Some Observations About India

Now that I've been here for a little over a month and I'm leaving in 3 days, I thought it was time for me to write about some of the things that make India unique. These are just random observations on my part.

1. TV - Indian TV is different, luckily we have a satellite here so we are able to get English channels. I'll start with HBO: they actually run some fairly decent movies on HBO here. We've seen "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", "Rockstar" (I love that movie), "East is East", "Batman", and "Revolutionary Road" just to name a few. Every English-speaking show, from movies to sitcoms, has English subtitles even though the show itself is in English. Tom said it's because people in India can't understand American English, kind of like watching "Trainspotting" without subtitles, even though it's in English, you can't understand a word they're saying.

The people who are responsible for typing up the subtitles don't always get it right, so it's kind of amusing to read the subtitles and listen to words. As an example, I was watching "Revolutionary Road" and the line was "I loathe the sight of you" but the subtitle said "I love to aside you" which doesn't even make sense. If they just can't figure out what the words are the subtitle might look like this: ( ) or (Foreign language). They are also very censored over here so every single suggestive scene in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" was cut out, even the scene where Aldous Snow was singing at the resort.

Language is not overly censored, like the word "shit" or "goddamn" is still audible but the subtitle will be *****. Also, the translations are the British spelling so "neighborhood" would be "neighbourhood", "ass" is "arse", "color" is "colour", etc. I have never heard the "F" word on TV here, that is totally muted out.

Commercials: the commercials here are so silly and most of them are in Hinglish (part Hindi - part English) or Tamil. Most of the commercials are for:

Deodorant (I don't know why because I don't think anyone here uses it)

Cell phones

Cars

Life Insurance (all of the life insurance commercials involve a child graduating from college and being given the gift of life insurance by his/her parents and the kid always cries when they give it to him). Tom said that only recently has life insurance become available through private companies so they advertise the hell out of it.

Some form of non-alcoholic beverage like Nimbu (kind of like lemonade), ThumsUp (a cola drink), Coca-Cola (their slogan is "little drops of joy"), etc.

Motorcycles (big surprise)

Banks

Skin Lightening Creams and Lotions - as I mentioned in a previous post, Indians are crazy for fair skin. The lighter the skin, the more attractive the person. Each time I turn on the TV I see a ton of ads for different skin lightening creams and lotions and they all promise 2 tones lighter in 7 days. They even include a little strip with different shades of brown on it so the user can keep track of how light their skin gets. The funniest one is a commercial featuring Shah Rukh Kahn (the MOST famous Bollywood actor in India) advertising "Fair and Handsome" which is a product only for men.

Shampoos and Conditioners, Bath Soap, and Mosquito Repellant

2. Public Bathrooms - This is worth writing about simply for the "gross out" aspect of it all. I don't think I've ever been in a public bathroom at home, even at a truck stop, that was as disgusting as the public bathrooms in India, even public bathrooms in "nice" restaurants and stores. Sometimes the bathrooms are unisex so there is a Western toilet and a urinal in the same little closet. NONE of them have toilet paper, unless I get really lucky and then I might get a roll with a little left on it. They all have those water hose/sprayer things attached to the wall (see pics of our apartment in a previous post and you'll see what I mean), so the bathroom floor is always soaking wet. To use the public bathroom I will hold my breath when I walk in because the smell is unbelievable, wipe down the entire toilet area with Kleenex that I carry in my purse, then try to squat over the toilet without sitting down all the while holding my pants off the ground with one hand and trying to balance without touching anything while I go. Most public bathrooms do have a bottle of Dettol (soap) to wash my hands with but they don't have paper towels or an air dryer so I just have to flap dry. It's not a pleasant experience but I have to say, one of the cleanest and least stinky public bathrooms I used was at the one and only McDonald's in Chennai.

3. Liquid Refreshment in Stores - I don't really know how to explain this but I'll give it a shot. I've seen this in several places so I think it's fairly common. Stores will have either a water cooler with a single metal cup sitting on top of it or a bunch of Coke or 7Up bottles that have been refilled with water sitting out on a counter. Shoppers will fill up the metal cup from the cooler and pour the water in their mouth without touching the cup with their lips, or they will pour water from the refilled Coke bottle into their mouth without touching the bottle to their lips. People will just line up, one after the other, total strangers, and all drink from the same cup or bottle. It is the one of the most disgusting things I have seen here and I don't think I would do that no matter how thirsty I was. Yuck!

4. Malls, Restaurants, Shops - I can lump these all together and make it easy. I have been to two malls in Chennai, Spencer Plaza and Citi Centre, and I prefer Spencer Plaza even though it is the older of the two. Malls here are smaller versions of malls that we have at home, with lots of different stores and food courts. The malls are not air-conditioned except that sometimes there is an a/c unit over the entry door so when I first walk in I think it's air conditioned, but it's really not. The malls are extremely crowded with tons of people and it's very hot and smelly because no one wears deodorant here so the stench of BO will just about knock you over. In the malls, the people who work in the different stores will stand outside the doors to their little store and hawk their wares, particularly when they see a white person (ME). They will just trail behind me for a few feet trying to get me to come into their store and I just keep on walking like I don't see them. Some restaurants advertise on their outdoor signage that they are "a/c" and most of the time it's not too bad but they don't run it like we would at home. In restaurants, the waiters hover over you constantly and when they bring food out they serve it for you rather than you dishing up your own plate. When the waiter sees that you are just about finished with what is on your plate, he will run right over and try to give you more food. Shops where we buy food are very small, smaller than a 7-11 at home. The produce sections are very small, with rotten produce mixed in with good to average produce and the produce area is covered in flies. You just kind of have to pick through the tomatoes, potatoes, cilantro, bell peppers (it's called capsicum over here), etc. and then wash up with the Germ-X when you've got what you want. We go different places for different things, not like going to Wal-Mart or Target or whatever and stocking up all at once. There is a good place to get milk and yogurt, a good place for bread, and a good place to buy everything else. So buying food can take several hours by the time it's all done and you have to plan it, like getting milk and yogurt last and then heading home before it gets gross from being out in the heat.

5. Power Outages - The power goes out every single day, at least twice. There is no warning, no particular schedule, it just goes. One minute I'm sitting here with the ceiling fan spinning away, trying not to pass out from the heat, and then the power goes out. If we are lucky, Babu the caretaker gets the back-up power on fairly quickly but the back-up power is a ceiling fan and a light in each room, nothing else. That means no power to the fridge, bathroom, microwave, washing machine, electrical outlets in the walls, etc. The power will stay off for anywhere from 5 minutes to several hours, it varies from time to time. One Saturday the power went off at 9:00 AM and didn't come back on until 5:00 PM. Needless to say, we took showers in the dark and got the hell out of here because at least the car is air conditioned. I know that the power outages are supposed to conserve power and I guess they need all the help they can get over here but still....it's frustrating but since it happens every single day I have come to expect it. The frustrating part is when I'm watching a movie and the power goes because then I miss whatever is happening on the show so there's kind of no point in getting involved watching something on TV because most likely the power will go out and I will miss part of whatever I'm watching.

6. The Police - In the U.S. being a police officer is a noble and respected profession but not in India. The police here are most known for taking bribes from everyone. The police do not carry guns unless they are a high grade within the department, like detective or chief. The cops on the street carry a stick and nothing else. The "traffic police" stand at various places in the road and they direct traffic, stand around, and pull people over by blowing whistles at them and motioning them to the side of the road. When someone is pulled over, they will then offer a bribe and that is how the situation is resolved.

