Our driver picked us up at 10 AM. Our very first bus driver’s holiday in two weeks!:

Today’s three morning newspapers shared the same headlines regarding a “day of reckoning for the 10:30 verdict” handed down from India’s Supreme Court regarding the area’s Chief Minister and competitor Ms. Sasikala. The main road we are traveling is blocked by a police presence throughout this area because it is very near to the Golden Bay Resort in Koovathur where Ms. Sasikala is in seclusion. The fear is that the verdict handed down will create an unsafe situation for vehicles traveling in the area.

The legal system actually provides for SIX possible outcomes:

1- Both judges convict the accused.
2- Both judges acquit the accused.
3- One judge convicts and the other acquits. The case will be referred to a three judge bench.
4- Case is sent back to the high court for fresh disposal of the appeal.
5- One judge convicts while the other sends the case back to the High Court.
6- One judge acquits while the other sends it back to the High Court.

As a result of the potential unrest, we are taking side roads and circumventing the area. We just stopped and Feroza gave food to a pregnant mother and her two children.

It’s 10:33 and the verdict has been reached. The Supreme Court deliberated and found the accused guilty of all four counts. It turned out to be fortuitous that we were able to avoid the political disturbance. There are already reports of hundreds of protesters being detained or arrested and 2,500 riot police officers are at Golden Bay Resort to make the arrests. Fifteen thousand riot police officers have been deployed throughout the area.

It’s one thing to read today’s leading headline… but another that we are grateful to our skillful driver Prakash for having kept us from being part of tomorrow’s!

We are now arriving, around 4 hours later, in Kanchipuram, an area known for an abundance of silk and three significant Hindu Temples. We watched a skilled weaver creating a golden-threaded red sari st the Sri Varadha Silk House.

Then we drove to the 1,400-year-old Arulmigu Ekambaranathar Temple and the Kailasanathar Temple. These vast temples are among the most ancient in India, having been in existence since at least 600 AD! The experience walking around these ancient temples was as vivid as science fiction’s time travel… only this was real!

After fourteen consecutive days of temple exploration, we completed our tour at the eight hundred year old Kamachshi Temple.

We are now on our way back to Chennai for our last night in South India. We just drove past the lit pillars at the actual site where Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. This assassination of the former Prime Minister of India was perpetrated by a suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai.

Peace has proven to be elusive, generation after generation. For millennia, peace-loving leaders and innocent citizens have been silenced by weapons of destruction. As a result of the lofty goals of Destination Peace, let us together instill a greater awareness and mutual understanding that serves to carve a welcoming doorway in what was once an impenetrable wall.

Tomorrow we will fly to New Delhi, and remain there for the rest of the month.