Chennai
Trip Start
Jan 24, 2007
1
5
7
Trip End
May 14, 2007
Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India
Friday, March 23, 2007
was great (I'll just tell you that now so you don't get apprehensive).
However I got up super early to watch the sun rise, and there was no
sun. The smell that greets you when you go outside is very unique,
unique like that cat in your neighborhood that only has hair in a few
spots and one ear. But there was so much smog in Chennai that I never
saw the sun and they told us being outside all day is like smoking two
packs of cigarettes. So no sunrise... Indian officials are a tad cranky,
they insisted on meeting everyone face to face and we have to carry
photo Id, proof of visa, and a list of items they we are carrying on
our person and how much they're worth. I wish I could hold this out to
the little kids and be like: "See? I'm not worth much, I've got an
outfits from Kohls, old flip flops (BIG MISTAKE), and my wallet. Go bug
the people who are wearing a shirt that is worth my kidney."
The first day we started out hopeful, we'd been to the meetings about
Rickshaw drivers (a Rickshaw is like a Mo-ped with a seat carriage on
the back of it) and bargaining and we weren't nobody's fool! We walked
into town which is about 15 minutes, the whole way people kept calling
out "Madame! Madame! You don't want to walk! It's too hot. Get in my
Rickshaw, I'll take you wherever you want for 200 Rupees (exchange rate
is 44 rupees to the dollar)!" I knew from my spiffy classes that this
was absurd. 80 Rupees is the most anyone should ever pay. "Ok," we said
to a Rickshaw driver, "We want to go here and we want to pay 50 Rs
(Rupees)." "Ok. How about 30?" He said. Well we of course were proud of
ourselves, clearly we were a force to be reckoned with and people could
see that. He took us somewhere else, and somewhere else, and somewhere
else. We never got to the place we wanted to go to. (We ended up having
to pay 200, never again!). The last night though we bargained down from
600 Rupees to 80. It was so much fun. The best part is when they offer
that first price and you just laugh. "That's ridiculous and the park
hotel is just down the street! 80 Rupees tops!"
Chennai reminds me a lot of Mexico City. I've never been to Mexico
City, but I've heard of its pollution problems and tell you me Chennai
is right up there. I cleaned out my ears tonight and it was black, the
Q-tip (sorry Mom I still use them) was black. Eww. The streets are
paved but there is still TONS of dirt being kicked up and if you wear
flip flops it's more than likely your feet will be black by the time
you get back. However a large majority of people walk around barefoot,
and not because they don't have shoes (Our Rickshaw driver kept his on
the floor of the Rickshaw).
They also have lovely beaches in Chennai, but under no circumstances
should you wear your bathing suit there. And if you do go into the
water (I would suggest you don't it's a lovely shade of brownish green)
you should wear a Saree (Pronounce Sar like a redneck saying saw),
which is yards of cloth. It's almost like us going in with our jeans
and a t-shirt
Driving in Chennai is like closing your eyes and crossing the street.
You know that you could probably die if you cross the street in this
fashion, but clearly you don't care. We went down a one way street the
wrong direction for a little while (try five blocks), I bravely said
"Um...excuse me aren't we going the wrong...AHHHHH!" You also see three or
four people on one Mo-ped driving around. A kid in the front , a man
driving, and a woman hold a child on her lap sitting sideways on the
seat. I kept wondering how they balance so well.
Maria and I went to Kancheepuram (Can-chee-purr-Am) on the second day.
Kancheepuram is one of the seven sacred cities in India. It's known for
its temples and for its silk factories. We decided to go by bus. Which
was very easy to figure out, or so we thought, more on that later. When
we got there we found a restaurant where everything was written in
Tamil (language of the south, very close to Hindi). So we just went up
and he said 30 Rupees so we paid it and went to maybe find some place
to sit. Everyone thought we were looking for the bathroom. They serve
meals on leaves in normal Indian restaurants. And then everything else
comes in a little dish. It was pretty sketch in general but the food
was amazing. You can only eat with your right hand and after you begin
eating you can only serve things with your left. It was kinda confusing
but fun. I only had one bad meal ever in India. Then we found some one
to drive us to all the temples. They were really cool. One was 1300 yrs
old, the British came in later and plastered over everything, and then
they finally were able to chip it all off and luckily some of the paint
was still left over. One temple had a stone chain (seven links long)
that they carved from one piece of stone. They were all pretty chill.
We took the bus home with high hopes. However it took much longer than
usual and after it had become dark the bus stopped in an area we were
unfamiliar with and ordered everyone off. Maria and I weren't that
worried we hailed a Rickshaw, pulled out the map, and pointed to where
we wanted to go. Three Rickshaw drivers shook their heads and drove
away. So there we were lost at night in Chennai. I'm glad I was with
Maria, any other person I know probably would have started freaking
out. We both looked at each other and said: "Well we have three days to
find our way back to the ship." Luckily we found a man who spoke
English and he explained to a driver where it was that we were going.
All was well and so ended our crazy adventure. I was supposed to meet
our Malaysian inter-port student that night at five but we didn't get
back until eight.
