Day 1 reflections

Image via Wikipedia

After arriving in Chennai, India, formerly known as Madras at 5 am yesterday morning (Monday 2nd January) after almost two days of travel, it was time to get moving to explore parts of this wonderful country. It is needless to say that I did not get much sleep last night. I am still jet lagged and I am sure I will be paying for this later today. 


Read more here: From Chennai to Pondicherry

Pondicherry: Day One

I don't know why I thought Pondicherry would be idyllic, scenic, and pastoral. When I woke up in the bus in the midst of traffic and neon lights, I thought we were in a traffic jam, with miles to go before we reached our destination. But, no, we had arrived. And this place resembles Gulisthan in Dhaka, Bangladesh, if you know what I mean.

Image via SajjadF

Our two blocks to a South Indian restaurant for dosa ended up being more like ten blocks as we lost our way; it was nice because it gave us the opportunity to feel the pulse of this small city teeming with
baby-taxis or tuktuks, motor bikes, rickshaws, cars, vans, vendors, and an occasional cow.

We maneuvered our way through narrow and not-so-narrow alleys and people tried not to stare at this very large group of strangers courageously marching on. As Carolyn said, this was like a video game where the game was to follow Padma, and in doing so we had to overcome obstacles and remain alive. If you get hit, game over.

This may be the last day we have these 'touristy' posts, so I hope you have been enjoying our musings. We should move on to more 'intellectual' material tomorrow with our visit to EFEO. Let's see.

Chennai - First Thoughts

Chennai in the middle of the night feels like Dhaka: the warmth, the humidity, the scent of pollution mixed with the scent of earth, even the series of billboards that are meant to be welcoming and/or signs of urban development.

There are too many cars on the streets, though, for this hour, which makes me wonder about the traffic we'll face during the day. We are all looking forward to Pondicherry where people speak in French with an Indian accent.