Tag Archives: Faife

amma ashram

A day at the ashram

Travelling by boat along the Kerala waterways from Kollam to Kochi, I decided to make a midway stop for a 24-hour visit to the Amritapuri Ashram. In Varkalla I’d met two former ashramites who’d told me enough about it to pique my curiosity, and as I didn’t even need to make a detour to visit […]

seamen

Great signs #3

A little salty for my taste.

Ke_4 007

Fear and Loathing in Varkalla

The story of a small, idyllic community changed irrevocably by tourism is one we see replicated time and time again across the world, and it’s a story written into the cliffs, the sea and the sand at Varkalla Beach. Against my better judgement I arrived here on Friday morning, aware of what I was letting […]

Ke_3 009

A visit to Sri Meenakshi

The Meenakshi Temple at Madurai is, as mentioned in the previous post, the main reason for visiting the city. It can be seen towering over the skyline for miles, glimpsed partially above houses and at the end of streets, or in its entirety from the numerous rooftop restaurants that crown the hotel strip. The temple […]

supreme

Behind the scenes at the Hotel Supreme

On Monday night Dad and I left Bangalore on an overnight sleeper train bound for Madurai, a city which is notable for the Meenakshi Temple and, as far as I can tell, not much else. Leaving the apartment for a new and unfamiliar place made me realise how much I’m thinking of it as home […]

Apartment exterior - corin.com

Welcome to the neighbourhood

It’s been a while now that I’ve been writing about the city and my adventures in it, without properly mentioning one of the most notable parts of my life here: the new apartment. It was sold completely unfurnished, and we’re filling it up piece by piece; even so, it’s not much to look at inside […]