Chennai, Catholic Churches, and Chutney

Chennai - a city on the Bay of Bengal - took Deepa and I hostage for some great experiences for the past 3 days. To begin with, we got an aruyvedic massage which I had been pushing for. We went to the place Deep's uncle recommended and I was a bit skeptical at first because they take your temperature and prescribe oils for you - the "dr." wasn't able to tell me WHY he assigned certain oils to me. I got over that, though, but got even more weirded out when , on massage day, Deepa went first and she simply said "th e massage was interesting."
Relaxing, comforting, wonderful, amazing...these are words she should have uttered. Certainly not "interesting"
That was my second clue I was in for a treat. Here's the massage (all that I haven't repressed) in time order:
1 - take off nearly everything
2 - lay down on your back on a table
3 - have warm/hot oil rubbed into your head
4 - beg the woman not to put that oil on your face because you wear contacts.
5 - act out what contacts are
6 - have oil poured over your entire body and rubbed in
7 - listen to this "thump, thump, thump" noise
8 - feel burning hot packs of something being used to soak up oil
9- flip and have it done to the other side - burning packs and all
9 - get a bath from the woman

Dear lord. It was all I could do but crack up when I was laying there, with this foriegn woman rubbing oil over myself, thinking about Deepa's response "it was interesting" and knowing this paid-for-out-of-comfort zone experience was her first massage. We were happy to have a shower and change our clothes after that one. Ms. P - don't tell Ramanuncle we didn't like the massages - he raved about the place and goes monthly :)

Other than the massage, we had a GREAT time in Chennai and adored the little beach town. Deepa's Ramanuncle, who grew up there, showed us all around - on foot, in city buses, in rickshaws - and provided a grassroots experience. We watched the sunrise and set on the 2nd longest beach in the world! It was truly beautiful when looking at the water...the waves were hecka long (love the Cali lingo?!?!). Unfortunately it wasn't exactly a place you would want to walk without shoes because there were human feces all over the beach since it's now the bathroom for the tsunami victims who haven't sprung back yet. :(
We also went to the Malliballipuram Shore temples which were benefited by the tsumani as it uncovered a lot of new carvings and things of that nature. The temples were beautiful and were the 2nd largest carving in stone to Angkor Wat.

Went to a catholic church and I was the tour guide there. So we walked in and I noticed people were dressed rather nicely, but I just took Deepa and he Uncle to a pew and explained how to kneel and explained they could pray for whatever they felt the need to. Then, a huge camera with a big light came in and I told them that wasn't norlmal at all. Next, a bride and groom came down the aisle!!! Haha. We got out of there rather quickly :) It was neat to see, though, because in India, white symbolizes death and so the bride wore a bright red sari and a white veil.
Also, in most Hindu temples, the gods are dressed in new outfits daily, so the Mother Mary was also dressed daily in a new Sari! Mom - take notes for church :)

We left Ramanuncle last evening and are now in Mysore. Aside from the fact that we have a nice but really annoying guide, everything is wonderful. We went to Sringparam - an old palace which has a lot of beautiful old paintings and are off to see everything possible tomorrow. Items on the agenda: fruit market, local palace, silk factory, music museum.