Gecko Cafe Mamallapuram - History

There will be a wedding

2011-11-30T23:02:00.003+01:00

We are happy to announce the engagement of Mani and Nanthini, who will get married in the beginning of next year.

September 2011

2011-09-01T14:09:00.004+02:00

Hurray!
We will be in the 2011-edition of the new Lonely Planet:

Gecko Café MULTICUISINE $$ (www.gecko-web.com; oﬀ Othavadai Cross St; mains ₹100-200) Two friendly brothers run this cute little spot on a thatch-covered rooftop above the family home. The menu choices and prices aren’t that diﬀ erent to other tourist-oriented spots, but there’s more love put into the cooking here, and the decor is fun: we liked the wall of goddesses, with Laxmi hanging next to the Virgin and Child. There’s internet and a book exchange downstairs.

Everything ready in the Gecko Cafe for the French Season

2011-07-30T11:57:00.006+02:00

Now it is fresh and ready for the new season, awaiting old friends and new guests. The new fridge filled.

The roof in the Gecko Cafe need to be rebuild and once it was removed, we decided to liften up the entrance way.
Now the former low shoe-parking is an acceptable way.

gecko cafe is on FACEBOOK

2011-05-23T11:40:00.004+02:00

please check out our facebook-site and become a friend.

Jam Session in Gecko Cafe

2011-01-22T21:47:00.007+01:00

We did have our first concert this year in the Gecko Cafe.
Guests and Staff enjoyed it a lot.

Watch the clip here on You Tube.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

2011-01-10T15:57:00.005+01:00

Even our youngest guests get our personal treatment and we do everything to keep them happy.

The Gecko Cafe in the evening hours:

We welcomed the new year with a nice party in our Gecko Cafe and celebrated with our guests and friends.

OUR GECKO Cafe turns 3 !

2010-12-15T17:05:00.005+01:00

Happy birthday! We are going into our 4th year now. Therefore we want to send a big thank-you to all our friends and supporters. Hopefully see you soon back here in our place.

Not only the Gecko-Cafe does celebtrate birthday, but also some of our friends and guests, so we did have a great party with birthday-cake and music.

Programme Dancefestival Mamallapuram

2010-12-07T18:39:00.007+01:00

The fresh printed programme is out.
Here you can have a look at this years schedule.

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06. December 2010

The GECKO is READY for new and old guests! Its freshly painted and the pillows and cushions got new covers, put some new dishes on the menu.
We hope also in this season you will feel comfortable and happy in our place.

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01. December 2010

We fineshed our seasonal cleaning work and can start re-decorating the Gecko-Cafe soon.

New housemate in the Cafe

2010-09-16T21:45:00.004+02:00

This little fellow moved in into the Gecko-Cafe-Place. Named "Max", it will take care for the place and entertain the guests down at the steps. It gets training and healthcare from the bosses, Mani and Baskar.

The cafe now is waiting for Monsoon, and a new season - but of course customers are welcome also in the off-season!

The Mangotree is growing fast!

Summer Season

2010-08-31T22:39:00.002+02:00

The last 8 weeks have been sucessful and nice, especially July was a great season month. Unfortunatly in August we did have a lot of rain and therefore less guests coming to Mamallapuram. But the ones who came have been happy in our place and we could take much time for talking and playing.

June 2010

2010-06-29T15:04:00.011+02:00

A fresh clean Gecko-Cafe is awaiting new guests in the upcoming season!

Also we do have a new menue with a bigger variety of dishes on it.
Download here

We are preparing the "French" Saison: cleaning the Gecko completetly, improving the working conditions in the kitchen, new painting and organising.

Planting new trees in the backyard: a mangotree and a lemon tree

The kitchen got a new window and has been re-organised for better and faster cooking in the saison.

OFFSEASON

2010-05-12T13:23:00.003+02:00

The tourist-free Off Season gives enough time for cricket. The Gecko-Crew is mostly busy with either watching or playing cricket and the rest of the time: staying out of the mercyless sun... therefore the geckocafe turned into a fine little "cinema".

Only at the weekends they lately started to sell Chicken biriyani to Indian tourists near the Seashore temple, producing big potts with the delicious dish and selling it "to go" for the people.

January 2010

2010-01-23T13:14:00.007+01:00

Busy SEASON

Thanks to the Routard-Guide-Book entrance its really a busy season, although there are less tourists in Mamallapuram this year.
Ramesh and Baskar are the two fulltime-cooks of the season, accompanied with Alex and Muthu in the kitchen. Sometimes they find a minute to serve a original Thali on a banana leaf to guests with this special request.

... and Mani rarely sits on the steps, waiting for guests. Due to the increased request he put is one more table into the room.

While Suman sells successfully hammocks in many different colors to his customers ...

Mamallapuram Dance Festival 2009/2010

2009-12-17T10:00:00.005+01:00

Here is the new programme for the Mamallapuram Dance Festival; 25.December 2009 - 25. January 2010.

