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Published: January 24th 2007
Well, what can I say... We've been in India for 3 days and we've seen it all already! It's an assault on the senses and nothing can prepare you for the sights, the sounds and particulalry the smells.
Let's just detail what I mean exactly with some of my initial observations...
Starting with the sights - well it's hard to know where to begin. The city is absolutely crowded - people live and work, many even sleep, on the streets. There is abject poverty everywhere you look but contrasted by so much colour and beautiful dyed fabrics. The 'tache is big in fashion here and there are some fantastic examples on display. I would try and grow one myself to try and fit in but I know it would be a joke. It would probably be thin and scratty so I'll leave it to the experts.
One of the strangest sights for us yet one of the smallest, is the Indian head roll. It is equivalent to ta nod but because uit seems more like a shake of the head can easily be confused. On striking a bargain we often are greeted by this roll and no verbal
British Guns
Displayed aoutside the Fort museumconfirmation of an accord. Each time we find ourselves wondering "are we in agreement?" whilst continuing to reiterate the deal. They must wonder what we're doing - eventually we'll get it.
One of the nastier Indian habits we see often is the urinating on the streets (men and women) and hocking up big greenies as you walk by. Like I say it's not very nice but is a way of life and excusable when you see some of the toilet conditions. It's being discouraged slowly but with little effect.
The sounds are generally those of vehicles - quite simply all you hear on the streets is the tooting of horns liberally applied every single metre travelled. Their use is even encouraged and is a necessary part of the Indian road experience but boy does the sound get tiring. The only other noises you hear are the sound of Indian voices beckoning you into a shop, retauarnt or tuk-tuk or the odd belch indicating a good feed has been had by its creator.
The smells are funky to say the least! All that curry, it's not surprising but there's a bigger problem, the amount of stagnant, putrid smelling
water in the city. What's worse, it's a breeding ground for mozzies and that brings disease. Fortunately the bad smells are counteracted by wonderous spice aromas that mask the odours and enchant the nose.
For our time in Chennai (formerly known as Madras) we based ourselves in the Triplicane area - a popular guesthouse district close to Marina Beach. We braved public transport as a means of getting about and found it to be both manageable and practical. The city rail system is practically deserted, it runs frequently and speedily and is definitely the way to go. Especially as the roads are choked and present serious hazards. Indian driving doesn't involve the brake, only the accelerator and the horn.. lots of horn as already mentioned. Risk aversion and defensive driving are not practiced and 2 lanes are easily wide enough for 4 vehicles!
We saw all the main sights in Chennai including the former British stronghold of Fort St George, the Indo-Sarcenic High Court where I ended up talking to a couple of barristers about Geoffrey Boycott and Yorkshire Pudding (they asked where I was from), we strolled along Marina Beach (the second longest in the world), visited
Marina Beach
The second largest beach in the world the Hindu temple of Kapaleeshwarar (adorned in flower garlands) and then dropped in on San Thome cathedral (honouring my namesake apostle, Doubting Thomas). We also did some fabric shopping so we could knock up a duvet case to sleep inside (top sheets are rarely provided and often not clean). We spent a good hour chatting to the proprietor about this and that whilst we waited for the tailoring to be done. You can get pretty much anything made if you want it.
All in all we spent an "interesting" time in Chennai and certainly were never short of entertainment in one way or another. Eventually though the grime and smell gets to you and to be honest we were glad to leave when we finally did. We won't be back...
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Hannah (Seyfert)
non-member comment
YO
Don’t know if you got my long (and much belated) email sent to Tommy’s hotmail address. I’ve been following your progress closely so feel pretty in touch with you. Let me know if you didn’t get my email and I’ll send it again (to the same address?). Can’t wait to catch up with you in person soon...in the meantime, I wish you lots more excitement and adventure. Lots of love, Hxx