Help, Indian style (travel)

Last night, we left Kerala for the shore temples around Chennai. On
the train, we were the topic of conversation among the five men who
were sharing our compartment. All were married except for one. When
they spoke in English, they suggested I wear more bright colors,
wondered if I could tie a sari and had questions about our lives. When
they spoke in Malayalam, I think they were trying to decide which of
us would make a suitable wife for the only unmarried one of the bunch.
I was voting for my friend. The unmarried one had a mustache and I am
not a fan of the facial hair.

Today, once we arrived in Mamallapurum, we took a walk around the
block. We were heading for a shore temple everyone assured us was very
close and ended up at an ancient stone temple in the middle of town.
There were temples carved from rocks the size of buildings, relief
sculpture of elephants, gods and goddesses.

At one point, we had to climb up very tiny steps that had been carved
into the side of a rock. After my friend practically ran up the side
of the rock and I decided to attempt it....

Half way up, when the steps became even smaller than they were to
begin with, I became tangled up in my excessive skirt/long shirt/scarf
combination. The only option I had at that point was to sit down. So,
I did. Not surprisingly, all of my fluttering caused me to gain the
attention of some helpers. Not one or two...but eight men from Punjab
decided they would help me to the top of the rock. Their words of
encouragement, advice on steps to take, and the pressure of possibly
biting it in front of a small crowd somehow got me off of the steps.
They then showed me the easy way to walk up--completely devoid of
steps.

After my small fiasco, we had two rounds of photos (four in each
picture) and several standard issue questions before we all went on
our way. Soon, it's possible I will have to do something without the
help of half a town. But, for my last few days here, I am pretty sure
help, Indian style, will be offered again.