2nd Year of the Gecko Cafe successfully finished

2009-12-14T15:45:00.002+01:00

Today is our 2nd Birthday. Two years ago we started downstairs with only a few tables but much passion. So many things have happened until now. We want to thank all our friends and supporting people as well as our faithful guests for a great time and we promise to keep on doing our work with heart and soul, as it is in the character of the Gecko Cafe anyways.

December 2009

2009-12-09T13:18:00.005+01:00

WE ARE READY!
The Christmas-Season can begin. We put up the X-mas star, we prepared the signboards -- you cant miss us!

The new crew in the Gecko: Ramesh is back in the kitchen with Baskar, Alex and Muthu are ready to support them.

We are in the guidebook!

2009-11-01T17:25:00.005+01:00

Finally we got an entry in the 2010 le' guide du ROUTARD .

The latest pictures of the Internet Cafe:

The Gecko Internet Cafe opened!

2009-10-14T12:12:00.005+02:00

The buildingwork has finished and now the Cafe has been opend this morning with a special Pooja.

The new owner of the Gecko Internet Cafe: Suman and his neighbor Mani

Building work AGAIN

2009-09-12T16:39:00.020+02:00

Now its time for the final decoration inside:

We finished our little shop aside from the gecko-cafe and now it lookes like this:

this is how it was before:

Soon the new shop, including several internet-places, will open besides the entrance to the Gecko-cafe in Othavadai Cross St 13.

The buildingwork started in July and will finish by the end of September.

Here you get some impressions of the indian buildingsite:

Umas Bronze - Radha

2009-08-21T12:10:00.004+02:00

Uma finished his wonderful bronze - sculptur of Radha. The statue is 40 centimeter high, he used 5 metalls, so it has 10 kg weight.
See the work in full beauty here:

Mani in Dresden Newspaper

2009-08-03T21:17:00.005+02:00

Mani got an article in Dresdens local Newspaper. He did give his interview at the beginning of June, before he left back to India. Today it was published. You can read it all here:

GERMAN Original:

english translation:

Season August 2009

2009-08-01T17:49:00.003+02:00

After the big wedding, the Gecko-Cafe returned to normal business.
It is open and welcomes every guest in its special way with nice atmosphere, friendly waiters and delicious food. And if you are lucky, the new family-member Ammu serves her great Indian breakfast, Dosas and Dhal to you.

A Wedding in the Gecko

2009-08-01T17:23:00.006+02:00

We did have a big South-Indean Wedding! Manis brother Uma got married on July 1st. The Gecko-Cafe was nicely decorated and looked festive. The shady entrance was incredibly inviting, unfortunatly it cannot stay forever, because the street is to small and big cars got much trouble passing by.

In the entrance there were ceremonies before the wedding every morning and evening.

They young couple looked most beautiful at the typical south-indean wedding and now the young lady belongs to the "gecko-cafe-family".

June 13th

2009-06-14T00:26:00.014+02:00

Here at YouTube you can also find the MOVIE with Mani on the Gecko Cafe,
which was made by Daniel Dietz, a new friend of the Gecko Cafe. Enjoy watching.

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Here at YouTube you watch Umas making his latest Art-work: his bronze relief.

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Das Gecko hat ein neues Dach bekommen! Nun ist es etwas höher und der Innenraum wieder in aller Gemütlichkeit eingerichtet.The Gecko has got a new roof! Now it is higher and the inside of the place came back in its full beauty.

Replacing the palm-leaf-roof:

MAY 2009: MANIs Trip to Germany

2009-06-12T12:50:00.012+02:00

From April 28th til June 6th Mani did visit his friends in Dresden, Germany.
He went to see Berlin, the Baltic Sea and also Prague, and mostly all the beautiful suroundings of Dresden.

Dresden:

Semperoper Dresden, concert Ute Lemper

Elbsandsteingebirge

At Königstein

Berlin

Hiddensee

At Malgorzata Chodakowskas Studio, Dresden

Prague

March 2009

2009-03-20T13:58:00.015+01:00

Welcome to the Gecko Cafe!

Season: over

Only a view tourists are left, the off-season began early.
That fact obviously could be noticed last week, when the Othavadai Cross Street turned into a huge buliding site. But amazingly fast the whole action of building a new drenage was finished again. One day the whole street opened up, the next day: like nothing happened ever before.

So the way to the Gecko Cafe is free again, no obsticales in the way.

March 18th: road in peace again:

Buildingsite: Othavadai Cross St.: 17th March

60 Visitors at once in the Gecko :

We did have a huge grop of visitors lately. They just came for tea.
No , just joking, there will be a wedding in July, and this was one step towards the preparation for this. All those guests came from a village near Mamallapuram, to checking out the brides new house.

Everybody welcome! The Kitchen-Crew: Baskar, Salim and Ramesh.

The Season is quite silent

2009-02-15T16:49:00.006+01:00

The last month has been less busy than expected. After the great start in December until Pongal the tourists were noticeably less in the village. Although it is nice for the guests in the Gecko, by always finding a place and having the specials of the day in no time , has been hard to make business, almost like in off-season time. Due to the financial crisis and the attacks in bombay it is a low season, which does keep Mamallapuram a relatively silent place even in high season time in this year. And that should be quite attractive to any travelors right now, because ususally its more complicated to find hotelrooms and a place in a restaurant without waiting in the middle of february.

