The Apostle Who Chose India

Interior of the San Thome Basilica, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Here’s a church for a change.

Would you believe it, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ actually chose India of all places to spread the gospel? I dunno whether he really ‘chose’ India or was ‘assigned’ India among his fellow apostles, but that’s where he ended up in. That’s what matters, right?

O yeah, St Thomas sailed to India sometime after Jesus’ crucifixion and ascension to heaven, and landed in the now Indian state of Kerala. He established 7½ churches in India before passing away in what is now an area inside the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. There are different accounts of how he died. Some said that he was accidentally shot, with a spear, some said that he was intentionally killed, and some said that he died naturally. This was in the first century, so I doubt there’s much of a CSI: Chennai, or a decent detective then. Heck, maybe there wasn’t even paper to write the report in? When was paper invented by the way?

Now, St Thomas is regularly regarded as the patron saint of India. Part of his body (relics) remains in India (at this church), and is now a pilgrimage site for many. See my earlier post, On a Pilgrimage Spree.






More views of the San Thome Basilica, Chennai

Slightly South

Kapaleeshwarar Temple, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Here’s another quick picture post. My ideas are really lame nowadays, and I’m not making any excuses for it. Thought that since I’m already on South Indian temples, I’d throw these in as well. Hope at least the pictures will entertain! hee :]

These are pictures of a temple located a little south of the Tirumala temple, across the state border, in Tamil Nadu state, in its capital city, Chennai (aka Madras). This temple is best remembered for the place we almost lost Justin! Dad and mom being avid shutterbugs, immediately set to work with our cameras and phones upon entering the temple compound, while Justin being an avid explorer, had other ideas in mind.

Minutes later, we were frantically calling out for Justin, and started looking for him. There were lots of people around (hey, this is India after all, there’re lots of people everywhere OK?), so it ain’t easy. Luckily, we saw a priest happily letting him out of a temple, not too long after that. He must have snuck in with the crowd while we were busy.

He’s the only one among us, who went into the temple. We left after that as it was sort of a halfway stop for us, en route to Chennai’s Koyambedu Bus Terminal to catch a bus to Tirupati.


Entrance gate (gopuram) of the temple. Gopuram are a standard feature of South Indian Dravidian temple architecture


Close-up view of the gopura


Justin, catching a rest from his adventures in a hall at the temple




More views of the Kapaleeshwarar Temple, Chennai


A street scene in Chennai – Peters Road, Royapettah, where we stayed (Saravana Boutique Inn)

Tamil Nadu is like a separate country to India, language-wise. Here, you’re better off getting things done speaking in English, than Hindi. And Chennai is comparatively much cheaper than Sri Lanka, where we were at, just before Chennai. Dunno why the Indian authorities make it so hard for tourists to get a visa. For Sri Lanka, it’s just a few clicks of the mouse, pay online with the trusty credit card and it’s done, completed in a few minutes, in the comfort of your home. No wonder Sri Lanka is teeming with tourists!

On a Pilgrimage Spree

My blog’s becoming sort of like a social network messenger, with short announcements and tweets, only without the coverage and feedback. And I find that I’m drifting more and more towards short, easy to write messages, just to get it done with. And I’m strangely not bothered!?!? (maybe because I know that very few people read this now, hehe). I’m personally irritated with my slowly deteriorating standard of English. I no longer have the ideas or inspiration anymore, like before. And I bloody forget words, especially when I’m mid-sentence into a speech! I’m not confident of the meanings or spellings of certain words anymore (luckily, we have Google now). And the temptation to use short forms and emoticons are strong, but I’m resisting.

I keep thinking that one day next time, maybe when I retire from this inspiration-killing work, that my flair (and memory) will come back… But I dunno for sure?!? Maybe it’s because I’m short of time due to my commitments. Maybe it’s because I’ve stopped reading fiction for some time. Or maybe it’s just age catching up! Scary…

Anyway, it’s Shivratri in India (OK, it WAS Shivratri! Last week). I remember the long arduous trek we made up to Bhuvan Pahar (hill) in Assam ages ago on Shivratri (see blog entry ‘A Different Type of Trek’, Mar 2011), spending the night huddled together against the freezing wind and rain on the hill top, and scaling down the steep slopes of the hill to get down the next day due to the landslides that happened in the night and the unimaginable amount of people stuck (some going up, and some going down) on the hill trails. Our gang made it down that night, but there were a lot more unfortunate people who had to spend an additional night on the hill top before they could make it down.


