December 22

Prahladh and the driver picked us up around 8 and we went to see the Rock Fort - had to climb a few hundred steps to visit a Shiva temple and a ganesh temple. The views from the top were beautiful, and we were very interested to hear how Prahladh's father fixed the broken bell without breaking the bell tower. He had to resort to building a furnace inside the tower.

Next we visited the Lourdes Church on the St. Joseph campus. The church looks a bit like a temple... We also stopped on the way and bought a few trinkets in a souvenir store.

The highlight of the day was lunch at Prahladh's house. His mother prepared an excellent feast and we all had a lovely time and were sorry to leave, but tourism duty calls and we went to see Trichy's most famous site - the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Ranganathaswamy_Temple_(Srirangam). It had started to drizzle by then so we all wore our rain ponchos and walked barefoot in the mud - was quite fun. This is the first temple where we as non-hindus were barred from quite a few rooms so we did not get our share of ashes and dots.

The rain was getting worse so we left at 4:30, dropped Prahladh off at his parents and continued to Madurai. We were quite sad to say goodbye to Prahladh - he was great to be with and a most gracious host.

The way to Madurai is surprisingly modern - an almost continuous 4-lane highway. Of course you still get all the different wheeled- and foot-traffic and the occasional car which insists on going against the traffic but we made good time despite the rain and arrived at the hotel before 9pm. This hotel is much nice than the one in Trichy (and cheaper too), but the dinner was awful and expensive - you cannot win them all.

A guide will meet us tomorrow and show us the Madurai sties,. In teh evening we will fly to Banglaore, spend the night there and then drive on Thursday to meet Jaikumar and family in Hampi. So it's time to go to bed!