The Beach is noticable wide again!

PONGAL

2009-01-15T09:20:00.005+01:00

January 2009

Finally also the Tamilian New Year has started. From 13th til 16th January its PONGAL.

Wikipedia says the following about Pongal:
Thai Pongal (Tamil: தைப்பொங்கல்) is a harvest festival equivalent to a thanksgiving event celebrated by Tamils across the world. Pongal coincides with the festival Sankranthi celebrated in various parts of India. Pongal in Tamil means "boiling over or spill over." The act of boiling over of milk in the clay pot is considered to denote future prosperity for the family.
On January 2008, the Tamilnadu Government anounced that Pongal will be celebrated as 'Tamil New Year' from 2009 CE (Declaration Bill 2008). ...more here

Nun hat auch für die Tamilen das Neue Jahr begonnen! Vom 13. - 16. Januar ist PONGAL.

Wikipedia sagt folgendes dazu:
Pongal (wörtlich: "Überkochen") ein indisches Erntedankfest, ist ein altes dravidisches Fest und einer der wichtigsten tamilischen Feiertage. Pongal bezeichnet ebenso das dazu gehörige traditionelle Reis-Gericht. Die Festlichkeiten dauern insgesamt vier Tage.

Am ersten Tag, Bhogi, verbrennt man, symbolisch für den Neuanfang, alte Kleidungsstücke sowie andere alte Dinge oder wirft sie fort.

Vakisan Pongal, der eigentliche Pongal-Tag, fällt nach dem tamilischen Kalender auf den ersten Tag des tamilischen Monats "Thai", meist der 14. oder 15. Januar. Früh am Morgen kocht man das typische Gericht, auch 'Pongal' genannt. Es besteht aus Reis mit frischer Milch und Sirup aus dem Palmzucker der neuen Ernte. Nach alter Tradition soll es möglichst im offenen Hof in einem neuen Topf an einer neuen Feuerstelle geschehen. Große Stangen von Zuckerrohr stehen neben dem Pongal-Topf. Vor allem ist an diesem Tag eines wichtig: Um Glück, Wohlstand und Überfluss anzuzeigen, muss das Essen unbedingt überkochen. Jeder wartet gespannt auf diesen Augenblick und ruft sich dann fröhlich zu: "Pongal! Pongal!" . Später besucht man Verwandte und Freunde, beschenkt sich gegenseitig mit verschieden Süßigkeiten und tauscht Festtags-Grüße aus. Dieser Tag ist der wichtigste des Pongal-Festes.

Am dritten Tag, Mattu Pongal, dankt man Kühen und Büffeln rituell für ihre Dienste. In manchen Gegenden von Tamil Nadu gibt es an diesem Tag einen blutigen Wettkampf, Jallikattu, auch bekannt als Manju Virattu - den Bullen jagen. Für die jungen Männer geht es darum, einen wilden, meist alkoholisierten Bullen mit bloßen Händen zu zähmen.

Am letzten Feiertag, Kanum Pongal, versammelten sich in früheren Zeiten die unverheirateten Burschen und Mädchen an den Ufern der Flüsse, um sich ihren Zukünftigen/ihre Zukünftige auszusuchen und Kontakt aufzunehmen (das Wort 'kanum' bedeutet anschauen). Diesen Brauch gibt es heute nicht mehr. Jedoch besuchen die Menschen, vor allem Ladenbesitzer, an diesem Tag traditionell den Strand und Freizeitparks

Mamallapuram Dance Festival 2008/09

2008-12-28T17:20:00.002+01:00

The famouse Dance Festival is starting these days. Here we have the programme for you:

DAS GECKO ist 1 !! / 1 year anniversary!

2008-12-15T09:06:00.008+01:00

Our Gecko-Cafe became 1. We celebrated the birthday on December 14th.
We wish to thank everybody, who helped making it the place which it is now!
Has been a good, thrilling year with many changes.

The full story of the GECKO Cafe in Mamallapuram you can find here (PDF):
HISTORY

DECEMBER 2008

2008-12-03T15:56:00.009+01:00

The GECKO is ready.

The plants are growing fast. Soon we ll have a little jungle.

Again: Lake cleaning. "Delicious" work like every once-a-month. The hero of this time: Baskar.
Yes, for the nice lake-view, this work also has to be done.

The Herrnhuter Stern/Star, a gift from Germany, has been puzzled together and now enlightens the Gecko Cafe in the Christmas season. MAni says, he put the star together in only 6 minutes, but nobody believes him.

Im "Deccan Chronicle" wurde am 3. Dezember, nach den Attacken in Bombay, folgender Artikel zum Thema "Tourismus in Mamallapuram" veröffentlicht:
On Dec. 3rd the following article has been published in the Deccan Chornicle on Tourism in Mamallapuram:

November 2008

2008-11-04T00:28:00.016+01:00

Die Einladung an alle Gäste / Invitation to all guests:

Nach der Runderneuerung des Gecko Cafes ist nun alles bereit für die Saison, deren Auftakt in allerspätestens Ende November erwartet wird.

