San Thome Basilica, etc.

Well, today was the first day I actually did some tourism on this trip. We went to the St Thomas Mount, the San Thome Basilica, and the beach. I didn't actually plan to go to the St Thomas Mount, but our driver took us to the wrong place. That was fortuitous, however. The St Thomas Mount has the best view you can get of Chennai. And there was a nice chapel there. So it was cool. It also gave us the grand tour of Chennai, as it was nowhere near where I wanted to go.

From there we went to the San Thome Basilica, which is a great example of intra-Christian rivalry. Originally, it was a shrine and tomb (for Thomas) built by the St Thomas Christians. When the Portugese arrived, they tore down that shrine, forcibly converted the St Thomas Christians, and built a new church, the San Thome Basilica. But that's not what's there today. The British has zero tolerance for Catholicism and tore that building down and built a proper Anglican church, which they called the St Thomas Cathedral. That's the building that stands today. But it was, of course, converted to a Catholic church and its name changed back to the San Thome Basilica when the British left India. And the few St Thomas Christians who remain view it as their main holy site. And, of course, the Catholic Church makes no mention of who built the current building or any history of the St Thomas Christians. If you go to the church, you get the impression that St Thomas and his followers were always Roman Catholics.

The beach nearby was interesting, if not particularly pleasant. We did see a sea snake sunning himself near the shore. It took me a while to figure out what it was because it's tail is flat and so much bigger than its head. And its scales are unlike those of any snake I'd ever seen. It looked like a snake, but at first I thought it might be some fake rubber snake. But then it moved and I finally made the connection of sea and snake. Then I realized that it would be best to not get very close. They are among the most poisonous snakes in the world. The good thing is that they really don't move too well when on land. It also explained why nobody was swimming. I'd also add that it was the first beach I'd ever seen with goats. I'm not kidding.