A new city

We took a taxi from Mamallapuram to Thiruvanamali. We were told that our taxi driver had been a tiger in his previous life. He was very nice – he even let Patrick drive his taxi for a while – but I think there was something tiger-ish about him, especially when he smiled. Patrick said that driving was fun, despite the lack of power steering, but that he would not want to drive in the city. The rooms we have at the Ramanashram (the Ashram of Sri Ramana Maharshi) are clean and quite spacy, but they cannot be called comfortable. I think I have slept more comfortably in a tree and on a rock than I do in this bed. The mattress is so hard! And I would give quite a lot at the moment for a towel and a drain in the bathroom. I thought bathing in a bucket was difficult before, but in this room I had to actually stand in the bucket and be careful not to splash or drip on the floor!
The Ramanashram, the Ashram of Sri Ramana Maharshi, is very peaceful. Everyone here looks as though they have a story, even the westerners. Especially the westerners, I suppose, because they must have come farther. Everyone prays a lot and are respectful, and most walk in a dignified fashion, which is a nice change from Mamallapuram. I did like Mamallapuram, but the people here seem more concerned with the right things, such as trying to discover who they really are, for example, rather than trying to find cool hippy clothes. Maybe that is rather harsh stereotyping, but it is an honest expression of what I perceive.