After the total re-paint the Gecko-Cafe now is completly ready for the fresh season, starting end of November:

Malermeister 1 / Master painter 1: Baskar

Der Malermeister 2 / Master painter 2: Mani

Painted steps with hero:

The GECKO CAFE is FRISCH GESTRICHEN!! FRESHLY PAINTED!!

Mani und seine Jungs waren nicht untätig während des kurzen Monsuns.. Das Gecko wurde neu gestrichen (darum auch neue BLOG-Farben!) und die Möbel gepflegt.

Mani and his boys have not been lazy in that very short monsoon. The Gecko got new paint (and so did the BLOG) and the furniture got a good polish, too.

Ramesh preparing all chairs and furniture:

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DER OZEAN VOR MAMALLAPURAM WAR GIERIG IM SEPTEMBER!! / GREEDY OCEAN OF MAMALLAPURAM RETURNED THE BEACH IM SEPTEMBER!

Das Wasser ist aber erstaunlicherweise wieder zurückgegangen und hat ein bisschen Strand hergegeben. Sogar recht sauber. Jetzt kann man wieder spazieren gehen.
The water went back again and gave back a little bit of the beach, mostly clean now. Good for a walk.

Im Oktober hat sich der Ozean den Sandstrand einverleibt- das Wasser kam sehr nahe an die Strandrestaurants, so dass diese mit Sandsäcken befestigt werden mussten.

In October the ocean did steal the beach. The water came very close to the sea-shore restaurants. Walking along the beach was impossible for a while, sandsacks were needed to keep the water in control.

Oktober 2008

2008-10-03T13:00:00.008+02:00

Mani, Baskar und Rames warten sehnsüchtig auf die neue Saison mit neuen und altbekannten Gästen. Immer noch ein Monat Zeit.
Mani, Baskar und Ramesh are eagerly waiting for the new season with new and well-known guests. Still 1 month to go.

Das Festival für Werkzeuge (und Küchengeräte!) wurde mit ordentlicher Ausschmückung des Cafes begangen, leider von Gästen völlig unbemerkt, da es total in der Off-Saison liegt und keiner gucken kommt.
The Festival for tools and working, Aida-Pooja, was celebrated with a nice decoration in the Gecko-Cafe. Unseen by guests, because it is totally in the Off-Season. No tourists in town.

Zum Geburtstag von der kleinen Nachbarstochter gab es ein Extra-Foto.
Extra-picture for the birthdaygirl of the neighbors.

Das frisch gelb-gestrichene Gecko ist schon von weitem zu sehen. Die Kokospalmen wurden abgeerntet. 76 Kokosnüsse warten nun darauf, in Coconut-Curry und Lassies zu wandern.

The freshly yellow painted Gecko-Cafe can be easily spotted from far away. The two coconut-trees have been harvested. 76 coconuts are waiting to go into coconut-curry and lassis.

Die Off-Saison gibt ein bisschen Zeit für einen kleinen Umbau in der Küche und Freizeitspaß. Cricket spielt dabei keine unerhebliche Rolle.

The Off-Season leaves time for a little change in the kitchen und sparetime. Criket seem to be the major part in this.

Der Kochbereich wurde vollständig gefliest und ein ordentliches Belüftungsfenster zur Freude der Köche eingebaut.

The cooking area has been fully tiled and a new big window for fresh air has been put in, to keep our cooks happy.

September 2008

2008-10-03T12:52:00.004+02:00

Die Vorbereitung auf den Monsun sind abgeschlossen. Im Gecko gibt es jetzt einen Regenschutz, der seine Funktionstüchtigkeit schon bewiesen hat. Drinnen bleibt es gemütlich trocken mit den angenähten Bastmatten.

The preparation for the monsoon have been finsihed. There is a rain-cover in the Gecko now, which prooved its usability very well. Inside it stayes cosy and dry!

July 2008

2008-07-17T22:13:00.008+02:00

New things happened in the Gecko Cafe,
because Mani never stands still. The roof has been covered with thatch to preserve the palmleaves.

Some decoration things found its way into the cafe.
Now you can find something to read in the new book shelf, buy little gifts or postcards from the cafe.

A Watertank was purchased and installed on the kitchen roof.

Also 3 more cookingplaces were installed in the kitchen:

Finally one of the the fridges has been moved up to the roof-top cafe, for serving cool drinks faster.

Uma, manis brother, who is making bronce statues and art work, started to work downstairs from time to time, here finishing one of his beautiful bronce-statues.

Juni 2008

2008-06-03T17:17:00.005+02:00

Die Bauarbeiten sind vorerst beendet. So sieht das erweiterte Cafe jetzt aus /
Buildingwork is finished, the place now looks like this:

Innen / inside:

Malerarbeiten am neuen Cafe / Painting work

Und wieder wird das Logo an die Wand gemalt /
Painting the Logo once again:

MAI 2008

2008-05-29T11:38:00.019+02:00

The Gecko-Cafe- Owners MANI and BASKAR

Koch und Kellner in der Off- Saison. Sie freuen sich auf die nächsten Gäste (und nein, sie sitzen nicht immer im Weg!)

