Tamil Nadu - தமிழ்நாடு

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From outside the train station, I took taxi to get to the guest house called the Red Salvation Army Guest House. The guest house is located a couple of miles away from the central Chennai. I had to take the opportunity to seek the sanctuary here at the time of my late arrival. Having circled around and making five or six phones calls, the taxi driver cleverly found the place to the guest house. I realised that it was trick work of the taxi driver to charge me for all the hassle which I caused him. I refused to pay an extra rupee, which irritate not only the taxi driver but also the night duty officer at the guest house. However, there was an English guy to rescue me, who later became a good travel companion in Tamil Nadu. The room was a massive hall, filled with beds. These beds reminded me a prison cell.

There were twenty beds and the gaps between most of the beds were less than two feet. I took the bed right next to the door which had a good access to get out of the room quickly in case there is an emergency. I was so pleased with my choice of bed, when I realise the number of other people who lately arrived. After having a cold shower in a stinky bathroom, I straight-away went to have dinner. The night life in unknown place in Chennai scared me. Even though I knew the language well, there was some sort of feelings which I felt during the time I spent outside. I couldn’t recognise the fear in my heart, I had at that time. That might had been something to do with the ongoing war between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE.

There were people drunken-loads and loitering around without any obvious reasons. There were hardly any street lights in the street. I went to the nearest café, from where I had a couple vades (a sort of snacks) with some sambaru (spicy gravy). When I returned back to the prison cell, the most of them were in dreamy world, some of them were snoring so loud as if there is a competition of ‘who-can-snore-loud’. The noise of constant snoring annoyed me a lot. I frustratingly spent my night, counting the seconds on the clock. I had plenty of time to plan my stay in Tamil Nadu. I will only be here, three more days.

Next day, after lunch break I went out with two other travellers who later became good friends. We caught a local bus to Maria Beach. The beach was filled with lots of people. There were twenty something fish stalls, which were selling all sort of fish. The most striking place on the beach was, the place where a couple was filling drinking water from the well in the sand. I couldn't resist myself trying it. The water was not drinkable as the first taste of salty metallic water made me to throw up. While one of them were swimming, I spent the time taking random photos and sipping hot tea under the bright sunset. On the way back, three of us treat ourselves with three massive plates of mutton biriyani.

There are two more days left in Tamil Nadu.

Tomorrow I am making my second visit to one of the historical place in Tamil Nadu.

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