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August 8th 2011

Published: August 8th 2011

This week has been an interesting one. Some days are blurs and some have stood out significantly. I guess the most interesting was to visit a rural community that only has members from a certain high caste living there. We were taken to a local day-care centre where we made a girl cry coz she had never really seen white people before. We were then taken to a local school where we saw some very cute as well as very talented dancers and then met with a local farmer. He had a door frame and door which was all hand carved and was truly beautiful – it was worth 30,000 rupees which is about $667 which is wealth we hadn’t really crossed before. I also ate raw guava-I don’t really rate it!
We went on a mini-adventure last weekend, and when I say adventure I mean nothing of the sort! We headed to a place called Mahabalipuram (I’m not sure that I’ve spelt that right)which is about 3 hours out of Chennai. When I say 3 hours out of Chennai, I’m not so sure it is! There is a lot of traffic in Chennai which means people communicate by honking their horns and pushing as far as they can into the traffic. When a big bus full of people is trying to move through said traffic it takes the bus a while. I’m pretty sure about 1 and a half hours is taken up by trying to push through traffic without much success.
Anyhoo we arrived in Mahabalipuram (or Mahab) around midday and were instantly greeted with less car honking and a more relaxed atmosphere, which was quite a relief! We found a place to stay in for the night that had air conditioning, which we decided was a must, and set out to have a look around. We visited lots of very pretty temples which have amazing carvings as well as a big boulder called ‘Krishna’s Butter ball’ and by late afternoon we’d got a bit sun-burnt and quite hot (when I say hot, I mean REALLY hot) so we headed to a sea front bar and had a beer.
It is essentially a town that depends on tourism, it was quite a shock for us to see so many caucasian people in one place. Food and drinks are cheap, the ocean is nearby and there are lots of typically Indian things to buy (like harem pants and pretty silver jewellery). A guy in one of the shops (yes, I was enticed in by the afore mentioned harem pants and silver jewellery) said they get a lot of French tourists visiting the area which I though was interesting. We also noticed there were a lot of families there.
We managed to eat loads of delicious food (including a salad which was like mainlining nutrients into my veins after all the curry I’ve eaten) and saw some great sites as well as some monkeys – one crossed the street right in front of me and I was so blown away I was dancing around telling everyone to look at the monkey – quite embarrassing as this must happen pretty often, everyone was as nonchalant about it as if a dog had just crossed the road or something!
It was really nice to escape the chaos for a bit! We start prac this week and Tess and I will be at a service called Madras Christian Council of Social Services. I’m looking forward to having a bit more of a routine, finally getting to yoga classes and learning a bit more about social work over here! And after a week of hard work we’re heading to a place called Pondicherry over the long weekend (its India’s independence day on the 15th August)which should be great fun (and we’ll have air-conditioning again!).
That was going to be all but had to mention an experience we had last night. We were meeting up with a friend of a friend and going for dinner. She suggested we go to tapas, which we were all keen on. I hadn’t really thought much into it but as we got to the outside of the restaurant, we all hoped out of the car and a man jumped in AND PARKED HER CAR FOR HER! I don’t think I’ve even experienced anything like that in Sydney! So we started walking upstairs and I started to think I was underdressed for the occasion (I left any going out clothes at home based on the assumption that they would be culturally inappropriate). At the door to the restaurant we were met by a big burly bouncer kind of guy who let us in and it was like walking into a restaurant in Sydney. It was SO surreal. I don’t think they even served curry! AND people were showing their shoulders and wearing jeans, something we’d only rarely seen! The restaurant, Zara, had a bigger cocktail list than I’ve ever seen (I stuck to beer because that’s how I roll) and the food menu was just like any place in Sydney. I remained in shock for the whole mean and only really recovered when I woke up this morning! It doesn’t hep that all the information about culture and tradition is fed to us by a conservative older man, so this gave us better insight into the real India. That was probably the biggest culture shock I’ve had yet – cosmopolitan Chennai!
Starting prac today (sort of) and heading to Pondicherry next weekend so will update with more then!

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