Temple Doubt

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Templed out

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So a day at Patta Dakal and Aihole

Which isn’t pronounced a cheap a-hole… but a more expensive i-holy

Both ex-capitals of the Chalukya Empire

And Aihole about as ex as ex can be whilst still just about being there

100 temples in one smallish valley

And Patta Dakal a grand complex of temples

Which would be very good-looking except we are

Templed out

We’ve seen so many we can’t see anymore

We did a count and we reckon we’ve been to about 70

The numbers vary on whether you call A-Hole or Hampi or wherever 20 temples or 5 or 1

But whatever

Its a lot

Its too many

And I’d recommend the temple run across Tamil Nadu to everyone

But we’ve seen so many we can’t see anymore

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And I reckon 16 or so of those are great, just marvelous, including Pattadakal today

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And for a crowded living thronged temple, the big one in Trichy

And for most beautiful, the one in Tanjore

And for a place, Hampi, for a nice easy tourist zone

Or Kumbakonam, less cos it was a great town but it was a number of great temples easily placed in a town with nothing much else to write a blog about

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But we’re done, cooked, temple toast

We cannot see any more

So many gorgeous carvings of women and men

And ganesh and shiva

So many intricate friezes

And mandapams and stairways and lingams and swastiks and elephants and carved pillars and nandis and snakes and lion-heads

So many we…

can’t see them anymore

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And this, around Badami, is supposedly the place where the style first evolved

So its not a bad place to finish

… and next to me is ...not another bloke writing a reply to the dear jon letter he got from a foreign girl he met

Which has happened twice in India

no this time its a bloke photoshopping around with a picture he took of a pretty female tourist, not posing or noticing camera is there, walking down some old brownstone stairs

cos people take photos of us all the time... and we say no to all but the smily families cos its a pain, and its not friendly, its frequently taking the piss... and we don't care

though when its a family and it makes them all happy we're pleased to

and they particularly take pictures of Priscilla, who's had enough

and i wonder how many of those who've taken the photos then get busy on photoshop

and for what end...

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