The cook and the waiter in the Off-Season, looking forward to welcome their next guests. (No, they are not always blocking the way.)

Buildingsite AGAIN / Wieder Baustelle

After the last visitors of the season had left, Mani started a new builidingsite for the cafe making a little extra room on top of the little indian shop.

Nachdem die letzten Besucher der Saison abgereist waren startete Mani eine neue Baustelle zur Erweiterung des Cafes. Auf dem Dach des kleinen Ladens wird ein neuer Raum mit max. 8 Plätzen für das Cafe entstehen.

Natürlich beginnt nichts ohne eine Pooja vorher / All started with a pooja for the new building:

Dann wurde die Wand, an der vorher das Sofa stand, zum neuen Eingang für das "kleine" Cafe gemacht.
Than the wall where the sofa has been standing was turned into the new entrance for the extra-room.

Derweil zog der kleine Laden in den Vorraum des Gecko-Cafes um / meanwhile the little Indian shop shifted into the downstairs-area of the Gecko-Cafe:

Mani veranlasste ausserdem die Säuberung des Sees hinter dem Haus (eine Seltenheit im Ort)
Also Mani did clean the backyard and his part of the lake.

vorher / before cleaning

beim See-Säubern / cleaning the lake

Hinterhof vorher / backyard before

Zwischenstand / inbeetween

nachher / after

April 2008

2008-05-02T13:17:00.009+02:00

Visit in APRIL 2008

the "tzchermans" have been there.
We visited the cafe finally - in the beginning of April. And the inspection has been fab. Everything was fine, the place is so nice and clean as expected. Travel-Report here: Mamallapuram_April2008. (Only in German, but many pictures)

It has been a relaxing, happy time in the cafe, trying all the nice dishes from the new printed menue (see picture and thanx to WDS Pertermann) up and down.

Fresh pressed juices, fresh fish, homemade vegetarian dishes - everything was perfect. no complaints. we were totally happy.

Only tiny little changes were made, for using the room even better - the horse had to move from the entrance to the middle of the room, giving space for one more table.

we also tested the Herrnhuter christmas-Star for the x-mas decoration... was a strange but nice + homy feeling to have a decoration like this under the palmleaves. Will be great in December. But thats a little far fetched...

News of March 2008

2008-05-02T13:13:00.004+02:00

MARCH 2008

Finally a new fridge was purchased, because the whole season Mani and Baskar managed with the tiny thing.So the next season will be more relaxed - only in storage issues. Hopefully it will be busy as the last season already has been.

Also the new oven moved into the kitchen...now its all set for the next season: there will be homemade cake & cookies!

Die komplette Geschichte des Cafes in Mamallapuram / The full Story of the Gecko-Cafe in Mamallapuram

2007-10-20T16:00:00.004+02:00

Das Gecko-Cafe, Othavadai Cross St. 14, Mamallapuram.
eröffnet/ opened am 14. Dezember 2007

Der Plan für das Cafe+Restaurant in der Seitenstraße
Othavadai Cross St. 14, in Mamallapuram.

Hier die chronologische Entstehungsgeschichte :
Chronology of the building process comes here:

Die Idee / the idea

2007-10-15T15:42:00.006+02:00

Die Idee für das kleine Cafe in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu kam uns im März 2007.
Wir sind unseren Freund Mani in Südindien besuchen gefahren, um ihm beim geplanten - insofern man da von PLAN sprechen kann - Dachausbau zu helfen. Angedacht war die Nutzung des Daches als Zimmer für Mani.

The idea to build a little cafe in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, came in March 2007. We visited our close friend Mani in southern india, to help him with building a rooftop for an extra room.

Die Einzelheiten des Bauverlaufs für das erste schiefe Dach sind unter:
Südindien März 2007 zu finden, deswegen verzichte ich auf die Wiederholung.

The detailed memories about that event - building the first funny roof - you can read here (sorry, only in German): Südindien März 2007

Vor dem Palmendach / before the palmleaf-rooftop:

Baustelle / building site:

das erste Dach / first rooftop:

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Als aber nun das Palmenblätter-Dach im April07 fertig war, sassen wir in dem neuen grossen Raum und hatten auf einmal Platz. Im Kopf und um uns. Da fängt man dann an zu überlegen, was nun tun damit. Ein so schönes Zimmer mit Seeblick bot viele Möglichkeiten.
Und so entstand die Idee, doch im kleinen mit einem Cafe & Shop anzufangen. Der Platz dafür war ja da.

When the palmleaf-roof was finished in April07, we suddenly did find us sitting in a huge place. And therre you start thinking what to do with it. Because the beautiful lake-view was impressive. And step by step we came up with starting a little cafe & shop - because there was suddenly enough space for that.

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Mohan, Manis Papa, wollte gleichmal zur Platzgewinnung die zwei schönen alten Palmen umhauen, die so kultig durchs Vordach wachsen. Ein Aufschrei unsererseits und der Plan war begraben. Hoffe ich. Das wird ein Wahrzeichen des Cafes!