The next day, Nor (Nullr), the inter-port student came out with us. We
went to a beauty parlor and got some henna done. The lady who did it
for us thought we were hilarious. They gave us so "coffee" which was
very much like chai tea. It was amazing, but apparently South India is
known for their coffee. Then we went to the bazaar. Maria and I
bargained to the best of our ability, but Nor would just walk up, ask
the price, name her own and they would give it to her. We began just
following along after her, and getting something after she had already
bargained them down.
Maria and I had a village visit the next day, we drove out to a small
farming village and took a tour. We got to enter one of the houses. In
front of every house is a white design called a Kolum (coal-um). The
Kolum is made every morning by the woman cleaning the front porch.
After she sweeps the porch she creates the design using rice flour.
It's supposed to attract the insects and animals and also to welcome
people into the house. Some designs go back generation after
generation. They also have a ledge in front of their house for
travelers to sleep on. There's always a prayer room inside; and whoever
was the last head of the house hold that died has their picture in a
frame in the main room, a sort of homage to their elders. They still
use a mortar to grind the hard shell off the rice too. All of the
doorways in traditional houses are very low, because then you are more
humble, in bowing your head and the gods will bless you more.
We got a ride on a bull cart out to a rice field where they showed us
how the irrigation system worked. They are able to flood the fields
when they need to grow the rice, and then they can drain it when they
need to harvest. A lot of the workers have to be careful because there
are cobras in the fields. We got to help harvest the rice which was
really interesting. They use a curved machete to harvest the rice.
First you grip each rice plant, pull the blade toward you and then
throw the severed plant farther in the field. They later have the bulls
stomp the field so that the rice comes off of the stalk. We got to see
a peanut field after that. Each plant has close to seven or eight
peanuts on it. We even got to eat them. They're white and taste very
crisp; they almost have the texture of a cucumber. Last we went to a
coconut grove. They have hundreds of coconut trees. The men climb tons
of trees a day and collect the coconuts. They were so kind as to give
us a few coconuts to drink from, I assumed that maybe only coconuts in
Brazil tasted bad. However, this is not true I do not like any sort of
coconut milk. I'm lucky though because Maria loves it and she was able
to drink mine without me feeling like I'd wasted it. Then we went to a
living museum. It is a representation of all of the South Indian
cultures. We were able to see a potter, a glass blower, a weaver, and
all sorts of other crafts being made. They also had representations of
what all of the house would have looked like. I even got to make a yoyo
out of reeds. It wasn't really a yoyo, that's just what they called it.
It was more like a rattle. And the little old woman who showed me how
was adorable and bossy. She never spoke to me but shoving things in my
hand and moving my hand so as to move reeds every which way seemed to
work.
The last day I went to the Disabled Children's Home. They house 150
people there. A large portion of them are children (hence the name),
however they also have a nursing school there. The oldest resident
there is 25 and named Sri. He can't use his arms or hands very well but
he's very good with his feet, he even paints with them. We stopped by a
class room and the kids were most interested to find out how to use our
digital cameras. A good deal of my photos were from them. They loved
taking a photo and then handing it to you and saying: "Show me!" They
called all the girls Auntie and all the boys Uncle. Auntie sounds a
good deal like Wendy the way they say it, so I thought for a while that
people just kept saying my name. One boy, Santa, tried to teach me a
few tricks with the basketball, the key word is tried. I really just
provided lots of entertainment for kids sitting around us. The boys
loved my sunglasses and kept trying them on and asking to have their
picture taken with them on. One girl, Hamea, kept pulling me to sit
down with her, I taught her little sister how to make a video on my
camera. They sat there for 45 minutes making videos of themselves
laughing. I've never seen two sisters who were more delighted and proud
with each other.
A lot of the people were saddened by their visit to the children's
home. However I didn't get this feeling. I felt that there are a lot of
countries where these children are turned out in the street and instead
Chennai had a group that was feeding the kids, educating them, and
giving them a place to sleep. There was a lot of hope in this place.
None of the kids felt sorry for themselves, they were all happy.
However I've found kids to be like this in most places. They were all
excited to go to school and to make a difference in the world. The only
feeling that really overwhelmed me was that of wanting to help these
kids be able to achieve these dreams, to do something more than just
clearing their backyard. I only saw hope and a wonderful start to
helping all these kids find their way in the world.
India is not a vacation, and it is not a place that you can leave
without being affected. But while it is serious the people there are
making marvelous improvements. The world's a big place, and it's full
of a lot of people. They're not all the same and most of them pride
themselves on being different. But one is still a lot. Even to spend
time with some one to hug them, to listen, to laugh with them makes a
difference in their life. Could you imagine if everyone in the world
was able to make a difference? Changing one person's life and it
affecting the whole world is a one in six billion chance, but (as much
as I hate to do it) as they say in Dumb and Dumber: "Then I still have
a chance!" A life is a life and the kids at the Disabled Home
understand that. It doesn't matter whether you're blind, black, lame,
white, rich, asian, smart, poor, or stupid everyone has a beating
heart, and it makes all the difference in the world when someone cares
about you even just for a second. Helping a little at a time is still
helping, even if it's just one person.
