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Lunch with a priest’s family
The only way to taste true Tamil cuisine is to be fortunate enough to be invited for lunch with a family. We had that pleasure yesterday when we dined at the home of Kailas Deeksitar, a priest at the spectacular Chidambaram temple.
We were greeted by his wife, son and daughter. Both sons also serve as priests at the temple.
From this humble kitchen, just a corner of the single room in which the family lives, comes an array of delicious Tamil delicacies.
Behind the small house, a cow and her calf supply the household with milk, butter, yogurt and ghee.
We were treated to a traditional banana leaf meal, sitting cross-legged on the floor as we were served.
The meal was a classic South Indian lunch with a large portion of rice accompanied by dal, sambar dry spiced potatoes, two vegetable curries, a crunchy appalam and a sweet dessert made from semolina, ghee and LOTS of sugar!
Kailash presided and explained some of what we had seen during the morning ceremony.
Visit to Chidambaram
At Chidambaram temple, the group pauses for a portrait with the priest who performed the ceremony in which the ancient statue of the elephant-headed Ganesha is bathed with oil, milk, yogurt, honey, sandalwood, turmeric, fruit, rosewater and coconut water.
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Labor of Love at Chidambaram’s Orphanage
Just a few minutes outside of Chidambaram town is an orphanage built to house, care and educate special needs persons. All of the residents of this orphanage have challenges with mental development. Most of the residents are young but there are four elders as well. Sri Kailas Shankar Deeksitar, o...
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More on Chidambaram’s Siva Nataraja Temple
Sacred to Saivite Hindus the world over, this majestic temple complex sprawls over 40 acres and is dedicated to the Hindu god Siva. Here Siva manifests as Lord Nataraja, the Lord of Dance. Although there are many temples in South India dedicated to Siva, five among them are particularly special, ...
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Chidambaram’s Temple of Love
This afternoon we made our way further south leaving behind the French colonial town of Pondicherry and arriving a couple of hours later in the temple town of Chidambaram. Chidambaram is most well know for its Siva Nataraja temple. Truly it is a temple of love as all are welcome here and treated ...
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Eating with your hands
Eating with your hand is something that is common in Asia especially in India. The right hand is used and all meals are eaten with it. Today for lunch as part of our culinary journey we visited Sri Krishna Sweets, a restaurant in Pondicherry that is famous for its sweets on the ground floor of&he...
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Shopping excursion to FabIndia
One of the great shopping experiences in India is FabIndia. People got very excited.
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