Aman's Apartment

Aman lives with his parents in a three bedroom flat on the fifth floor of an apartment in Besant nager. It is the penthouse. It is three times the size of the flats on the floor below. It has beautiful panoramic views of the Bay of Bengal. The ocean breeze and sound of the surf make the two large patios a perfect place to relax.





I had a jovial conversation with Aman's mother about the selection of a bride for Aman. She's researching and taking resumes for four to ten girls per week. So far, she hasn't found one that suits Aman. He's looking for the complete package. Good education, good looks, 5'4" or taller, right background, etc. His mother thinks his expectations are to high. They both expect to find the girl within the year. Aman and his bride will live in the apartment with his parents. That is pretty common here.

For a cultural experience, Aman took me to two local temples. Taking pictures of the idols was not permitted, but I was allowed to take pictures of the structures and the priests. People came mostly to pray, but a few offered food sacrifices. The priest would take the food to the idols, wave it around in the candle smoke, say a prayer, and most of the time, return the offering to the giver. When the offering is returned, it is considered a gift from god.

The second temple was the temple for the goddesses of wealth. There was a long queue to get to this temple, but if you pay a small fee, you can go to the front of the line.

Afterwards, Aman and I hung out at the beach, went to a nice restaurant, and talked about different religions.

Friday Nite Movie

To demonstrate how desperate we are for entertainment, Friday night, Vijaya, Aman, and I went to see the movie D-War. It was the only English movie playing the late show, following our meetings at work. I had very low expectations of the movie, but it was worse then what I had imagined. Clearly one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It is the kind of movie that my boys would want to see. I think they might even be disappointed with this one.

The Theosophical Society

Saturday, Aman and I took a trek through The Theosophical Society. The aim of this society is to "form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color and to encourage the study of comparative religions, philosophy, and science. It was founded in the U.S. by Col. Henry Steele Olcott. There was not a lot of activity there, but the buildings suggested that this place could be used as a retreat center. It was very serene and very different from the city just outside the walls.
Primarily, we went to see the park grounds. A British woman, Anna Besant, who the surrounding area is named after, fought to preserve this area from urbanization. This is one of the largest Banyan trees in the world. It is a single tree. i.e. single root system that extends 238' North to South and 250' East to West.


Another Banyan tree in the park was filled with bats.

Dinner at Jacob's

Wednesday evening, I was invited to the Jacob's for dinner. Mr. Jacob and I drank cognac and visited while his wife, Achamma, cooked. She would come and sit with us for a while, but she is very reserved and more comfortable in the kitchen. We talked about many things, but mostly about our families and about the difference between America and India. Mrs. Jacob prepared a meal for my tastes. At the end of the meal my lips didn't hurt and the back of my neck was not sweating. For them it was very bland.
Mr. Jacob owns six flats in the building where I stay. That is his only income, but I think he does O.K. since property values in Chennai are increasing rapidly. Shaji, my cook, also manages all of Mr. Jacob's flats, so I'm not sure what Mr. Jacob does all day. I asked Achamma what she does during the day. She goes to mass daily and spends four hours in prayer.

POWRTRAK Team Celebration

Last week, the POWRTRAK Best Shore team finished six weeks of knowledge transfer training. The training consisted of daily three hour class room instruction followed by hands on assignments. The class room instruction was facilitated via the Internet by the team members back in the States. (I stand out, since I'm the only one wearing yellow.)

The Great Kabob Factory

We celebrated with lunch at the Great Kabob Factory. This restaurant is located within the Radission hotel. It is a five star hotel equal to any in the States. The gentleman on the far right and the gentleman second from left are new team members, Gopinath and Ashok. (Can you find Flip?)

The menu choices were few: Vegetarian or Non-Vegetarian. Both options consisted of an eight course meal. Maybe you recognize some of these dishes? I did not, but I now know that 'Tikka' means spicy. Murgh Peshawari is a fancy way to say chicken leg. It was all very tasty. The last item was ice cream served in a mud pot.

Fashion Statement

I wasn't feeling self conscious, but I had noticed that not a lot of men wear shorts here. Regardless of the temperature, most men wear long pants and often times long sleeves. So my white legs really stand out when I wear shorts. Alternatively, many men wear dhotes. Mr. Jacob must have noticed as well. He gave me one of his dhotes, so now I'll fit in better. You basically put them on like a bath towel. It takes some practice to wrap them so that they stay on.
Dhotes can also be pulled up and tied as this man is modeling.

Besant Beach

I went to church this morning at the House of Prayer, which is close by, so that Abdul could have the day off. The rest of the day I spent at Besant Beach. I have a dozen shots of this group of kids. My camera was very entertaining to them. Especially the boy in the blue shirt.

On the other side of this hut, there was a group of women sitting in a circle playing a board game. Across the alley in a grass hut, a group of men were sitting around playing a game and a second group playing cards. Maybe its a Sunday evening thing?
I saw one guy jogging on the beach. He inspired me. I haven't run since I've been here. I was on a section of beach that was mostly deserted, so with my sandals in one hand and my camera in the other, I started off. I was just four minutes into my run when this turtle passed me up.

I thought I would run all the way to Marina Beach, but after a few minutes I came to a river and realized I would have to swim or turn back. These guys were swimming there. They wanted to talk.
While I was taking their picture, someone stole my sandals. My $75 Tevas: leather, waterproof, arch support. I was very bummed. On my way home I walk by the fisherman village where practically no one had shoes. Nor did they have the luxury of indoor plumbing. Their bathroom is the beach. Not much privacy. I walked by that as well. So I was able to change my perspective about my Tevas. Although by the time I walked the 30 minutes back to my flat, I was really missing them. Usually, on my walks, at least one rickshaw driver will stop and ask If I want a ride, but not this time.

Saturday in Chennai

I hung out with Vijaya on Saturday. One of the Chennai tourism web sites I visited put the Aquarium at Marina Beach as a must see item. Vijaya said that it was "over billed", but he took me there anyway. It had been moved, when we went to the new location, this is what we found. They are in the planning stages of building it. The rest of the day went better.

We ate at a Chinese restaurant that had beef on the menu. It's the first place I've seen in Chennai. Of course I tried. I'm pretty sure it was beef, but it must have been from a very scrawny cow. I'll stick with the chicken or mutton from now on. We also went to the BM Birla Planetarium. Before the planetarium show we saw a 3D movie. One of those movies where you wear the glasses and snakes come out of the screen to strike at you. It was fun. The planetarium show was geared for elementary students, but the stars were beautiful, the seats were comfortable, and I took the opportunity to take a short nap.




In the evening, we went to City Center mall and saw a movie. Regardless of what I said in an earlier blog, the City Center mall is very much like shopping in the U.S., even the prices are similar. They had some Karaoke going on in the lobby. We saw the movie Vantage Point. I recommend seeing it.