarajaswami Temple in Kanchipuram

On Friday, Anu, one of the ladies who works for RIDE, took me to see a house in the local neighbourhood that is part of a silk weaving cooperative and has a loom for making saris. There are quite a few women in the area who weave for a living as part of one of these cooperatives. Recent advances in the mechanics of the looms,where the pattern for the saris feeds in to the loom automatically, have helped reduce the number of children working in the silk industry, enabling them to attend school rather than stay at home working. It was an interesting walk around the neighbourhood with Anu, including stopping at her house, her neighbour's house and her uncle's house for cups of coffee. 

Anu at her house with her brother and parents

A loom which weaves two saris at once

In other news, it's still hideousy hot, and I'm still eating the most delicious food - the home-made yoghurt is helping with the heat from the food at least. Britto has promised me some cooking lessons while I'm here so I can hopefully share some of these South Indian delights when I get home!