somewhere in tamil nadu (train between madurai and chennai), monday 21 january

today, i rode an elephant. it was the coolest thing in the world! after watching 2 sets of the federer-berdych match in the morning, we had some idlys and sambar and dosai for breakfast, then headed back to the meenakshi temple. we wanted to go back and see it again in the daylight but i hesitated, afraid they'd make my life miserable again. the crowds were still there---more tourists, more pilgrims, more touts---but this time nobody bothered me. as soon as we got there, we looked for the temple yennai (elephant in tamil), hoping that this time i'd be able to take a picture of it blessing me. we found it in its shelter, so we asked the keeper/trainer if we could go in and he asked me in i wanted to ride it! i don't think i had ever seen one from so close-by. it's impressively big---and cute. the trainer asked the elephant to lie down and it took it an impossibly great effort to stretch its two hind legs and then bend them. when he did, it looked as if it were wearing think gray pjs---so loose was its skin. i put my right foot on the elephant's right front leg, hold onto its neck, and pushed myself up to ride it. sitting on it was surprisingly comfortable but i admit i was a bit scared in the beginning. the trainer asked me to grab the elephant by its ears tightly, but as it tried to stand up, it flapped its ears forward, away from me, so i let go. i thought the standing up process would be a lot more turbulent but it was super smooth. then the elephant threw its trunk back at me, as if asking for food, but i just tapped it and caressed it, and i think it liked it. anyway, it was awesome and pipi took a video and many photos of me on top and then being blessed, its heavy trunk resting on my head... super cool!

we spent the rest of the day at the super fresa taj gardens, the taj hotel in madurai. as our guide said, the place was a real oasis in the middle of crazy madurai. i swam, had drinks by the pool, got an ayurvedic massage and steam herbal bath, played karam in the garden, and had dinner in a beautiful terrace (no indian food!) with an amazing view of the city (from this point, it actually looked pretty!!).

now, we are in our last indian train on our way to chennai, our last stop before going back home. it's 10.30pm and they're about to shut the lights off... good night!