A fter our tea plantation shoot in Munnar and our first afternoon shooting the banana market in Madaurai, we took to the streets for more amazing photography opportunities. Judging by the reception we received from the local population, the vegetable market in Madaurai doesn’t often see groups of camera toting westerners. At times we were inundated with requests for photos and offers of “please, come sit down, have a cup of tea”.
In Madauri we also visited Thirumalai Nayak Palace, a 17th-century palace with huge columns. Lisa noticed a group of school children and asked them to run back and forth. Andrew noticed Lisa’s activities and later I did too. After several “runs” we captured some nice, action images, then the group sat down with Lisa to review the photographs.
Madaurai, locally know as “temple town” has one of the most impressive and important of south India’s temples, Meenakshi temple, which dates back over 3,000 years. The temple’s four main towers and entrances each face one of the four cardinal directions. The tallest one, the southern tower, reaches nearly 170 feet. Inside, there are two main shrines — one dedicated to Goddess Parvati and the other to Lord Shiva. No “cameras” are allowed inside the temple, but cell phone photography is permitted, so we left our cameras in the bus and challenged ourselves to make images with our cell phone cameras.
In the late afternoon, a few tour participants who still had some energy and space on their memory cards, elected to stay and play with the last of the late afternoon light on the streets of Madaurai.
Lisa with her new found friends.
Meenakshi temple