Mohan, Manis father, suggested to slam down the two wonderful old palmtrees, that are growing so funnily right through the little rooftop of the entering hall. Big protest from our side and i hope that idea is history now and the palmtrees become a landmark in the street.

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Mit Zeichnungen haben wir angefangen rumzuspinnen, wie es aussehen könnte. Am interessierten Blick der Beobachter erkannten wir Bereitschaft, aber das verschämte Lächeln bedeutete entweder, dass wir hoffnungslos westlich und überkandidelt dachten oder aber dass Mani es sich ganz und gar nicht vorstellen konnte. Aber frohgemut blieben wir dennoch, denn irgendwas machen die Inder ja immer draus.
Und so ist es nun ja auch. Ganz anders als ursprünglich gedacht, aber immerhin.

Than we started to make drawings+plans how to change the place. Looking into the intrested faces of our Indian friends we saw the willing to follow us, but the shy smiling could mean anything: either we were hopelessly western-like and too fashy thinking or Mani could not imagine about what we were talking. But we stayed in best mood, because surely he would do something. And in the end everything lookes different than planed, but it will be there.

Dann dachten wir über den Namen nach, während um uns lauter lustige Geckos über die Wände huschten. Sie sind dort überall - wo immer man auch sitzt, mindestens ein Gecko guckt immer. Und grinst. Allwissend. So war der Name naheliegend -und weil er sich auch gut für ein Logo eignet, wars schnell beschlossen. ZUrück in Deutschland gab Micha dem Gecko den Endschliff:

Then we started thinking about the name - while staring at all the funny geckos running along the walls. Whereever you sit, at least one gecko is looking at you. and smiling.knowingly. so the name came all by itself to us. and since a gecko is very fine to use for a logo we quickly started to design it. Back home in Germany Micha gave it the final look:

Ende Mai 2007
Mani nahm all unsere Ideen voller Elan an und startete durch. Er begann gleich erstmal, das Vor-Dach abzudichten und die Aussenwand zu streichen:

End of may 2007
Mani did take all our ideas and started right through, full power. He repaired the front-roof and painted the outer wall in blue:

Dann räumte er den ranzigen kleinen Vorraum auf, strich die Wände neu im entspannenden Blau und stellte zur Probe ein paar Tische und Stühle hin.
Es sah richtig cool aus:

Then he cleaned out the rubbish in the little entrance place, painted the walls in a relaxing aqua-color and placed some chairs and tables in it. It looked really cool:

vorher / before:

nachher / after:

The difference was obvious and makes us believe in the project. One more look?

Nun kam das Aussortieren und Sichten des Gerümpels / sorting through the rubbish :

Im Juni begannen wir, weitab vom Geschehen, in Deutschland , das Logo zu entwickeln und produzierten die ersten Visiten- und Speisekarten, die wir im Juli zu Mani mitnehmen wollten.

In June , far away from the original place, Micha + I started to develope the Logo for the Cafe and in the end we did finish the first businesscards and menues and delivered them to Mani:

Im Juli reisten wir nach Ladakh und luden Mani ein, mitzukommen. Der Reise-Bericht ist unter : Ladakh 2007 zu finden. Auf der Reise durch Nordindien gab es viel Gelegenheit für ausführliche Gespräche, Pläne, Korrekturen und natürlich auch Anregungen für unser Cafe.

In July we travelled to Ladakh and invited Mani to join us there. The Report you can find here (only in German): Ladakh 2007 In that time we did had much oppotunities to talk, make plans, revisions an dof course we did see many many beautiful places and things for inspiration.

Ende August 2007
Nach der Heimkehr von Mani nach Mamallapuram wurden die Holzfiguren gewienert, geputzt, gehegt und gepflegt sowie neue hinzu gekauft, damit der kleine Shop auch vorzeigbar wird.
Inzwischen ist die Skulpturensammlung schon angewachsen, darum hier nur ein kleiner Auszug:

After Manis return home there was a lot of work waiting: The sculptures needed to be cleaned, the stone-sculptures polished, so that the shop offers some attractive items. The collection is growing, so here just an example:

Und dann beschloss Mani im September 07, das Dach, welches wir im März mühevoll draufgezimmert haben (siehe Märzblog ) doch noch einmal gründlich überarbeiten zu lassen, weil es schon wieder halb zusammengefallen war. Nun sieht es so aus, wie Micha es ursprünglich wollte - sogar der Giebel ist richtig rum gedreht. Nur leider hat er noch keine Treppe hinauf. Da sind sportliche Aufschwungübungen gefragt.

Than Mani decided in September 07to change and rebuild the roof again (despite the long building process in march--> see march-blog), because it started to fall apart again. So now finally it looks like Micha planed it right from the beginning. Unfortunatly a staircase is missing...

vorher ohne Dach/ before without roof:

das erste Dach / the first roof:

nach dem Umbau/ after the change:

Giebel falschrum / gable facing wrong way:

Giebel richtig / Gable facing right way:

Am Eingang für sein Downstair-Cafe platzierte Mani diesen schönen alten Holzgaul als Deko.
At the entrance-Gate Mani places this old wooden horse-statue for decoration.

