Marieke's Art of Living

HIGHLIGHTS:

Enjoy diverse cultures as we cross four States (Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Pondicherry), each with distinctive cultural traditions, exquisite architectural jewels, and rich, delicately scented cuisine headily fragrant, and an endlessly spiced varying feast for the senses.

From the Dravidian past, through various religious and political dynasties, the Chinese fishing and trade routes, the remnants of the Dutch, Portuguese and British colonial past to Syrian Christian and Jewish settlements and modern day advancements in health and education, there is much to absorb the adventurous traveller. The landscape you journey through is gorgeous.

Starting in Bangalore and ending in Chennai (Madras) there will be Special excursions, and events that include a Royal party in Mysore, the vibrant Temples of Madurai and Tirichurappali, exceptional cuisine and fascinating architecture in Chettinad.

The wonderful scenery of sculpted tea plantations and spice plantations of Periyar, a romantic night on converted rice-barges beguilingly poled and decked out in white calico and fresh jasmine, cooking demonstrations, Ayurvedic treatments, the charming colonial outpost of Pondicherry with remnant French influences, and special banquets and performances.

Karnataka

Karnataka lies in the Deccan Plateau and has Neolithic origins eventually becoming part of the Mauryan Empire, ruled by Emperor Ashoka. Over millennium, Karnataka was ruled by a series of Dynasties, and eventually consolidated before the Mughal Conquest in the 18th century. The rule of the state changed hands frequently before being incorporated into the British Raj, at the turn of the 19th century.

Now the fifth largest economy in India, which is still largely agrarian, yet its capital, Bangalore, the third-most populous city in India, accounts for 35% of India's software exports, and is also a major base for public sector manufacturing industries.

Lying south is the 'erstwhile' capital of the Mysore Maharajas, who ruled Mysore State from this royal city. Mysore is a city of palaces, gardens, shady avenues and sacred temples and retains its very wonderful old world charm and many cultural institutions, lovely markets, and superb woven silk production.

Tamil Nadu, Tiruchirappli + Chettinad

Tamil Nadu is one of the most prominent Hindu states of India, whose notable temples include those of Meenakshi and Tiruchirapalli also known as Trichy. Also on the banks of river Cauvery is the spectacular Ranganathaswamy, a big center of Hindu vashnav belief.

The Chettinad region is renowned for its numerous villages of wonderful mansions built by Chettiar traders who followed the expansion of the British Empire into SE Asia. Great entrepreneurs, they brought back Burma teak, rosewood, European tiles and decoration, and incorporated colonnaded courtyards with a wealth of wood sculpting.
Happily, the culinary pleasure here lasts from daybreak through dinner. Although the Chettiars are well known for their delicious vegetarian preparations, their repertoire of food items, unusually for Hindus, is famous and includes all manner of fish and fowl and meats, as well as delicate noodle-like dishes and carefully preserved sun-dried legumes and berries.

Kerala

Kerala is a mere frond of a state, long and narrow, green and fertile — 15,000 palm-sheltered square miles in southwest India, rimmed by mountains called the Western Ghats, washed by the Arabian Sea and laced by an idyllic tangle of lakes and streams known as the Backwaters.
Its people, known as Malayalees, call it "God's own country" or "the blessed land," not least because of its irresistible food.
For centuries, long before the steamship, long before the jet plane, venturesome traders rode the trade winds to Kerala. Romans, Phoenicians, Chinese, Arabs, Portuguese, Frenchmen, Dutchmen and Britons all came here, and so did Jewish merchants from Venice. St. Thomas the Apostle is said to have landed along this coast in A.D. 52, and Christopher Columbus was headed west in search of Kerala's fabled spices when he stumbled upon America.

Pondicherry

Pondicherry, located south of Madras on the Bay of Bengal, a French colony since the 17th C was returned to the Central Indian Government in 1954. Today it retains much of its early colonial charm with well preserved mellow grey and white mansions, tropical gardens, ornate Hindu temples, and French cafés.

At the heart of the old town is Sri Aurobindo Ashram, established by the guru whose life as a Nationalist political activist in the early 20thC transmuted into a philosophy espousing the birth of a new spirit and race of people living with peace and purpose. This gave birth in 1973 to the renowned “intentional Community” of Auroville (the “City of Dawn”) in 1968, some kilometres out of town. Based on a utopian concept of human unity and social integration, Auroville’s 8000 hectares houses over 2000 people from some 30+ nationalities.

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