7. Beggars - In the U.S. we just have panhandlers who stand at intersections with their signs asking for money. They don't approach people or anything, they just stand around hoping for a hand out. In India, they have true "beggars". These people don't usually bother or approach Indians, only white people. When the beggar sees a white person, they see dollar signs. I have had beggars follow me for a block down the street, grabbing at my arm, walking RIGHT BESIDE me, and when I get in the car and shut the door, the beggar will literally lay on the window and tap it constantly trying to get my attention. Sometimes Tom will take pity and give them a small coin but most of the time we just ignore them, with me saying "Go, Go" trying to get Tom to hurry up and get the car moving because I just can't stand to see these people begging at the window. The worst is when it is a little kid. I made the mistake of smiling at a kid at the beach at Mamallapuram and he followed me almost to the car. It's heartbreaking but we can't give money to every person who begs for it.

8. Jasmine - Chennai is a city in a state called Tamil Nadu. In Tamil Nadu one of the traditions is for women to wear Jasmine in their hair. ALL WOMEN....Before I came here I liked the smell of Jasmine, now I can't stand it. On just about every street corner there are women and men who string the Jasmine into long ropes and the women buy it (or their husbands buy it for them) and they wear these long ropes of Jasmine in their hair. So everywhere I go, I am assaulted by the potent smell of hundreds of women (and small girls) wearing Jasmine in their hair. The sweet, overpowering smell of the Jasmine, mixed with the heat, makes me want to vomit. Directly below the apartment is a garment factory of some kind and only women work there. When they sit outside for their lunch or break, the smell of the Jasmine is so strong the wind actually blows it up into the open doors of the apartment so I smell it inside the apartment as well as outside on the streets.

9. Traffic - Chennai has a population of over 8 million people, and they are all trying to get somewhere and get there fast. Traffic is a nightmare no matter what time of the day or night. When I say traffic, I mean the following: cars, motorcycles, bicycles, scooters, trucks, buses, pedestrians, bullock carts (carts pulled by an ox), auto rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws (a cart with a bicycle attached to it), goats, cows, and buffalo. The roads are marked with lane lines, but no one stays within the lane markings. So if there are actually 3 marked lanes on a road, there are approximately 5 or 6 rows of cars, motorcycles, bicycles, etc. across those 3 marked lanes. Everyone jams up together so I can literally open the window and touch the car next to us without really sticking my arm out of the window. Traffic lights are more for show than anything else because no one pays attention to the light unless there is a traffic cop standing there. Red lights are on an "as needed" basis, meaning that if we are approaching a red light, everyone kind of looks to see if there are any cars coming from the opposite direction and if there aren't any, everyone just goes on through the red light. All of the traffic signals have a "counter" on them which shows how long before the light turns red or green. So on the occasion when everyone stops at a red light, when the counter shows that the light will turn green in 8 seconds, everyone starts inching forward and blowing their horns non-stop until someone finally jumps the red light and everyone goes at once. The motorcycles and scooters ride in between 2 cars or a car and a bus or a car and a truck. I don't know how these people aren't squished but somehow they make it through. Very few people wear helmets and the funny thing is when I see a couple of guys on a motorcyle and they have helmets IN THEIR LAPS instead of on their heads. Lots of the guys on motorcycles wear handkerchiefs over their nose/mouth so it kind of looks like a bunch of robbers riding around on motorcycles.

10. Gas Stations - Gas stations in India are ALL full-service, meaning that no one in India pumps their own gas. You pull into the gas station and there is always some guy standing in the parking lot waving you into whichever pump lane he wants you to go to. Then there is a guy who does the filling up part and a different guy who takes the card for payment. When Tom first came to the U.S. in 2003, he had no clue how to put gas in a car and he was 24 years old.

11. Door Attendants - No matter where you go, there is always a guy standing outside the door to whatever place it is, whether it's a restaurant, a shop, etc. His job is to open the door for the customer when they enter and leave the store. In addition to the door attendant, there are also parking attendants all over the place who tell you where to park at whatever store you're going to. They will wave their hands around, blowing a whistle, motioning this way and that way, until you are parked where they want you to be parked. It's the craziest thing.

12. Imported Grocery Items - We found two stores that carry imported grocery items, Amma Naana and Nilgiri's. Imported grocery items are REALLY expensive and they don't have a lot of it. Some of the items that I can remember are: a normal-sized container of Philadelphia Cream Cheese for US $10, a normal-sized block of Kraft Cheddar Cheese for US $10, a small (and I mean small) package of deli sandwich meat for US $22, a can of Schweppes Ginger Ale for US $1.25, and a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for US $3.75. We bought the mac & cheese, it was okay but tasted kind of funky like the powdered cheese was a little off. The ginger ale was sooo good and we didn't even touch the other stuff because it was so expensive. I guess the people who work in the U.S. Embassy here earn U.S. money so they can afford to buy the stuff they are familiar with but the average Indian income won't allow luxuries like that.

13. Chinese Food - Being in Asia, India has some of the best Chinese food I have ever had in my life. No Chinese restaurant that I've ever been to in the U.S. can compare to the Chinese food in India.

14. Religion - Everywhere in India, on every street, on every road, there will be some sort of a temple, even a small one. It might just be a little statue in a glass case or it could be a small building that is taken care of by the people in the neighborhood. I have seen so many temples it's impossible to count them all. They are everywhere. In addition to the temples there are also large signs about Jesus and being saved, etc. There are mosques dotted throughout the city as well. Directly across from the dining balcony of the apartment is a mosque and they blast the call to prayer 5 times a day from a speaker that I swear is pointed right at this building. I have come to learn the different voices of the men who do the singing and I can usually differentiate between them. Sometimes I catch myself singing along and Tom says I'm going to get us shot if anyone hears me (he's kidding). The other thing about the whole religion aspect of India is the Muslims. I'm not saying anything against anything, I'm just saying that it's well over 100 degrees here and these poor women are walking around the streets in all black burquas, with only a slit for their eyes, wearing black gloves and black stockings....I don't know how they aren't dropping like flies on the street from the heat. The other night we went to dinner at this Chinese place and there was a group of Muslims having dinner there - I think it was 2 couples with kids and then a single guy. The one couple with kids gets in their car, and the other couple with their kids and the single guy get in the other car. Get this: the couple with the single guy, the husband gets in the driver's seat, the single guy gets in the front passenger seat, and the wife with the kids gets in the back seat and PULLS A CURTAIN ACROSS BETWEEN THE FRONT AND BACK SEATS to keep her separated from the single guy. It was the strangest thing I have ever seen but I guess that's how they do it.

15. Livestock - Imagine driving down the street, or the highway, or whatever and dodging cows, buffalo, and goats. Say for instance you are cruising down 635 or the Tollway and you have to change lanes because there is a herd of cattle in the road. That is exactly what it is like here. Livestock is everywhere, and I mean everywhere. We had to stop at an ATM the other day for Tom to get cash, the little ATM building is fenced-in and there was freaking cow walking around in there!

16. Public Urination - This is really men, not women, doing this. If a dude has to go pee, he will drop trou wherever he is, whip it out, and go. Doesn't matter if it's on the side of the road, the corner of a building, whatever. Guys on motorcycles will pull over to the shoulder of the road and just go. They don't go behind a tree or a bush or anywhere else, they just go. So, that means when you are walking around the streets you have to be careful not to step in it and I guess some areas get more use as a bathroom than others because of the SMELL. Totally disgusting.

