South India: A symphony of the senses

South India: a symphony of the senses.

When the flight finally landed in Chennai, it carried not only the 16 Air France retirees, but above all curious minds, comrades happy to be reunited - some of whom had long since lost touch - and new members of the Association who, from the very first evening, appreciated the conviviality of the "pot équipage" which was repeated at every stopover.

South India, that vast sub-continent, opens up to us with the grace of a Bharata Natyam dancer, whom we will have the pleasure of applauding one evening in the gardens of our Tanjore hotel.

From the outset, Chennai, the ancient Madras, captures us with its noisy, colorful effervescence. Its markets are overflowing with flowers, vegetables and fruit, some of it unknown. We get lost and find ourselves in the midst of deafening horns, fly-tipped stalls and the stench of garbage of all kinds. "Perfumes, colors and sounds respond to each other", as Baudelaire would say, but not for delicate ears and nostrils.

We then visit the Gandhi memorial on the edge of a long urban beach, where jackdaws compete for the day's catch, and graceful damsels in saris scare each other in the questionably pure Indian Ocean. The day continues in Mylapore, with its cathedral and Fort St. George, the most formidable military structure in British India.

The next day we set off due south, with Rabindranath Tagore's recommendation in mind:

"The traveler must knock on every door before reaching his own .

So we didn't hesitate to multiply our visits, sometimes deviating from the initial program: Villupuram, Mahabalipuram, where sculptures reveal history engraved in stone, the five Rathas, Cuddalore, Chidambaram, all the way to Pondicherry, where the French presence survives the disastrous Treaty of Paris through emblematic monuments that deserve better conservation. A detour to Auroville brings us face to face with the alliance of Indian spirituality and Proudhon's principles.

Madurai, cradle of the Tamil language, seduces us with its wealth of temples, the Shiva sunset ceremony, the sumptuous Tirumalai Nayak palace, and a nighttime tuk-tuk ride that will silence those who think retirees have lost their taste for risk...

As you move from Tamil Nadu to Kerala, the landscapes change, as do the traditions and cultures. This state boasts an enviable standard of living. Christians are well established here, and the fervor of the faithful is matched only by the beauty of their places of worship, in no way inferior to the multiple temples of a protean and complicated Indian Pantheon.

From the lush tea plantations of Munnar to the calm backwaters of Allepey, this region teaches us the art of slowing down, contemplating, tasting and sharing. At every stop, the faces we meet light up with a smile; outstretched hands offer spices, jasmine, traditional handicrafts, or simply a fragment of their soul to the less fortunate.

Cochin, our final destination, arrives too soon, and we'll have to leave the city incomplete for lack of time to explore it. But Tagore reminds us that

"The brilliance of the journey lies in the fact that it never really ends.

It's already nightfall, and as the plane takes off, a last smile spreads across our tired but delighted faces. This smile may be the very essence of South India: profound, indecipherable, but incredibly human.