Last Moments in Chennai

Saturday morning, Noel came over and gave my hair a much-needed trim in between one of our coffee-fueled boy discussions. Then I headed to my last session at the Mandiram and said goodbye to all my teachers.

I stopped by San Thome Cathedral because I'd heard it has some great iconography (Jesus on a lotus blossom, the Virgin Mary in a sari, etc.) but I couldn't find them anywhere. I walked into the museum out back, where fossils and bones and a bone shard from Saint Thomas--Doubting Thomas, that is--are all displayed in glass cases without climate control or other nods to modernity. I asked the man working there about the paintings and he informed me that they were being restored (in fact, the entire complex is being restored--morning mass was held in a tent) and sort of implied that they were in a basement nearby; I tried to get him to take me there but had no success. I asked if there were photos, and he led me to a locked(!) case to look at them. So basically, I could've thrown the bone shard into my backpack, but god forbid I touch the photo.

Rebecca and I met up with a group at Amethyst--a nice goodbye since we'd skipped dinner the night before, and Mick and I decided that their cappuccinos were the best in Chennai. So we each had two.