17. Slums - The first time I came to India in 2008, Tom was very careful to keep me in nice areas, nice hotels, etc. He didn't expose me to any part of the "true India", meaning the slums. Not this time....one weekend we had to do some shopping in the city (the apartment is in a suburb called Chromepet and Chennai city is about a 40 minute drive) and at some of the smaller shops it is really difficult to find a place to park. Tom wanted to go to this computer parts store and we ended up having to park about two blocks away, in this alley behind a large building, and we had to walk to the store. Part of our walk involved walking through a slum. It was the first time I had seen it live and in my face, seeing it on TV or in a movie is totally different. There were tin shacks, probably about 4 feet by 6 feet, all lined up one after the other, no electricity, no doors, no windows, just little tin shelters. All of these women and children were out in front of their little shacks, some of the women were cooking in pots over fires, some of the women were washing clothes in buckets, some of them were just sleeping on the street, none of them had shoes, most of the kids were half-naked, and I had to walk right through the middle of this. I was horrified and I couldn't look at them because I didn't want them to think I was staring at them. It was not a nice experience but Tom said I needed to see it (???); thankfully, when we left the computer store we went the long way around so I didn't have to walk through the slum again.

18. Pizza Hut, KFC, McDonald's, and Domino's - All of these restaurants are here and even though at home we consider these places to be "fast food" and maybe places that we don't really go to, in India they are considered "Nice". McDonald's is relatively expensive here and the portions are quite a bit smaller than we get at home. There are no "super-size" options here, no small, medium, large, extra-large drinks. McDonald's in India doesn't serve beef, they used to serve lamb but not anymore. The options are chicken, chicken, and chicken. KFC in India has India-spiced chicken and it's kind of funny to be walking around the food court at the mall and see a group of Indians chowing down on a bucket o' chicken (yep, it's really in a KFC bucket). Pizza Hut is a real restaurant with menus and is decorated pretty well. Domino's is huge on the delivery scene and their slogan is "Delivering Happiness". Pizza in India is India-spiced so the pizza sauce is distinctly Indian-flavored, has very little cheese, and is loaded with chicken.

I guess that is really all that comes to my mind right now. There might be more that I remember later, if so I'll post it. India is a fascinating, crazy place to be but I don't know if I could live here permanently. The last time I was here I was really a 10-day tourist, hitting Rajasthan and the Golden Triangle of Mumbai-Delhi-Agra. We stayed in hotels with generators so I never knew when the power went out and we had drivers who took us around wherever we wanted to go and knew the quick ways to get places. This time I have actually lived here for 5 weeks and it has been an experience that I will never forget and also an experience that I feel lucky to have had. I don't know many people who get to visit a foreign country like this and experience a totally different way of life. I feel fortunate to live a life in the U.S. that is really luxurious compared to life here.

More from the Newspaper

Arranged marriages are still the norm in India and there is a large section of the newspaper devoted to ads placed by parents seeking a suitable life partner for their child, even though the child is well over the age of 21. I selected a few of the best:



WANTED BRIDEGROOM for Kannada speaking girl born Jan 1984 studied BS in USA now working in a leading investment bank in London. Willing to relocate if required Bridegroom's education, position and family background are the important considerations.



NON-SRIVATSA GROOM for my Kannada/Tamil speaking with high moral values, beautiful daughter Ashilesha. Contact with height, education and horoscope.



TRICHUR NAIR girl divorced (within a week) employed in Chennai seeks well qualified/employed boy.



Fair, Slim and Beautiful Girl from a Well Cultured Family Seeks Professionally Qualified Groom.



CHRISTIAN PROTESTANT Fair girl 29 Australia employed citizen seeks professionally Qualified, clean habits willing to settle in Australia. good family background Photo/Biodata must.



Healthy young looking very active and well settled boy having diabetes seeks good looking girl. Young widows can also apply. caste no bar.



WELL RESPECTED Hindu Family in South Delhi seeks alliance for their handsome son, Vegetarian US graduate with six years experience with a US Investment Bank. Presently engaged in creating a Financial Consultancy and Investment Banking setup in India. Looking beautiful, qualified homely girl from educated cultured family.

PARENTS OF Christian, working in a leading Co. invite proposals from a slim, fair looking, God fearing and qualified bride below 23 from an affluent family of the same community. Reply with photos.

HIGHLY REPUTED Delhi based family seeks for their tall, fair, handsome, smart son 26 Phd scholar USA visiting India from 25th May to 10th June, 2010. Cultured, beautiful, fair, well educated, tall girl with good family background.

TALL MUSLIM, 25 Software Engineer London Rich/Religious family Chennai seeks educated beautiful Very fair Bride from religious rich decent family.

HANDSOME Post Graduate Sr Manager has a birth defect of infertility can have happy married life seeks unmarried bride with same issue Caste no bar

Tamil Speaking Family Invites Proposal from Pious Poor/Avg Middle Class for sons 1) 45, 2) 38 3) 36 Girls should be Pious, Simple, Homely, Humble & Soft Spoken Family must have background known in the place where they reside. Reply with Parish/Photo

I guess I should explain that in India caste is extremely important in most cases. People who are not from the same caste cannot marry. I guess for the ads that say "caste no bar" they must be getting desperate and are willing to overlook the caste situation in order to get their kid married off. It is also very important to be "fair-skinned". In India, the lighter the skin the more attractive the person. So, while in the US we are all baking in the sun trying to get tans, in India they cover up and try to avoid getting any darker than they already are.

I ran across the article below in today's paper and while it is NOT meant to be funny, the way that they write about things here can come across in a way that can be kind of strange.

Infant dies; quack held

Nagarcoil: A quack was arrested by the police following the death of a nine-month-old child on
Saturday.

According to police sources, Kumar (45) of Kani Vilai near Eraniel, was a casual worker. His daughter Sharmi was suffering from fever and ear pain. Hence, Kumar and his relatives took her to the nearest clinic, run by one Murugesan.

After examination, he gave an injection to the child. However, the child died within a minute in front of her parents and relatives.

Complaint

Based on the complaint lodged by the parents and relatives of the deceased, the police questioned the doctor and later it came to light that he was a quack.

The police arrested him and produced him before a magistrate, who remanded him to judicial custody. During the interrogation it was known that he had completed only his standard X and was practicing as a doctor by running a private clinic at Eraniel.

I also ran across a section of the paper titled "Know Your English" where people send in questions and the questions are answered by someone who I presume has been "Westernized". Here's a few:

1. "What is the meaning of scuttlebutt"?

This is a word which comes from the world of sailing. 'Butt' means 'barrel' or 'cask' and 'scuttle' refers to the hatch on the deck on a ship. A 'scuttlebutt' was actually a barrel containing the day's supply of drinking water for the ship's crew. Since this barrel (butt) of water was placed near the hatch (scuttle), the container began to be called 'scuttlebutt'. What do you think happened when the members of the crew got together to drink water? The same thing that happens today when colleagues in an office gather around the water cooler or the coffee machine. They gossiped! The sailors drank water, and they gossiped about what was happening on the ship. In informal contexts, the expression 'scuttlebutt' is used to mean 'rumor' or 'gossip'.

Have you heard the scuttlebutt about my new neighbour?

I don't pay too much attention to the scuttlebutt around here.

2. What is the meaning of "Sweat like a pig"?

This rather strange expression is mostly used in informal contexts to mean perspire profusely or excessively.

When I met Usha for the first time, I was so nervous that I sweated like a pig.

By the end of the first set, Naresh was sweating like a pig.