Komplett-Erneuerung / Completly Re-Newed

Und nach all der schönen Arbeit gings im Prinzip von vorn los (jaja, ein HOCH auf die Plänemacher!):
Mani entschied sich am 7. Nov. 2007 für eine Überarbeitung des Vordaches, nachdem er den halben Monsun mit den durchtropfenden Wassermassen gekämpft hatte. Nach vielen theoretischen Varianten und wilden Konstrukten kam er auf den traditionellen Dachziegelbau - inspiriert vom April-Besuch in Dakshina Shitra.

Mani decided at Nov.7th to renew the roof for the entrance hall. After watching half the monsoon heavy rain coming through the palmroof, he voted -out of many bizarre and amusing constructions - for a traditional tiled-roof inspired by Dakshina-Shitra:

Für 2 Wochen verwandelte sich der kleine Eingang in eine fetzige Baustelle /
For 2 weeks the little place changed into a crazy buildingsite:.

Dann kamen die Bauarbeiter und stemmten in erstaunlich kurzer Zeit das Dach
And then the workers came and finished the roof in an amazingly short time::

Es begann Gestalt anzunehmen, inklusive der frech mitten durchs Dach ragenden Palmen/
slowly it came into form, including the funny palmtrees growing right through the roof:

Die Palmen wurden ausschnitten und abgeerntet, damit das neue Dach nicht gleich zerhauen wird:
Cleaning the palmtree was necessary to keep the new roof save -for a while- from falling coconuts.

Und nun sah es so aus / and now it looked like this:
Das ist doch witziger als Alpenfeilchen am Fenster, oder?

Ende November 2007

Und jetzt darf er wieder alles putzen und anstreichen. Die Kabel legen und Geschirr kaufen. Und so weiter. / Now its all about cleaning + painting. Again.

Ausserdem baut er tapfer die Treppe zum oberen zukünftigen Cafe / he is building the step to the upstair-cafe:

Anfang Dezember 2007

Die Treppen sind fertig!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Stairs are finally ready!

Nun sieht das Haus fast komplett aus.Nochmal drübermalern, alles putzen und Tisch und Stühle reinstellen. Ventilator und Strom warten noch, geschweige denn die Besorgung der Küchen- Restaurantausstattung. Die Saison naht, das Geld knapp - so wird alles eilig und soll trotzdem gut aussehen. Schwerer Job für Mani, aber er wirds schon hinkriegen. Die Telefonleitung zwischen Deutschland und Indien läuft heiss (die Telecom freut sich), das Internet glüht - und tut seinen Dienst: Bilder gehen hin und her, die Einrichtung wird diskutiert.

So now the place looked almost complete...and the final work was waiting: cleaning and painting. Ventilator and Electric.
The season is close, to all has to come in a hurry but neat. Quite a job for Master Mani, which he will handle with big ease. The telefonline went hot between germany and india, the internet is doing its job perfectly when discussing the interieur of the place.

Das Tor wurde im November auch versetzt, von links nach rechts geschoben, damit ein kleiner Raum entsteht, durch den keiner mehr durchrennt, wenn man auf die Strasse will.

The gate was shifted from the left to the right side of the wall to have a small room inside where you can sit without disturbance.

Oben siehts nun so aus / upstairs it looks like this:

Auch der Wohnungs-Eingangsbereich hat sich auffällig verändert /
also the home-entrance and the backyard has changed:

vorher / before:

nachher / after:

Und dann platzierte Mani zum Test mal Sofa und Sessel oben und schuf einen ersten Eindruck davon, wie gut man es da oben auf dem Dach bald haben kann! Immer wieder erstaunlich, wie aus einer kleinen Idee beim 1. Tee auf dem blanken Fussboden unterm neuen Dach -im April- sowas werden kann!

And then Mani placed his Sofa and two armchairs on the rooftop and gave an impression of how cool this place will be soon! Still its amazing to watch this coming from such a small idea while sitting on the ground, having the first tea under the new roof -in april.

vorher / before :

Nachher /after :

Manis Mama kam nun auch zum ersten Mal auf das Dach und zeigte sich begeistert.

Manis Mama came up to the rooftop for the first time and was excited, too!

Ausserdem machen die neu erworbenen Grünpflanzen im Hof inzwischen auch schon was her und geben dem Hinterhof ein bisschen Flair.

Also the new purchased plants do give the backyard a nice touch.

Inzwischen gibt es auch Licht und Ventilator! Wurde ohne Pause bis weit in die Nacht angeschraubt - bei Taschenlampenlicht.
Now there is even light and ventilator - after working on it until late night!

12th December

Jetzt muss wieder alles gemalert werden. Da das Tor schon immer gelb war und unser dunkelrotes Logo gut dazupasst, wurde entschieden, die gesamte Aussenmauer gelb zu streichen, damit es nicht zu bunt wird.

Now its all about painting again. Because the Gate has been always Yellow und it does go well with the red Gecko-logo the decision was to paint the whole outer walls in Yellow.

Dann kam der Logo-Maler und fabrizierte unser Logo an die Wand. Und das auch recht gut für den Freihandstil!

