Southbound

An hour’s southbound drive from Chennai on the ”Scenic East Coast Toll Road” took us to Ideal Beach Resort run by the ”price winning tea planter and hotel owner from Sri Lanka”, Mr Dharmalingam (he’s waiting to hear from us). In the distance, almost like a mirage, the famous shore temple of Mahaballipuram seems to ride on the waves of the Bay of Bengal. Ideal is a truly self-contained resort with little integration with the surrounding fishing villages. This area was severely hit by the Tsunami but inside the resort there are no traces or reminders of it. The rooms are big and airy, and very good value for the money. On the other hand the signboards at the straw-mat village huts and the fishing boats are painted with promotional brand names of various foreign and domestic NGO’s contributing to the relief and rehabilitation. The resort property stretches all the way down to the sea and occasionally villagers will position themselves along the property line flashing various merchandise, hoping that a tourist will make an effort to leave the hammock and shop. Having said that, the place is comfortable, well-run and relaxing although the service can be very slow and sometimes hard to employ. During the monsoon the sea does not lend itself to swimming with a strong surf and under currents. But there is a good swimming pool where the kids spend most of their time. So far the weather has been good. Mahaballipuram is famous for its stone sculpturing craftsmen, a profession that that seems to go back a couple of milleniums in the history of this village. Some of the most famous rock sculptures in India are found here but we have yet to admire them. It’s six kilometres away and to far for the kids to walk.

Saw a great brand name intrusion in an ad in today’s Deccan Chronicle: ”Bigapple brand new Intel computers, from Rs 6 995/-”, a bad version of the first iMacs., and a decade too late!