This is an odd expression because pigs do not have sweat glands, and therefore do not perspire like humans do. According to some scholars, the idiom refers to the 'sweating' that a pig does when it is roasted over fire. I understand when a pig is roasted, fat oozes out, and it is this fat that is referred to in the idiom.

3. What is the meaning of "All hell broke loose"?

The expression is mostly used in informal contexts in American English. 'Hell' is usually associated with chaos; therefore, when you say "all hell broke loose", what you mean is that the situation went completely out of control. There was pandemonium; people started shouting and screaming at each other, and at times resorted to violence.

"All hell broke loose when the CEO saw the article in the magazine."

4. What is the meaning of "Fly off the handle"?

This expression of American origin is normally used in relation to a person. When you say that someone flew off the handle, you mean he lost his temper. He became extremely angry about something you said or did, and started shouting.

Another informal expression which has the same meaning is, 'to go ballistic'.

Our coach flies off the handle every time someone makes a mistake.

The CEO flew off the handle when he heard the workers were going on strike.

5. What is the meaning of "Grossed out"?

When you say that something is 'gross', what you mean is that it is disgusting: it could be the smell, the looks, the taste, etc. The medicine that my mother gave me was gross. The expression 'gross out' is mostly used in American English to mean 'to fill someone with disgust'. It is considered to be slang, and therefore should be avoided in formal contexts.

"The murder scenes in the movie were very graphic. They grossed me out".

The 'o' in 'gross' is pronounced like the 'o' in 'so', 'no' and 'go'. The main stress is on the word 'out'.

Very educational, I guess they have to learn somewhere so when they get to the US they know what they are talking about.

Cyclone Laila and Our New A/C Unit

Get yourself a cup of coffee or a cold drink or whatever you need, this one might take a while. Even before I came to India, Tom was telling me about this window a/c unit in the bedroom and how even though it cools the room down, it is so loud that he couldn't have it on when he was on the phone or watching tv. Even over an international phone line, I could hear the darn thing when he had it on and we were talking. So, when I get here I have to admit, yep, it's LOUD. It sounds like a jet engine running in the bedroom. We have to put the tv volume on 78 (no exaggeration) in order to hear the tv when the a/c is on. It's too hot to sit in there with it off, so we just crank up the volume and deal with it.



Tom has told Thomas (the landlord) about this problem on several occasions and finally Thomas decided to buy a new unit. Thomas called Tom this past Saturday and told him that the new unit would be delivered and installed on Sunday morning. On Sunday morning Tom gets a call from the delivery people who tell him they are not installing it that day, they are only delivering it. Tom calls Thomas, big round of phone calls back and forth, nothing is really resolved except that the delivery guy says he'll show up sometime on Sunday. We wait around on Sunday for several hours (because we are on IST (India Slow Time) or INT (India No Time), take your pick) and finally the guy calls and says he's in the area.



He shows up with this HUGE box, and I mean HUGE. He puts it in the living room and then there is this big issue because apparently Tom needs the original receipt but Thomas has it and Tom ends up having to write a letter to the delivery guy's boss stating that he has received the unit so the guy can leave.



On Monday the guy who is supposed to install the new unit shows up, takes one look, and says that it will cost Rs 2500 (about $57 USD) to redo the frame and install the new one because the new one is bigger than the exisiting one. This results in another round of phone calls between Tom and Thomas because Thomas was told that the new one would fit "no problem". Yeah, right! Even I could tell by the size of the box that this monster came in that it wasn't going to fit.



Thomas calls Tom back Monday evening and tells him that he has another guy coming over on Tuesday morning to take a look and see what he can do. So Tuesday morning we have to get up early to be waiting for this guy, which means that I have to be fully dressed so that I am not showing too much skin - CRAZY. The guy shows up with his little bag of tools and starts measuring the a/c in the box, the a/c in the wall, and the frame around the a/c in wall. He tells Tom that the only way it's going to fit is if they remove the existing frame, knock out some brick on the outside, build a new frame, and put the new a/c in but this is going to take TIME AND MONEY, of course. The guy leaves and Tom goes to work.



Tuesday evening Thomas calls Tom and tells him that the guy from Tuesday morning will be here Wednesday morning at 8:30 and he's going to get this a/c installed. Fine with me, I just want to get it over and done with. Tom and I have a nice dinner Tuesday night, we go to bed around midnight or so, noisy a/c blaring non-stop. I wake up at 3:00 am Wednesday morning to the power going off and this massive thunderstorm. It had been really cloudy all day Tuesday and I kept hoping it would rain so it would cool things down. I wake up enough to remember that I've left the sliding doors on the dining balcony and the kitchen door open. So I stagger out of the bedroom and am met by this blustering wind blowing all through the dining and kitchen. I finally get the doors closed and go back to bed, hoping that the power will come back on soon.



Tom and I are both in and out of sleep all night because the storm is so loud and it's SO F'N HOT that we can't sleep. Tom had set the alarm for 8 am so we could get up and be ready for the "a/c technician" but I was so sure that he wouldn't show up because of the rain. WRONG!! Thomas called Tom around 9 am and Tom told him that the guy hadn't shown up yet and that we had no power in the apartment. That's when Thomas told Tom about Cyclone Laila.....I guess if we bothered to watch the news we would have known about Cyclone Laila gearing up in the Bay of Bengal and heading straight for us. Kind of brings back memories of a certain "tropical depression" in Tegucigalpa, Honduras in May 2005.



Anyway, Thomas was calling to let him know that the guy was coming, the work had to be done today because the "a/c technician" was leaving on Thursday to go to his village to get married and he would be gone for two weeks. I cannot accurately describe the rain and wind except that it certainly was equal to any severe thunderstorm that we would have in the States, I just think that the wind might have been stronger on this one than we would get in a normal thunderstorm.



So, we get up...OH, THE POWER IS STILL OUT, get ourselves dressed, brush our teeth in the dark and right before the guy rings the bell the power comes back on. So the "a/c technician" and his "helper" come in and immediately set to work removing the existing a/c. Tom and I had stripped down the bed and moved it away from the wall, leaving just the mattresses on the frame and we covered it with an old sheet. The two guys get the old unit out fairly quickly, leaving a large gaping hole in the wall (just look at the pics and you'll get the gist), then they tell Tom they have to go get wood to make the frame or have the frame made or whatever. I had mentioned to Tom, regarding the a/c technician, "at least he speaks English" to which Tom replied "his broken English is worse than my broken Tamil" which basically meant Tom couldn't understand half of what the guy was saying.



They leave, Tom and I are sitting here enjoying our coffee, and then the storm really picks up and it is just blowing rain sideways. We run into the bedroom and the wind is blowing the rain straight the hole in the wall. So between the two us we managed to get both mattresses off the bedframe and into the other bedroom, and move the tv and other miscellaneous electronic equipment into the living room. By this time the bedroom is soaking wet, with mud and dirt and rain pouring in the hole. Finally, the two guys come back and I have to give them credit, they got that thing to fit and it works!




They leave, taking the old a/c unit with them, and Babu comes up to remove the HUGE box that the new unit was delivered in. Tom and I are left with the resulting mess. We get busy, and take advantage of the opportunity to totally clean the bedroom floor while everything is out of the room, poor Tom cleaned that floor on his hands and knees with a bucket and two rags. We got the bedroom put back together, I swept the entire living and dining floors and just when we finished....the power went out.....again. It had been out from 3 am - 10 am and had come back on for a couple of hours. This time we got no back-up power. So we sat around for a bit, hoping it would come back on, but no such luck. One thing about the storm is that it dropped the temp down to about 86F inside and that is soooo much more comfortable than 96-98F inside.