Mom-in-law, offering prayers to Shiva, at Shingnapur’s Temple to Shani (the planet Saturn)

That was the start of a string of pilgrimages to Hindu sites we’ve taken ever since. Last January (2013), we decided to go on a pilgrimage spree, right before I was to finish my work at the Pune project. We started with the goddess of wealth, Mahalakshmi at the temple in Kolhapur. Then we made a trip to the Tirupati Balaji Temple in Andhra Pradesh while returning from a trip to Sri Lanka. And just before we left Daund for good, we made a trip to Shirdi to the abode of the original Sai Baba. And that’s not counting the non-Hindu sites we visited along the way. Written too much, I’ll let the pictures do the talking…




Mahalakshmi Temple, Kolhapur, Maharashtra


Tirupati Balaji Temple, Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh aka the most visited religious place on earth (that’s what claims say – 30 to 40 million people per year! Astounding!) Fancy being in a queue for 3 hours and being squeezed like sardines? This is the place to be.


In front of the famous Sai Baba Temple, Shirdi, Maharashtra – this was our second visit (first was in 2011), specially for the sake of my mom-in-law who visited us in Daund. This is the original Sai Baba, the one with the white beard and white bandanna, not the afro-haired Sai Baba known among Malaysians. The afro-haired one is supposed to be a reincarnation of this one. Shirdi is the top tourist spot around Pune for Hindus. No Hindus will give this place a miss if they have some time around Pune, after all it’s only 200 friggin km from Pune! (that’s considered near, by Indian standards). It’s slightly nearer from Daund – 160km.


Temple of Sai Baba, Shirdi, Maharashtra – the building with the golden roof behind the stalls – nope, wasn’t able to get a better pic, cameras not allowed in the temple


Shani Shingnapur – Temple to Shani (Saturn) a very potent god according to many – he can make or break you. Some Hindus even avoid praying to Shani for fear of offending him. It’s roughly halfway between Shirdi and Daund.


Mom-in-law at the Siddhivinayak Temple at Siddhatek. This is one of the 8 Ashtavinayak Temples (temples of the elephant-headed god Ganesh) around the Pune area. Legend has it that if one manages to visit all 8 in one day, all his wishes will come true. That's not difficult, ...if you have a helicopter. Nope, I didn’t tag along for this trip. We’ve been to Siddhitek before. Anu, Amrita and mom-in-law managed 3 out of the 8, the other 2 being Morgaon and Theur, both near our project road. So I guess they’ve got about 37.5 % chance of their wishes becoming true huh?

And now for the non-Hindu sites: -


Mahabodhi Tree, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka – this is the oldest living human-planted tree in the world with a recorded planting date – 288 BC! This tree is a direct descendant of the original Bodhi Tree in Bodhgaya, India (see blog entry ‘The Capital of Buddhism’, Mar 2007) where Buddha meditated under and gained enlightenment. The tree in India eventually died (thanks to a jealous wife – go ahead, look back at my previous entry hehe), and the Indians had to get a sapling back from this tree in Sri Lanka. I don’t have a better picture of it unfortunately coz we reached this temple after sunset!


Mihintale, Sri Lanka – the place where the son of India’s Emperor Ashoka met the then King of Sri Lanka and converted him, along with his country folks, to Buddhism. That rock at the back there was supposed to be where he landed (yeah, he came by air, people could fly then)


Temple of the Sacred Tooth, Kandy, Sri Lanka – this temple contains a tooth of the Lord Buddha (yeah, you heard right). Don’t ask me which tooth, OK?




San Thome Basilica, Chennai, India – houses the tomb of St Thomas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, one of the few churches in the world to actually have a tomb of an apostle.

...I think some of these sites deserve a special post by themselves. When I have the time, OK?