A to B - Pondicherry to Mamallapuram:
A crowded bus to Madras was our transport to Mamallapuram, a sea-side resort half way through the bus's journey. Embarkation was interesting: picture the scene at Pondy; 50 people plus 2 westerners with backpacks trying to get out of the bus while 50 Indians try to get on the bus all within the space of about 12 seconds... It was not a pretty sight!
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A stone chipping village, tucked on the coast just below Chennai, is classic India. For thousands of years the locals have worked on unyeilding granite to create exquisite sculptures. Animals and gods belie their stone hearts to seduce with their fluidity of form. And when they created their temples, they carved them using the same techniques onto granite outcrops, prominent for miles in the flat landscape.

Shrines within boulders, cliff faces cajoled into a cascade of tumbling figures and the delicate shore temple so light on its sand feet.

Carvers work all day. slowly define forms from faceless rocks, the sound of hammer on chisel and the resistant clang of the stone echoes through the air.

An industrious chatter, the pulse of the village.

Drawing both Indian and foreign tourists, the crowd segregate into their own quarters.

The Westerners with trendy bars pulsing seductive sounds, the Indian day trippers from Chennai, haggling over brass pots, cheap silver and games of chance with opportunistic beach vendors.

Eventually, you feel this peripheral activity will ebb away leaving the village to chip chip chip away at new visions in stone.