St. Thomas Mount and Cyclone Jal
Today we ventured out in the rain and wind to visit St. Thomas Mount, a large hill that overlooks the city of Chennai, where St. Thomas the Apostle who came to evangelize in India was martyred. The view was amazing, even though we got pretty soaked out there. We retreated to the Eucharistic Adoration chapel, which was a lovely little chapel. We had to take our shoes off before entering any of the buildings on the Mount. It's definitely a cultural thing; I've never been in a Catholic church that asked for that until India. We also went to the main church, which probably could hold 50 people if some of them stood in the back--positively tiny, but lovely. Constructed in 1523, it holds the spot where St. Thomas was martyred. It also holds a painting of Mary that tradition holds was painted by St. Luke and a stone cross that was carved by St. Thomas.
I expected to attend Mass there at noon, but at 11:55, we (actually, only my driver understood) were told that Mass was canceled because of the sever weather. Power was out, but the power goes out all the time here, so I figured they'd just plug away with Mass anyway. Guess not. It did seem awfully dangerous up there on top of the Mount during the storm, so it was nice to get back to thehotel. When we went inside the main (tiny) church, the locals were saying a Rosary together in Tamil (the local language). I joined it (silently, in English); better than nothing. Actually, it was lovely to be there. Between the Rosary, some time in the Adoration chapel, and walking around outside in the storm looking at the various statues (including Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta), I had a lovely, spiritual morning. We also popped into the orphanage on the side of the Mount, where I bought stuff; money going to help the convent-run orphanage.
The roads here aren't designed or built to have drainage. No sewers, no sloping, nothing. So during monsoon season, highways that are usually 3-lane roads (but are usually 5-lane, because no one pays attention to the stripes) often go down to 1-lane roads because the rest is under water. No traffic for us today because it's Sunday and because our hotel is very close to the Mount. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow's commute. Cyclone Jal is scheduled to hit Chennai later this evening.
I'm expecting more power outtages here at the hotel. Earlier today, we had a bunch, but the generator kicked on after only a few minutes in the dark. Tonight, if it's an extended period, I feel prepared. My iPad is charged up, and my beloved husband put several nice, comforting movies on it for me, including Sense & Sensibility (the Emma Thompson version, of course), which has the lovely line spoken by Alan Rickman's character that I've been using as a mantra here when thing get rough. (In response to the youngest sister's question, "What's it like?") "The air is filled with spices..."
Indeed.