Chennai & Madras: my first big Indian City

We were going to skip Chennai (formally Madras), other travellers and the guidebook spoke poorly of it, but I'm glad we included Chennai.

My reason for wanting to include Chennai was a bit week, I wanted to see the movie 'Life of Pi' at the cinema in 3D. The story starts out in Pondicherry (where we visited last week) and also visits Mummar(where I was the week before. And although I had wanted to see it for pure entertainment purposes, I also wanted to see it while the city was fresh in my mind. I thought it was a rather good depiction of the town as it must have been when the movie was set.

Seeing the movie here was a complete hoot. Mobile phones kept ringing, but although it would have been annoying at home I found it simply cultural here. The cinema was busy, although it was 1pm on a Tuesday. The audience got completely into the film- they laughed heartily, slapped their leg in enjoyment and watching 'with them' was a complete pleasure.

Aside from that we also went and found a franchise of the Australian coffee chain 'Gloria Jeans'. I wanted to see if it was like they are in Australia (I never go to one at home but I've passed them often enough) or 'Indianized'. It was very much like the Aussie versions, and although there was no flat white on the menu the young man understood my request and made me one. It was very nice to have this.

Then we took an evening stroll along Marina Beach. It was nice. At one point we found a the concrete painted with a figure of 8 and 3 ladies doing 30 minutes of walking the figure 8 (it occupied a space of about 5m x 4m) for their exercise. Soft exercise I'd say. We joined in, but soon got bored and tried to jazz it up a bit, much to everybodies amusement.

Traveling within Chennai has meant passing many slums. These are interesting to look at: a smelly stench with rubbish everywhere, and huts and more huts and people and more people among the squalor. Catching the train back from the beach the train stopped at a station in a large slum area. We were impressed by the sheer volume of people who go off the train here (it was the commuters coming home from work) and how they were so tidy and seemingly clean comparedt to their surroundings and what they were going to.

We also visited the old British fort museum, but I found it most uninteresting.

Chennai is my first big Indian city and we are glad we came. Our stay of 2 nights has been sufficient and interesting.

Staying with friends family in Pondy

I have a really good friend back home who is from Pondicherry and he always offered that if I was to go to India I could stay with his Mum and Dad. I wasn't ever 100% certain if his offer was genuine, but I definitely wanted to take up the offer. For me, staying with locals always makes my travelling worthwhile: I think if I only ever got to 'sightsee' I would have give up the travel game ages ago.

Anyway, his offer did come through and here I am. So far Louise and I have been here 3 nights and we will stay one more. I am worried about staying too long but it's festival time and we have been told that today isn't a good day to move on. For me this means forced relaxation... I really have no capacity for sitting around, so I'm struggling a bit.

The Indian hospitality is quite something else (I had hosts in Cochin too). Every meal time is like a forced feeding session where these hosts try to make us eat more than we can or want to. We are both learning to say a firm NO! Then, after eating we are told "rest".
Then, I must laugh, because yesterday I was given a new shirt, size 36XXL (I fit an Indian 'S'). I see 'mom' has ambitions for me!

Yesterday I snuck a piece of fruit mid afternoon while everyone else was resting. Not because I'm not allowed the fruit, but because if they see me having fruit they try to make me have more fruit.

Anyway this part of India used to be French (whereas the British had control elsewhere for longer, the French had it here). But, it's still more Indian than French. If I hadn't read or been told it was French I may not have noticed, although there are more white people here.

The neighbour over the street is Australian so everyday I go and chat for a few hours with him.

The festival goes for 3 days (today is the last). It is called Pongal, the harvest festival, that celebrates the beginning of the Tamil New Year. It has been a particularly wonderful time to stay with locals as we have been able to witness customs associated with this that we would never have seen if we were staying in a hotel.

In sightseeing, we have strolled along the waterfront promenade, visited the botanical gardens (really destroyed by a cyclone some time ago but not repaired), been blessed in 2 temples, and visited Auroville. I also have been blessed by an elephant outside a temple! (He taps you on the head with his trunk.) I was delighted by this.

Auroville is a strange alternative community of foreigners and locals just outside Pondi. I don't really 'get' it, so I won't comment much.

Finally I want to say that Pondi is where the story 'Life of Pi' starts out. I've read the book, but I'm still hoping to see the movie.

The photo shows a neighbour doing the decorations out the front of the house. Each house does this every morning for Pongal and they all seem to be works of art in their own right, each different to the others: big, small, colorful, geometric, or pictures of something.