Tom finally had to go to work so he ended up taking the coldest shower that he's had since he's been here. The temp outside wasn't hot enough to get the water in the tank outside warm so that shower was ice-cold! Tom went to work around 2 pm and then I subjected myself to the ice-cold shower, all the while hoping that the power would come on....just for a bit....but hell, no.



The power finally came on at 4:30 pm, so I was able to post about the fabulous day Tom and I have had. So even though I spent basically the entire day without power, the floors are all clean, everything has been dusted, and it's only 86F inside the apartment! All in all, it could have been way worse!

A Few Funny Pics

This is an example of the "Man Love" that I have described in a previous post. Right after I took the pic the guy on the right put his arm around the guy in the middle but I missed that pic because Tom was trying to turn and he made me put the camera down so he could see. I'm trying to get more pics of "Man Love" but it's hard because we drive past them so quickly.

This is an armored truck.....SERIOUSLY. It's too funny because on the driver's side, which is the side you're looking at, the window is also caged and there is a small hole where the driver can stick his hand out. There is also a small hole in the back window but you can't see it in the pic. I asked Tom if the holes were for guns to stick out but he didn't know and I guess I won't speculate.

This is an "ULTRA DELUXE AIR BUS" but you couldn't pay me to ride this thing. I think "Air Bus" means that it is air-conditioned but the driver must not have had the air on because the windows were open when we passed it. I can only imagine the smell inside. I am fortunate that Tom has a car so I am not subjected to riding a smelly bus around Chennai when I want to go somewhere!

Babu the Caretaker

The apartment is in a large compound of many buildings, kind of like at home. The units are individually owned, like condos, and the owners either live in the unit or rent it out. Obviously, Tom is renting out this unit. Just for informational purposes, the cost to buy this place would be approximately $60,000 USD. I was totally shocked by the price but I guess real estate costs no matter what country you're in.

There is a caretaker of the complex, Babu, and he is paid a small sum monthly by the Homeowner's Association (the owners of the units pay monthly HOA dues just like we do in the States) to "caretake". What I've figured out so far is that he just kind of hangs around the place, making sure there is nothing funny going on, and he also is responsible for switching on the back-up power when the electricity goes. Let me explain "back-up power" as this is NOT a generator. Back-up power means that you get a light and a ceiling fan in the bedroom and dining area when the full power goes. It is better than no power at all, but still. The last couple of days we have been having major power issues and I personally think Babu has become a bit of a slacker because there are times that the back-up power doesn't come on at all.

Anyway, the other day I was sitting at the dining table and I kept smelling something burning. This isn't unusual because these people burn trash non-stop around here, but this was a different kind of smell. Then I noticed smoke rising up over our dining balcony so I got up to investigate. When I looked over I saw Babu down there cooking. These pics were taken on two different days, one day Babu was cooking and the next day his wife was cooking. Tom had told me that Babu was the caretaker and Babu's wife does some cleaning and such for people who can pay her. Babu and his wife sleep in a little alcove under the stairs leading up to our apartment and sometimes they are joined by their adult daughter who has two kids, and their other adult daughter who doesn't have any kids.

All of their possessions are kept in this little alcove under the stairs and all of their cooking stuff is kept on the side of our building, right under our dining balcony. So, the point of this post is: no matter how bad you think you've got it and how difficult life can be for us sometimes, at least we are not living under a stair alcove and cooking our food in a make-shift fire on the side of an apartment complex building. I don't even know how these people bathe or use the bathroom, I would guess that they just go in the street like everyone else does here. So we should all be grateful for what we have, even though sometimes we feel like we want more. At least we have a decent place to sleep and cook our food.

Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, India

Tom and I decided that we had to at least take a weekend and DO SOMETHING while I'm India. There just isn't that much to do or see in Chennai, it is not a tourist hot-spot. So, we decided that a drive to Pondicherry for the weekend was something we could easily do that wouldn't be too expensive and wouldn't involve buying plane tickets. On Saturday, May 8 we left Chennai in the morning for the 2 1/2 drive south on the ECR (East Coast Road) to Pondicherry.



Pondicherry is the former capital of French India and the heyday of Pondicherry dates from the arrival of the French governor Dupleix, who accepted the governorship in 1742 and immediately set about rebuilding a town decimated by its former British occupants. It was he who instituted the street plan of a central grid encircled by a broad oblong boulevard, bisected north to south by a canal.



Pondicherry was relinquished by the French in 1954 and became the headquarters of the Union Territory of Pondicherry. Pondicherry still retains its French history with French road names (every street is Rue whatever) and policemen in De Gaulle-style kepis, not to mention hearing French spoken in the streets. There are many Europeans staying long-term in Pondicherry and many people who have come on a spiritual quest to Sri Aurobindo Ashram.



Pondicherry is right on the Bay of Bengal with a nice and relatively clean shoreline. Much of this area was destroyed by the tsunami in 2004 but was quickly rebuilt, although there are still signs of how bad the damage really was.



The best thing for me about Pondicherry was the food. We arrived on Saturday early afternoon and after a siesta in our room at the Hotel du Parc, went out in search of dinner. Our trusty "Rough Guide to India" book once again led us to all the right places. Saturday night dinner was at Satsanga, where we feasted on Tzatziki (a dip of yogurt, cucumber, and garlic) with garlic bread, mashed potatoes (how they made the mashed potatoes so tasty without sour cream I will never know), french fries, and......STEAK. I had the filet with mushroom cream sauce and Tom had the filet with garlic butter and parsley sauce. So fabulous!!



After dinner Saturday night we went to the Goubert Salai, the beachside promenade, where we walked a little bit and then sat on the rocks and watched the tide come in. The coolness of the sea spray was so refreshing after the sweltering heat and humidity of the day.



Sunday morning we walked down the street to Ananda Bhavan Sweets for some of the best coffee I have ever had. Then we dressed for the day and went to Le Club for Sunday brunch. We had the basic breakfast: eggs, toast, juice, and coffee but for some reason it was so good!



After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and spent the rest of the morning driving around Pondicherry. It would have been really nice if we could have walked around Pondicherry but the heat and humidity is almost debilitating so walking was out of the question. We did get out of the car briefly back at the Goubert Salai so that I could get pics of the Bay of Bengal in the daylight. We watched all of the kids swimming at the beach area and tried to ignore the stares of the people as I was the ONLY white person among probably 75 or more Indians.



We decided to have lunch at La Terrasse, again recommended by our trusted guide book. We had the mixed vegetable salad, which was sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrot with a wonderful garlic vinaigrette (they don't have lettuce in India), a bowl of sweet corn chicken soup (I have only had this in India and it is the BEST soup), and a wood-fired prawn pizza. Out of this world!!



After lunch we were on the road back to Chennai. I have posted lots of pictures of the Pondicherry weekend on my Facebook page.

Man Love in India

Okay, one of the things about India that is kind of strange is the way men, teenagers, and boys practice PDA. Tom and I just call it "Man Love" or "Boy Love", like we'll be out somewhere and Tom will say "Lots of Man Love going on over there". There is no concept of homosexuality in India, this just isn't accepted here and any kind of homosexuality is strictly forbidden and never discussed if it happens. BUT, all over India you will see males walking down the street holding hands, arms wrapped around each other, hanging all over each other ALWAYS.
It is not acceptable for a male/female couple to hold hands in public, really it's not acceptable for a male/female couple to touch in public. I am constantly checking myself when we are out in public to make sure that I don't grab Tom's hand or touch his back or whatever when we are out shopping.
Tom and I have had many conversations regarding homosexuality in India and he is in total denial that it happens....until today. The piece of newspaper that the ironwallah stuck in his shirt had a portion of the classifieds. Below is some of it:

Under the "Health Club/Physical Fitness" section:
MENZSPA Male to Male (Hotel, Centre) Hi-profile youngsters Total Relaxation Any Time

So, I guess it is okay to advertise children for sale?? I was totally shocked by this and so was Tom.

