August 17, 2010, Chennai
12:27 p.m. India Time
Have I mentioned how much I love the smell of India? Every morning when I walk out of my air-conditioned bedroom into the enveloping heat of the main living space, it hits me. Deep and spicy, as if something delicious is cooking. (Sometimes it is.) Today for breakfast, onion parathas with more gobi-pea curry. Coffee, tea, guava nectar…all around are good tasting things. They have many more kinds of juices available here. One of Aunty’s friends ( a former housekeeper) came over last evening and brought over garlands of jasmine, a sweet, fragrant flower. Jasmine oil and perfume is some of the most expensive in the world. Aunty tied a bit of it around my wrist, and the scent keeps wafting up to my nose and making me incredibly happy.
Practiced writing some of my Tamil letters. I decided to work on the vowels first : எ அ எஏ இ
ஈ ஒ ஓ உ ஊ ... and try to learn more vocabulary. I’m trying to learn my colors, numbers to ten, and question words. Plus important words, such as yes, no, and enough (a very important word when people keep trying to feed you!)
I took a break from the Tamil for a bit to hang out with the boys and read “Filmfare” magazine. For some reason I can’t get connection (maybe the modem is off) but that’s okay, I’ll just type a running commentary in Word, then transfer it over, as I’ve done before.
Uncle got me an Indian cell phone to use while I’m here. I use it to call Anni or Raja, and I also try to call my mom every other night or so. I like to check in with her to make sure everything is all right.
Anni called a little while ago to say she’s checking in with the tailor to see if my clothes are done, and if she should leave my other items. She called again to say that my clothes are not completely finished and, in fact, the tailor did not even come in to work today. She said that this tailor is exceptionally arrogant, and that she will be looking for a new tailor on her way over here.
She has a lot of phone calls for work today, so she may take me to the handicrafts store to look at gifts and other things for my house. We also need to sit down with Aunty and Uncle to plan out some touristy activities.
8:25 p.m., India time
While I was shopping , Raja called and said he’d like to meet up with me after work. We decided to meet at Anni’s hotel. Anni and I quickly picked up my stuff at the tailor’s and went to the hotel to meet her husband for coffee and wait for Raja.
He soon showed up, and after coffee and cookies Raja and I left to go to a sweets shop. Our driver dropped us off there, and took Anni home with all of our purchases for the day. We had some absolutely delicious Indian sweets (pretty much all Indian sweets are delicious, as they are made of sugar, butter and nuts.) After the sweets, we walked to a bookstore. It was quite an adventure being a pedestrian on the street (as you recall, peds are at the bottom of the “food chain” as far as right of way is concerned.) Still, I watched pretty carefully where I was going. The scariest part, of course, was crossing the street, especially one of the big intersections where everyone drives fast and turns unexpectedly every which way. We browsed in the bookstore and I bought some books, mostly on Hindi films. I also bought 4 CDs. Two of A.R. Rahman (he is a famous song writer who writes songs for both Hindi movies and Tamil movies. I bought one of each) and two CDs of religious music. The funny thing was that they were playing the Justin Bieber CD while we were in the store.
It was raining outside, and suddenly all of the lights went out in the store! Luckily, they came on again pretty quickly, but that was an unusual experience. I was looking for some Tamil workbooks, but I couldn’t find any. Raja said he’d pick me up some K-1 grade workbooks at an academic book store like the one we visited the other day. We walked for a bit and went in to a grocery to pick up some spices and things for my brother and sister in law, before walking to a local Chinese restaurant for dinner. We finally made it there, but it wasn’t open yet. We had about 25 minutes to wait, so we just wandered down to a local fast-food place to wait. When we were there we ordered a “milkshake,” but it was all milk and not much shake. It basically tasted like strawberry Quik, but at least it was cold. We talked a little bit about India, and how I liked it.
Raja asked me what I didn’t like about India. It was hard for me to think of much. Mostly, I told him, I don’t like not knowing the language, as I feel as if I could easily be taken advantage of. It’s hard to see the level of poverty, but there is poverty everywhere. I told him it’s very hot, and I might not like it much earlier in the summer when it’s much hotter, but I could handle it as long as there was AC at home. Also, I said, I was glad I’d never have to drive, because I couldn’t handle the traffic. Lastly, it’s a little unusual being stared at all the time, but I can pretend I don’t notice it, and it doesn’t really disturb me. I just pretend it’s because I’m so good looking.
On the other hand, I love stepping out of my comfort zone. I love the new experiences, the people. I like getting to know new places, learning new things. Therefore, until I get used to a place, I don’t really have any strong judgments as I’m too busy experiencing everything in the moment.
After our conversation, we decided to walk back to the restaurant. On the way, I stepped into a pothole and got my left foot all wet. Seriously, the hole was so deep that the water went up to my ankle. I tell you, my foot was slooshy for about an hour. Potholes are definitely something I could learn to not like about India.
The restaurant was cool and clean. We ordered soup and several dishes. Everything was really good, but we couldn’t eat it all. That was the plan, of course, as we wanted to bring the rest home to share with everyone for lunch tomorrow. Over dinner, we talked about the poet I plan to meet with after we come home from Bangalore, and about some other stuff, you know like people do over dinner. One of the things we ordered was chicken lollipops. I think I may have mentioned those before to some of you. They are so yum. They are sort of like sweet and sour chicken, but left on a bone.
After dinner, we stepped out and hailed an auto. Traffic was really bad tonight, and I swear, every time I get in one of those things, the driver is crazier than the last. I can’t tell you how crazy this driver was. Do any of you remember in Harry Potter 3 when he takes the Knight Bus and the bus goes between those two oncoming trucks? Well, imagine that, but with the full knowledge that your auto rickshaw is not going to magically get any skinnier. I was white-knuckling it all the way home, but I was also smiling because, honestly, it is pretty exciting. On a positive note, my foot dried completely before I got home.
When we arrived home, Raja took the stairs, but I had all the bags, so I took the elevator. The boys were playing with a bunch of other kids in the hallway. They had spent the day playing cricket and also watching Ravaana, a Tamil movie I really want to see. Maybe I’ll get a chance to watch it a bit later. As I came off the elevator, the M.C. thought it would be fun to throw a cricket ball at me. Lucky he missed, I told him, or I’d have to eat his head. Uncle was in the living room watching Tamil soap operas (or at least that’s what it looked like to me.) Aunty and I chatted for a few moments, and I sat down to write this up. I am flat out exhausted. It is hot tonight, and I feel very gritty. Luckily, on nights like this, I find a lot of pleasure in taking a bath, getting into my sleeping clothes, turning on the fan, and just relaxing with a book or surfing online. Also, tonight I think I’m going to make a very special phone call. I’ll write more about that a bit later.
I'm sure there are things I forgot to write. I do that all the time, and when I do, I just go back and insert them where they belong. So actually, the longer you put off reading, the better off you may be. Unless, of course, you follow Ms. Pam's wisdom: "Good Readers re-read."
I'll post again tomorrow. Until then, be good!
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