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.

Happy Birthday Jessa!

The night before I left for India, my daughter was crowned Queen of the father / daughter dance. She earned this title for an essay that she wrote about me.
I sent her a birthday card yesterday. I'm told it should arrive within two weeks.
If you see Jessica today, wish her happy birthday.
I love you, precious.

Pondicherry

Vijaya had been planning our trip to Pondicherry all week. He put together a MS Project schedule that outlined each activity down to the minute. The big items on the agenda were:

Mahabalipuram, Auroville, Paradise Beach for a catamaran ride, and Botanical gardens in Pondy. Almost nothing went according to plan.

We got a late start because of the rain. It rained all day Friday and was raining Saturday morning when we left. Rain is uncommon this time of year in Chennai. Many areas in Chennai, including my area, have no storm drainage system, so water fills the streets, which narrows the driving lanes and causes traffic congestion and delayed our start. Our plans included a stop at Mahabalipurum to complete some gift shopping that I had started two weeks earlier. That was the most successful event of the day. Read my earlier blogs on Mahabalipuram. Before I go on, I need to mention that Vijaya is single and hunting for a bride. Traditionally, marriages in India are arranged by the parents, but Vijaya wants to help his parents out in any way he can, so he is advertising. Aman, pictured later, is also single and in the hunt, but he was less enthusiastic about getting his picture taken.

The drive to Pondicherry went smoothly, with only one minor incident. Vijaya drove. He drove very safely since he has no insurance. However, he did come very close to running over a dog. Like cattle, dogs roam freely. Vijaya is trying to cut back on the number of dogs he kills with his car. He has developed a reputation at work as the "dog slayer". This of course is all unintentional. He holds to the Hindu philosophy of not harming any other living thing. For that reason, he is a vegetarian and doesn't even eat eggs. (Plants don't count as living things.)

Once we got past Mahabalipurum, the country side opened to reveal rice fields. I was nice to be out of the city. We forgot to bring water, so we stopped along the way to purchase coconuts. "Young coconuts are sold with the top cut off and a straw inserted to make a refreshing drink."

Auroville is an experiment for celebrating unity in diversity. "It is a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity." The structure pictured here is a place for meditation, I think. However, due to the rain, they were not letting anyone inside. We couldn't even get close.

Our next stop was Paradise beach, where Vijaya had planned a 2 hour catamaran cruise. However, due to the low pressure system that caused the rain, the catamarans were not running. Instead we took a 5 minute ride on a speed boat in the
Chunnambar backwaters.

If your looking for my pictures of the Botanical gardens, you'll be disappointed, just like we were. Due to the rain (which had stopped hours earlier), the botanical gardens were closed, which left us ample time to spend on the beach in Pondy.

Even though nothing went as planned, it was still an enjoyable day spent with good company.

The biggest adventure was yet to come. Pondicherry is 150 km from Chennai. Appox. a 3 hour drive depending on traffic. The drive at night is just plain scary. On coming traffic rarely bothers to dim their lights, the roads are not marked as well as in the US, so at night it is difficult to see the center line, not that Indian drivers pay any attention to traffic lanes. Most slower moving trucks and rickshaws do not have lights in the rear, so it would be very easy to run into the back of one. Then there's the people walking along the side of the road, and the cows and dogs wondering in the middle of the road. All of which expect the drivers to avoid them. There were several close calls on the way home. The lives of two more dogs were spared.