Then the painter came an was drawing our logo in free-style:

Nachdem nun das Logo und das Holzfenster angebracht wurden, sieht das Cafe von aussen fast fertig aus:

After completing the logo-painting downstairs and putting in the wooden window, the place looks like this - almost ready:

Zur Erinnerung
vorher/ before:
Nachher / after:

Innen wurden die Sitze angebracht und die Tische wieder reingestellt. Da könnten die ersten Gäste theoretisch schon kommen!

Then the seats were made and the room was filled with the table and chairs. Now it looked like really ready to start!!

Auch am Abend sieht das Cafe schon gut aus! Der Plan geht auf! Trotzdem gabs noch viel Kleinkram zu erledigen.

Also in the evening the place looks really cool. So our plan seems to work:

Im Ort wurden Werbeschilder an strategischen Punkten verteilt.

In Mamallapuram some advertisement were placed, that lead to the cafe.

14. Dezember 2007
Seit heute hat Mamallapuram ein neues Cafe!!
From today on Mamallapuram has a new place to go and hang out!

Nach einem Mords-Putz-Einsatz und letzten Anstreichungen war Mani gegen 4 Uhr in der früh endlich soweit: nach 2 Stunden Schlaf würde er 7.00 Uhr würde das Cafe eröffnen. Nach einer kleinen Pooja war es dann wirklich soweit ... was für ein Hürdenlauf!

After a all-night-cleaning action and last paintingwork which Mani finsihed 4 a.m., he could open after a small pooja early in the morning -and OUR little cafe finally really was open!!

Mani ist der Boss / Mani is the boss:

Der kleine Innenraum war bereit für erste Gäste, die auch bald eintrudelten (nach einem schweren Regenguss):

The small place waiting for first customers, which soon came (after a heavy morning rain):

Zur Erinnerung - so sah es vorher aus:

For your memory - so it looked before:

Die 2 Palmen mitten durchs Dach ragen zu lassen, war eine der besten Ideen, die wir hatten.
Inzwischen bereits Sturm-erprobt ist sicher, dass sie Stämme dem Dach nichts tun und sie nicht sehr schwanken ( wie es anfangs unsere Sorge war).

One of our best ideas was letting the two trees sticking through the roof. In the meantime the are "storm-proof", no swinging down there noticable, so the roof stays unharmed even with heavy wind ( which we were worried about in the first place) .

Die Wahl der Farben war keine schlechte, wie sich nun beweist: hell, freundlich, entspannend und kühl. So war es gedacht.

The choice of the colors seems to fullfill the reason: bright, friendly, relaxing, cool - as we meant it to be:

Das Regal für den Shop wurde gefüllt mit den ersten Steinfiguren - ein weiteres mit Holzfiguren wird folgen.

The shop was filled with stone-sculptures - soon we ll have the wood-carving, too:

Die Küche wurde frisch gemalert und für die neuen Anforderungen umgebaut:

The kitchen was cleaned, painted and prepared for the new requests:

Der erste Ärger kam schon 1 Woche nach der Eröffnung. Es begann so stark zu regnen, dass der kleine Teich hinterm Haus zu einem gewaltigen See anschwoll and drohte, in das Grundstück zu schwappen. Zum Glück hörte der Regen auf und das Wasser floss ab, bevor es die Mauer erreichen konnte.

First trouble: after unexpected rainfalls the pond behind the house grow into a big lake and treatened to flood the cafe - only after 1 week after the opening. With luck the rain stopped again and the water went down before worst things happened:

Nun gehts zum nächsten Schritt: das Cafe oben ausbauen:

Now the next step is: making the rooftop-cafe work.

Der Eingang oben / The entrance upstairs:

3. Jan. 2008:

Inzwischen gibt es oben endlich Strom, Licht , Ventialtor und - besonders nett - auch Stühle und Tische. Erste Gäste verweilen bei Blick auf See und Leuchtturm etliche Stunden und lassens sichs gutgehen. Der Haus- und Hofkoch, Manis Bruder Basker, mit frischem College-Abschluss als Koch, bietet neben den üblichen Touristentröstern (Spaghetti) auch ordentlich indische Küche an.

By now there is the rooftop-cafe ready, fixed with light and ventilator as well as tables and seats for the guests. First guests have been sitting for some hours in the cafe, enjoyed the view to lake and lighthouse and tried the fine indian dishes, made by basker, the cook, who just finished his college degree - as a cook.

So this is the rooftop-cafe as it look now:

Mani und seine Familie sind voll und ganz für die Gäste da.
Mani and his family are happily serving all guests.

Der Blick vom Dachcafe über den See ist eine Überraschung:

The lake-view from the rooftp-cafe is a surprise:

Die ersten zufriedenen Gäste kommen gern immer wieder/

The first happy guests came back again, and again:

25. Januar

Die Nachtbeleuchtung hat sich von der Weihnachtsdeko in eine Lichterkette an den Palmen verwandelt (mit geteilten Meinungen dazu.)

The night-view has changed a bit. From Christmas-decoration to lightchains on the palmtrees (to be discussed).