Senji to Vellore
December 11th 1995
We left Senji on the bus at about eleven on Monday morning to go to Vellore, where there was another fort that Jenny wanted to check out. The journey there was only two or three hours, including a change of buses on the way.
My first impression of Vellore was that it was an interesting and friendly town. There were lots of little shops across the road from where we got off the bus, selling all sorts of different things. And it wasn't hard to find a cheap hotel, close to the bus station and the fort.
Vellore fort was just on the edge of the town centre. It was an interesting place, with a moat all the way around and very reminiscent of a typical castle in Britain. It was built around the same sort of period as Senji fort, but when the British ran the country, they'd converted it into a typically british garrison and administrative headquarters.
Inside there were all sorts of buildings, including a court house and police headquarters and there was an old hindu temple right in the middle. The whole place had a strange sort of colonial feel to it.
In Vellore i bought a book called "Learn Tamil In 30 Days". It was just about the worst teach-yourself language book i've ever come across. I won't go into the gory details, but here's a couple of examples of the more useful parts of it:
Foreigner: Yonder. I see an elephant standing! How did it come here?
Guide: It is not a true elephant. It is a monolithic sculpture.
Foreigner: My eyes deceived me. The deftness of the hands of the sculptors is something marvellous.
Guide: Look at these stone chariots!
Foreigner: I have completely lost myself in the beauties of these sculptures.
Guide: See, numerous and the marvellously attractive figures cut on this rock.
Foreigner: My eyes are drinking deep in their beauty.
[.......]
(this next bit is about Madras's filthy, smelly and ugly beach)
Foreigner: Oh! What a beautiful beach!
Guide: This is one of the world's beautiful beaches.
Foreigner: There is no doubt about it.
[.......]
Foreigner: See there, the two kites are coming.
Guide: They come punctually.
Foreigner: See there, they eat the food offered by the priest.
Guide: They fly away again.
Foreigner: This is indeed a wonder. I have not witnessed so far a stranger incident.
[.......]
2nd Man: We the Americans know the high culture of Tamil Nadu.
(sure! "Taymil Naydoo? Is that in Texas?")
[.......]
Friend: What is your opinion about the Tamilians?
Foreigner: The Civilization of the Tamilians will not die so long as the world exists.
(!)
[.......]
1st Man: You speak Tamil well.
2nd Man: I learnt with the help of a book.
(obviously not this one!)