| The last two weekends have been an unusual experience for me in sheer diversity of the environment I spent this time in. The first one was a routine business visit to Chennai, but that time, I chose to stay away from the city, at the beautiful Fisherman's Cove hotel and spent the weekend exploring some of the timeless beauty of the region. |
| The highlight of the trip was an excursion to the ancient town of Mahabalipuram visiting "" for the first time for me "" the marvellous monolithic stone carvings dating to the 6th and 7th century AD and then one of the most beautifully set temples on the sea coast of the town. In the same visit, I also came across the first of the two lighthouses I was destined to see in two consecutive weeks. |
| The last weekend was spent almost half a world away in the Galician region of north-west Spain in a small but beautiful coastal town named A Coruna. The town also has a rich history, though when compared with Madrid and Barcelona, it does not come anywhere close. |
| Perhaps the biggest current claim to fame A Coruna has is its amazing promenade across its coast line on the Atlantic Ocean that is reportedly the longest (9 km) in Europe. It is on this promenade I had the immense joy of taking long walks during the week, with one of the ends marked by a superlatively beautiful lighthouse. |
| As I looked out of my hotel window watching one of the most beautiful sunsets I had ever seen, with this lighthouse in the horizon, and a gentle sea undulating with its magical sounds just beneath, I could not help being thankful for my own good fortune to be able to experience such beauty in two very different parts of the world within eight days. At the same time, I also could not help lament the stark differences in these two parts of the world. |
| At Fisherman's Cove, it was with some difficulty I could get any serious information about the history of Mahabalipuram and the surrounding region including the famous weavers' town of Kancheepuram. |
| At A Coruna, on checking into my hotel room, I found a beautifully produced tome on the entire Galicia region giving information on its history, economy, geography, tourism, gastronomy, shopping, etc that was enticing enough to make a note to visit the region again on a more leisurely holiday. |
| At Mahabalipuram, the main stone frescoes were out in the open, exposed to the vagaries of nature as well as hundreds of local tourists that thronged the place, mercilessly touching the irreplaceable carvings and littering the place with all kinds of filth "" with not one guard or tourism department person in sight. |
| At no place, was there any legible historical description of the monuments, leaving a visitor to the mercy of dozens of emaciated "guides" willing to show the place around for as little as Rs 20! |
| Ironically, the only legible inscription, well guarded by a metallic net, was the dictate from the department of tourism or whatever mentioning that it was a crime to cause any damage to these monuments! |
| At A Coruna, I could easily walk up the lighthouse, and admire the incredible beauty of the vista from a vantage point. At Mahabalipuram, I was amused to discover that there was apparently a department of lighthouses, and could spot at least half a dozen official homes in the "compound" of the lighthouse. |
| Yet, the approach to this structure was unmarked, and access was through a stony, filthy path that needed to be "discovered" by an intrepid tourist. Not surprisingly, the lighthouse was also out-of-bounds to the visitors! |
| At Mahabalipuram, there was no sign of any decent shopping options to encourage purchase of the beautiful local stone carvings, or for that matter, even have a decent meal during lunch time. A Coruna has a beautifully maintained old-town, with cobbled streets having myriad quaint retail shops and countless cafes and bars! |
| No wonder, on the Mahabalipuram excursion, my wife and I could only spend about Rs 75 that included entrance to two monuments and two rounds of fresh coconut water. |
| At A Coruna, I am not telling! Would I go back to Mahabalipuram? Perhaps not. Would I come back to Galicia? Most probably! Is it any surprise that India gets less than a million real tourists from overseas (the rest are business visitors as well as NRIs) whereas smaller countries like Spain attract them in tens of millions?
Arvind@ksa-technopak.com |
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