MALE exclusive massage complete relaxation M2M, full satisfaction head 2 toe (hotels/doorstep only)

MALE 2 Male Massage total Relaxation and Satisfaction always at Ur Service

NEVER BEFORE SEEN FANTASY MEN MASSEUR WAITING FOR GIVE YOU SPECIAL SERVICE

U Reach me, this is the most appropriate way to get feel relaxed

Okay, so some of that is pretty funny and I typed it exactly the way it was written in the classifieds. Tom was just cracking up and said that he had no idea there was any kind of Male2Male anything going on in India. I have been telling him forever that there is no way all of this Man Love is just friendly affection!

To be fair, there is a section for "Party Entertainers" and I've selected the two best ones:

"MILAN_FRIENDSHIP" Cont. for Friendship+Earn with Bold, Hot, COOPERATIVE, Models, COLLEGE GIRLS

THE Great Tamil Entmn't Network is Calling u to Rejuice ur Life, Meet Hi Society Matured Females, Make Friendship N Dating earn handsome amount (Not 4 unemployed N student)

I think I am going to start paying more attention to the pages of newspaper that fall out of Tom's shirts when he brings them back from the ironwallah. Those classifieds just cracked me up!

Newspaper Article in Chennai Newspaper

Tom gets all of his ironing done by the ironwallah who works in a little room in the parking lot downstairs. The ironwallah (a person who does some chore or whatever is a "wallah", like the tea guy is a "chaiwallah", the guy who irons clothes is an "ironwallah", etc.) always puts pages of the newspaper in Tom's shirts and this morning this particular piece of newspaper caught my eye. Below is the article:

Marital discord drives three women to suicide
Chennai: Marital discord is suspected to have prompted three women, all under 30 years of age, to commit suicide in separate incidents in the city suburbs.
Poornima (24), who was five months pregnant and married to Kubendran for the last five years, resorted to self-immolation as she was unable to bear the alleged torture of her in-laws for more dowry. Her brother Anbazhagan was informed of her death when he went to visit her on Tuesday. A case was registered against Vasuki, mother-in-law of the deceased, and her daughters Meenakshi and Rukmani, based on a complaint lodged by Pushpa, Poornima's mother, at Sathankadu police station.
In another incident at Kolathur on Tuesday, Lakshmi (28), committed suicide by hanging after a quarrel with her husband Jaishankar. The couple reportedly disagreed about a visit to the village festival in Lakshmi's native place.
In an incident at Nehru Colony in Pazhavanthangal on Monday, Rita (23) committed suicide by hanging at her parents' house . According to a complaint lodged by her father Vijayakumar, Rita was married to Udayakumar for the last two and a half years and the couple had a child. She resorted to the extreme step on Monday after her husband paid her a visit.

For some reason this article really disturbed me and resulted in a conversation with Tom where he told me that this kind of thing is so common in India and that in all cases the deaths are ruled a suicide without any investigation by the police as to what may have really happened. Even though complaints were "lodged" against the in-laws, no investigation will take place and the matter will just be forgotten. I can't even imagine living in a place where my only option out of a marriage is suicide.

Dinner at Sparky's Diner in Chennai

Tom heard about this place from someone he works with, I think. We looked it up online, http://www.sparkysindia.com/, checked out the menu and decided to give it a try.

We knew we would be out running around the city this past Saturday night so we went there for dinner after we shopped til Tom dropped (HA). It was so fabulous to go into a restaurant in India and be greeted at the door by the American from Southern California who owns the place. I don't know his name, I guess he just goes by Sparky!

This place is decorated like a little diner somewhere in the U.S. All black and red, with old license plates from all of the states on the walls, Elvis Presley posters, and just general Americana decor.


I was just tickled when we sat down and they offered me ICED TEA, and not just ICED TEA, but SWEET ICED TEA! Tom was also able to get his favorite, lemonade. It wasn't as lemony as we make it at home but it was still good. They also have unlimited refills - just like at home! Unfortunately, they were out of go-cups so I didn't get to bring any iced tea in the car with me on the way home.

We tried the chips and queso as an appetizer, this poor man told us that he had never had queso before which was obvious because it tasted like Velveeta melted in water with some tomatoes thrown in. We did get actual corn tortilla chips and that was great!

The menu is fairly extensive, full of stuff that can be found on any menu in a restaurant back home. We decided to go with Mexican, since Tom loves Mexican food and hasn't had any in about 9 months. He had Carne Asada with refried beans and Spanish rice, and I had Native American Flatbread tacos (beef) with refried beans and Spanish rice.

I have to stress the significance of the whole beef thing; this is a Hindu country where cows are sacred and beef is just not available. Tom has heard of a butcher somewhere in a back alley that will sell beef but he hasn't found him yet. Even if Tom does find the butcher, it won't be cuts of beef like we get at home. It will just be a hunk of meat from somewhere on the cow. Even McDonald's in India displays a sign that says "We Do Not Serve Beef" - at McDonald's...NO BEEF!

So, we were thrilled to have a little cow. Tom's Carne Asada was very good, very flavorful, the only thing that would have made it better is if it had been sizzling hot instead of lukewarm. My flatbread tacos were fabulous and I loved them.

Other items on the menu were meatloaf, chicken fried chicken, chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, french fries, spaghetti, lasagne, French Onion Soup, various salads, and HAMBURGERS.
We enjoyed our dinner very much and plan to go there again before I leave. It was kind of amusing to see these Indians in there chowing down on meatloaf and mashed potatoes. There were also quite a large number of white people in there, I'm not sure if they were American or European but I thought that was a good sign.

Mr. Sparky was very friendly, one of those restaurant owners who likes to go around and visit with everyone. He told us that he came to Chennai about 10 years ago and loved it so much he never left. I can't imagine loving Chennai enough to voluntarily stay here; maybe he knows something I don't know. I can imagine loving Mumbai enough to voluntarily stay there, but definitely not Chennai.

Anyway, this guy opened the restaurant about 5 years ago and he's going strong. He said he got all of the decor off Ebay; I love Ebay. He even has the typical diner red plastic drinking glasses that you get all over the U.S.

All in all, it was a fun way to end our day of shopping and I can't wait to go back there again. The next time we go I just might have to try his chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and cream gravy. YUMMY!

I Was Blessed by an Elephant on the Street

Sunday evening Tom and I had to go out for a few groceries. We were driving in a residential neighborhood with some shops and lots of people out on the streets. As usual, an area where tourists do not go and most likely the people in this area have never seen a white person in the area, and some of them have most likely never seen a white person at all. While we were driving I was telling Tom that I was disappointed that I hadn't seen any camels or elephants on the street like I did when we were in North India 2 years ago. Tom said that in Tamil Nadu (the state we are in) there are no elephants or camels on the street and that I won't see that kind of thing here.

We turned down this little side street, and I have to say, we were only there because I wanted a pastry and there was supposed to be this bakery called Hot Breads in the area and we were looking for it. Anyway, we turned down this little side street and we were creeping along, trying to stay out of the way of all the people, motorcycles, cows, kids, etc. and all of a sudden Tom stops the car and tells me to turn around and look out the back window because there is an elephant walking down the street. I turn around and sure enough, here is this elephant lumbering down the street with 2 guys riding it. I grab the camera (never leave home without it, even to go buy groceries!) and start taking pics. The elephant walks right next to the car and then stops, so we go on down the road a little bit.

I told Tom that I wished I could get better pics but it was beginning to get dark outside and I didn't want to use the flash on the camera because I didn't want to be so obvious about pic-taking.
Tom told me that if I give the guys on the elephant money they will let me take a pic with the elephant and I thought why the hell not? When will I ever get another opportunity like this? So, we wait a couple of minutes for the elephant to get a little closer and then we get out of the car. I walk over to about 5 feet away from the elephant and I hold up Rs 20 that I have folded in my hand. The guys on the elephant are nodding their heads and motioning towards the elephant. I am totally confused because I think I need to give the money to the guys, but no, I need to pay the elephant! Tom is telling me to give the money so I hold the money up and the elephant comes a little closer and takes the money from my hand. He folds it up into his trunk and then touches the top of my head with his trunk. Tom had told me the elephant would touch my head but it still startled me and I jumped back a little. Apparently, having the elephant touch the top of my head is considered a blessing over here so I can honestly say that I was blessed by an elephant on the street in India! How cool is that?

Families on Motorcycles

This kind of thing is so common over here that I could post tons of pics just like these. The most I have seen on a motorcycle at one time is 5 - 3 kids and 2 parents. That would be 1 kid in front of the dad, 1 kid in between the dad and the mom, and the mom holding an infant. They are usually loaded down with shopping bags, too.

I just am terrified every time I see this, thinking "what if she drops that baby"? It completely freaks me out and I hate being in the car behind this. I realize that in India this is how they do it but I still can't help myself from just being weirded out by the whole thing.

The craziest part is when "dad" weaves in and out of traffic, drives in between 2 cars, and cuts in front of cars....all with the entire family on this thing.

This might require future posts...I'm on the hunt with my camera to see how many people I can find on 1 motorcycle.

I'm Armed and On Mosquito Patrol

So, according to Tom this is the best thing that has ever been invented. Apparently, it is just called a mosquito bat. It is plugged into an electrical outlet to be charged and then you carry it around
with you in the house looking for mosquitos. This
thing is death by electrocution for those little malaria-carrying monsters.
Fortunately, Chennai is not a city with a malaria epidemic, but for a foreigner like me you can't be too careful. I am taking a once-weekly dose of Chloroquine that I will continue to take for 5 weeks after I return to the U.S.



For the first couple of days we didn't see any of them in the apartment but then yesterday we noticed a couple and then a couple more today, resulting in Tom issuing me the weapon and putting me on mosquito duty while he is at work.



Tom says there is an art to electrocuting mosquitos with the mosquito bat. He was giving me specific instructions on how to "gracefully" swing the bat while pressing this red button and he even got to give me a live demonstration when he murdered a mosquito that was flying around our bedroom.



My natural instinct is to beat the air with the bat but that isn't how it works. I will try diligently to follow Tom's example and "gracefully" swing the bat towards the mosquito. The bat does make a satisfying electrical crackling sound when the mosquito fries so I guess that is something to look forward to. I sure don't want to play around with malaria since once you have it, you always have it.



I think I will begin counting the number of mosquitos that I murder, if I ever get one.

Cows, Indian TV, and Lost Luggage

So today I decided to look out of the bedroom window in the hopes I might see something better than the cows I saw the other day. I swear, these 3 were just walking down the road. I had to grab the camera and run to the other bedroom to get the pic. That little shack thing is actually a shop, I'm not sure what the guy sells, probably basics like drinks, cigarettes, and snacks.

I have been watching VH1 but it is so different than VH1 at home. For one thing, they are heavily promoting VH1 Movies That Rock, every Sunday at 9:00 pm and it's ALL Elvis movies. I don't know if Elvis is a big deal over here, I guess I should ask Tom. I know Tom has a friend named Elvis so maybe Elvis is still really popular.

VH1 is also currently playing all of the episodes of "The Osbournes" which is entertaining. I watched it when it was on at home so at least it's 1 more American show for me to watch.

The best thing that happened today was that my lost bag showed up this morning!!!! Priya from Emirates Airlines called this morning to tell us that my bag had arrived from Nairobi and would be delivered today. Within about an hour and 1/2 the bag was here, totally filthy but with all contents intact. I am soooo happy to have my DVD's, my other pair of shoes, my hair dryer, and more clothes!! I have to say, I was really not hopeful that I would ever see that bag again so I am just tickled pink (the same color as the bag - haha). Oh, the M&M's also made it and they weren't even squished or melted!!

The apartment in Chennai - Part 7

This is the master bedroom - if not for that window a/c unit I don't think I would survive. The apartment maintains a steady temperature inside of 96F but the bedroom stays cold if we run the a/c. We keep the bedroom door closed to keep the cold air in so I alternate between the bedroom and the dining room table. The dining room isn't bad starting in the late afternoon and especially when the sun goes down but the lowest the inside temperature has reached is 92F. When I've been in the bedroom for a while and I open the door to go back out in the dining/living it's like walking into a sauna. It's a heat that I can't really describe, kind of a wall of heat that smacks me when I open the door.

In India children sleep with their parents until they are about 5 or 6 years old. I guess the people who lived here previously decorated the room for the benefit of their children because the master bedroom walls are covered with Oswald the Octopus, Winnie the Pooh, Dora the Explorer, Pinocchio, and lots of Mickey and Minnie Mouse. These things are actually GLUED to the walls so there is no hope of peeling them off without peeling off the paint. So....I feel like I am living in a kiddie room and it's kind of weird and creepy to have all of these things staring at me.

The apartment in Chennai - Part 6

This is the main bathroom that is attached to the master bedroom. Note that there is no separate shower area. The floor is tiled and has a drain under the sink. When I take a shower the water just kind of runs all over the floor and then down to the drain.

The hose/sprayer thing on the wall next to the toilet is standard in India. They don't use toilet paper here so they use this sprayer to clean themselves after they use the toilet. Too graphic? That's the way it is so I thought I might as well post it.




It isn't necessary to do anything as far as drying the floor. The heat and humidity dry out the tile pretty fast after I take a shower so I don't have to worry about it.

The apartment in Chennai - Part 5

This apartment is a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom. This is the second bathroom. This is a squatter toilet that is a traditional toilet in India. Thankfully the other bathroom has a Western toilet so I do not have to learn to squat to use the toilet. We don't use this bathroom, we keep the door closed all the time and I only opened the door to take the pic.



I don't have much to say about these squatters other than it is so unnatural to me to do this that if I had to I don't know really what I would do. I guess if I were in a position where this was my only option I would figure it out, but I certainly won't be using it while I'm here.

The apartment in Chennai - Part 4

The washing machine is outside on a little balcony off the kitchen. The balcony is tiled and has 2 drain holes. The water from the washing machine comes out this hose and pours all over the floor, then goes down the 2 drain holes. Tom didn't mention this to me before he left for work today so when I was doing the laundry I at first thought there was something wrong with the machine then I realized that the water is supposed to pour out of that hose all over the floor.

Everything here takes longer and laundry is no exception. It takes exactly 59 minutes to do a load of laundry in the washing machine and the inside of the machine is fairly small so I can't do huge loads of laundry.

