On the road

We first drove south from Chennai -- in driving rain. That soon stopped though and when we reached Dakshina Chitra an hour later, you couldn't tell it had rained. But then maybe it hadn't, there. And the weather remained clear and dry for all the rest of our stay. From Chennai to Mamallapuram we drove along the coast with the Indian Ocean visible every now and then across the land and the dunes. After Mamallapuram, we turned inland towards Tiruvannamali. That is where we saw with our own eyes that this region is the rice bowl of India, or at least one of them. Machinery is rare. Most plowing is done with bullocks, planting and transplanting are done by hand, and separating is usually done by hand.


Plowing rice paddy	Transplanting young plants

Separating grains mechanically	Plowing with bullocks

Porting on her head	Workers in rice paddy

Our wonderful driver, Senthil, with Siv	Well-loaded bullock cart (being passed)

Beautiful landscape	Working in the paddy

Two days later, driving south-east from Tiruvannamalai, the scenery was somewhat different. There were still many rice paddies, where it was wet, but more sugar cane, cotton, mango trees, nut trees and other crops. It was quite impressive for descendants of farmers like Siv and myself.


A typically-loaded Indian truck	Girls' exercise class

A roadside shrine to the Tamil god Aiyannar

Carrying cane	Threshing?

A load of bananas	"Praise the Lord!" (He doesn't mention which one.)

Cotton field	Mango trees

The road goes on...

Back to home page/accueil or to India 2008 Tamil Nadu tour