India is unforgettable so this week and next on the Post some highlights from the trip. Mahabalipuram has been enchanting visitors for two centuries: Edward Lear went there the early 1870s. He had already written ‘The Courtship Of The Yonghy-bonghy-bo’:
On the Coast of Coromandel
Where the early pumpkins blow,
In the middle of the woods
Lived the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo.
Two old chairs, and half a candle,
One old jug without a handle–
These were all his worldly goods,
In the middle of the woods,
These were all his worldly goods,
Of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo,
Of the Yonghy-Bonghy Bo
and met schoolchildren who could recite the whole of ‘The Owl and the Pussy-Cat’ from memory. There are eight Mahabaliburam watercolours at Harvard, this is one: