Sunday February 27

Most businesses are closed on this holy day. Heather, with her Lonely Planet guide to South India in hand, set off in search on the India Gate restaurant. We walked around the oldest Hindu temple in Thrissur, passed a herd of cows grazing in the middle of this huge traffic circle, up this street, down this street, left on this street, right on this street until we finally found the restaurant only to find that it was closed. Fortunately, the Modern Restaurant was open for idli, dosa, and chai.

We stopped in at another Hindu temple, removed our shoes, and entered as far as we could as only Hindus were allowed to enter. We milled around and walked perhaps two minutes and came across The Shrine Of Our Lady of Dolours Basilica. We arrived just a mass was ending. We removed out shoes and entered complete with our third eye and neck chakras dotted with red. It was a beautiful ornately decorated church with life size brightly colored statues of all the Christian deities. Heather was raised Catholic and hadn't been in a Catholic church in the recent past. We sat down in one of the many rows of benches and just sat and felt the presence of our surroundings. Heather sat with her hands resting on her knees with her thumbs and index fingers touching to form a mudra. She said she felt like kneeling and praying so I left to get a closed look at the church and she could find comfort in her prayers.

Where can you go and experience a Hindu temple and a Catholic basilica in a time span of a couple of minutes? Very moving moment.

We rested on the steps of the basilica and decided to walk back to the hotel and take advantage of Sunday like everyone else. Instead we took an indirect route as street vendors had set up shop in the storefronts of the businesses that were closed. We met many very nice people who all love to have their picture taken which we accommodated many times. Finally back at the Lucia and A/C.

A couple hours and a nap later we set out for dinner at a restaurant on the main circle near the hotel. After dinner we walked across the street to the park where the oldest Hindu temple is. In the distance we could hear music and we were lucky to be entertained by a free Sunday evening live dance and music event. We watched the end of the dance part and enjoyed the beautiful voice of a famous female Indian singer whose name is Vani Jayaram. She was accompanied by a three musicians playing the harmonium, the tabla, and the flute.

Tired from another day we headed back to the hotel and called it another wonderful day in India.