Blogs from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, Asia - page 5

Today we woke up and walked nearby to a place to catch a bus to a village festival. There are already 17 of us, but we were not the only ones going to this festival. There were two whole buses of foreigners going, all from various organized tours. When we arrived, it was hot and sunny and so so bright. As we approached the village, welcomers gave us yellow flower leis, but instead of being round like our leis in Hawaii, they had an extra appendage of flowers hanging. These are the kind of leis reserved for the Gods. They are offered in shrines, and I learned that you are not even allowed to smell them, because the first whiff is meant to be for the Gods. Why were we given these leis? Either 1) to ... read more

We left on the train to Madurai in the evening. We packed what we actually needed, which it seems is a fraction of all the stuff we actually brought, and piled into the bus, and off at the nearby train station. We had all been so thoroughly warned about bag-slashers, pick-pockets and all manner of thieves, it seemed like everyone was preparing to see the "real India." In reality, it was not a big deal. We even got to rest in an A/C room before the train arrived. This kind of separation from what the average person experiences actually frustrates me a lot. Yes, A/C is nice. But we are already Americans, and when I look to the Indian side, I feel like they are judging the rich Americans for parading around in their country with ... read more

On Friday, we got to the school at 9 because we had to present our formal script to the three heads of the program: Uma, Hariharan, and our own Vinit (from NY). I felt a bit apprehensive because while other groups were finalizing theirs, we hadn't even started ours. We had talked about how we had to do it, and then we had gone to a pub, effectively eliminating any possibility of working on it. By 10, we were wondering where everyone was, all the other Indian students were working with their groups and only ours were absent. By 11, we asked everyone to call them, and apparently they were on their way. Finally two of them arrived at 11:30 and one arrived at 12. Another glorious miscommunication. Before they arrived, Umila and I talked about ... read more

27. Dez. 2012 - Ankunft in Chennai nach langem Nachtflug (Wien - Dubai - Chennai). Immigration in Indien ziemlich langwierig. Wir steigen in den wartenden Bus und fahren durch Chennai (ehemaliges Madras). Indien empfängt uns mit der vollen Wucht seiner Geschäftigkeit und Menschnmassen. Die Straßen sind viel zu eng und ständig verstopft. Alles Leben spielt sich neben der Fahrbahn ab. Menschen in bunten Gewändern gehen ihren Geschäften nach, hektische Motorradfahrer führen viel zu viele Passagiere vom Kleinkind bis zu Frauen im Sari auf dem Sozius. Busse und LKWs fahren aufeinander zu, um im letzten Augenblick doch auf die richtige Seite auszuweichen. Wir besichtigen die katholische Kirche St. Thomas, die Grabkirche des Hl. (ungläubigen) Thomas, der hier ab 52 n. Chr. missioniert hat. (Hier im Süden Indiens gibt es viele Christen, aber auch Muslime, die mit den ... read more

Lottys version; After an extremely dusty, bumpy ride we arrived at the train station. Outside was a cow with the biggest horns I have ever seen in my life! He can't have been comfortable carrying those round on his head! We entered the station and were shown to the upper class waiting room to use the bathroom if we needed. We walked into the waiting room and the stench of stale urine hit us hard. We bravely continued, knowing we faced a 13 hour train ride where the toilets would probably be worse. In the toilets we peered into the cubicles and recoiled in horror. We had seen more western toilets than I expected, and we had also used squat toilets, but this was a tiled room with a tiny little hole in the corner, how ... read more