Once the cycle is finished I take the clothes to the 2nd bedroom and hang them up on the clotheslines that Tom has strung up. I think those clotheslines were sufficient for him but for 2 people I'm thinking we may need more line to hang stuff up.

The apartment in Chennai - Part 3

This is the kitchen. The little gas range is not bad but I have never cooked with gas before. There are no gas lines to the apartment, there is a little propane tank underneath that Tom has to take to some place where they refill it. I'm not sure how often that has to be done since I only just got here 2 days ago.

There is no dishwasher, everything has to be washed by hand. The part of that I don't like is that there isn't a hot water heater in the apartment so the water from the tap is lukewarm and that is the water used to wash dishes. It is not practical to boil water to wash dishes so I just scrub them repeatedly with soap in hopes that any germs just go away.

There is also a severe ant problem so we have to be very careful to make sure that there are no food particles left anywhere or the ants just go crazy. The other day I left my laptop on the dining table and when I came back to it, the ants were all over my laptop. Even a small crumb of anything will bring the ants in droves and apparently there isn't anything to be done about it.

The apartment in Chennai - Part 2

This is the dining area where the fridge and microwave are. This is actually a pretty snazzy little fridge, it even has a small freezer compartment where we can fit 2 ice trays (the ice trays here are about 1/2 the size of ice trays in the U.S.) and a couple of other small items, and I do mean SMALL items.

The inside part of the fridge is small and doesn't hold much. The reason for this is in India people cook fresh food each day so there is no reason to have tons of food stashed in the fridge. Also, there are no Wal-Mart sized grocery stores here. All of the shops are very small, probably about 1/2 the size or smaller of a normal 7-11. Not all food is available all the time so you buy small quantities every couple of days.

Food kept in the fridge spoils faster than it does at home due to the heat, for example a bag of milk that we bought on Saturday was spoiled by Monday morning. The produce drawer is very small and holds only a few small bags of fresh vegetables. The concept of frozen foods doesn't exist here as everyone actually cooks. The laws here regarding pesticides on fruit and vegetables are not the same as they are in the U.S. so everything has to be thoroughly washed before it is eaten.

The apartment in Chennai - Part 1

When Tom and I decided that I would be staying in India for 5 weeks he knew that he had to find a decent place to live. He found this place and fortunately it is considered a "furnished" apartment, meaning it has a cane "living room set", a washing machine (for clothes, not dishes - there is no dishwasher), a bed, a dining table and chairs, a refrigerator, an "entertainment center", a microwave, and a tv.

I think anyone can determine by the pic that this furniture is more for looks than actual use. Sitting on cane furniture for any extended period of time hurts your butt and the back of your thighs. I have been sitting in one of the cane chairs but I have padded it with some spare bedsheets so at least it is a bit more comfortable.

Note the big bottles of water by the "entertainment center". We have 2 water pitchers - 1 stays in the fridge and 1 stays out in the kitchen. I (or Tom) have to manhandle those bottles to fill these 2 small pitchers a couple of times a day. The pitcher in the fridge is so there is always cold drinking water and the pitcher in the kitchen is water used for cooking. It isn't safe for me to drink the water from the tap so I have a feeling we will be going through many big bottles of water. It is so hot here that I have to drink water constantly to stay hydrated.

Update on my lost bag

So after numerous phone calls to the Emirates office here in Chennai, this morning (Monday 4/26) we are finally told that my bag was misrouted in Dubai. My bag is....get ready for it....now being held in Nairobi, Kenya.

This bag was taken from me at the boarding gate in Houston and tagged with a label routing it through to MAA, which is the airport code for Chennai. The airport code for Nairobi is KAA, so I guess that explains a lot.

We have been going back and forth with these Emirates people in Chennai and they keep telling us that they will call us but they never call. I am not a subservient Indian female, I am a pissed off American female who wants HER BAG!

Priya, the supervisor at the Emirates office in Chennai, has promised that she will call Tom by the end of the day today and tell him which flight from Nairobi my bag will be on. I guess I should take comfort in the fact that they know where the bag is, but truly, I just want my stuff.

We bought a toaster oven!!

I know this doesn't seem like a big deal because in the U.S. one can stop off at Target or Wal-Mart and easily buy a toaster oven. In India, buying a toaster oven is not as easy as it sounds. First, Tom had to locate the one store that sells toaster ovens. Then he had to go to the store to look at it and haggle over the price which was Rs 3200 the first time he went to look at it. He didn't buy it the first time he looked at it, but I think maybe he should have. He called them the other day and the price went up to Rs 3250.



Yesterday (Sunday the 25th) when we went out to go for dinner he decided to go by the store in the hopes that they would be open. We had to drive approximately 30 minutes from the apartment into the city (Chennai) to get to this place. Let me explain driving in India as I believe it is the same no matter where you are. I have seen this in Mumbai and Delhi when I was in India 2 years ago.

First, the roads are marked with lane lines. Second, no one and I mean NO ONE, stays in their lane. The roads are full of motorcycles, motorcycles, and more motorcycles. An entire family will be on 1 motorcycle: a child in front of the father who is driving the motorcycle, and sitting sidesaddle behind the father is the mother who is holding in her lap at least 1 smaller child and sometimes an infant along with the smaller child. None of these motorcycle people are wearing helmets.

In addition to the motorcycles there are buses, auto rickshaws, trucks, carts, bicycles, cars, and pedestrians. Everyone is driving 90 to nothing, continuously honking their horns, weaving in and out of the lanes, and cutting other drivers off. The buses are worth further mention as they are overflowing with bodies, people hanging out of the windows and hanging from the doors. The buses are so full that they actually lean to one side or the other.

There are stop lights but no one really pays attention to them. Even if the light is red, say going north-south at an intersection where there is an east-west road, the people going north-south just keep going and the people going east-west just floor it and cut in when they see an opening. The motorcycles will come alongside a car, then jump in front of the car and most of the time the motorcycles will go in between 2 cars. Several times during the drive I had to cover my eyes because I was just convinced that we were going to be in a wreck.

It is also confusing because just like in the UK, in India the roads are opposite from the U.S., and the drivers side of the car in India is the passenger side of the car in the U.S. Each time we have gone to get in the car I have gone to the drivers side thinking that it was the passenger side. It's very confusing!

So after all of this weaving and honking we finally make it to the street where the appliance store is located. This store is in an area with lots of different kinds of little shops on a very crowded street. I was the ONLY white person in the area and believe me when I say that a while female with an Indian male is an extreme curiousity. The stares are obvious but no one says anything. We had to park the car in an alley and walk maybe half a block to the store. There are people all over the street and trash everywhere, you have to pay attention to where you are walking so that you don't step in something gross. Did I mention the dust?

We went in the store and I can guarantee that not one person in the store had ever seen a white person in that store. They didn't even try to be subtle about staring, they just stared. They had several different sizes of toaster ovens and we had to look at each one. We finally decided on the middle-sized toaster oven and now the price is Rs 3300 (approximately $75 USD). Highway robbery!! The little dude had to take the toaster oven out of the box and show us all of the parts, the recipe book, and the user manual. Then he had to plug the toaster oven in to show that it worked. It worked.

Once the toaster oven was proven operational and the haggling over the price was complete, we had to move to the payment counter. There was a woman in front of us who was paying for whatever she had bought but she was spending more time staring at me than she was paying for her purchase. Finally she was finished and it was our turn. The cashier guy ran Tom's bankcard through the machine and Tom immediately got an email on his phone that the purchase was authorized. The cashier guy couldn't seem to get proof that the purchase was authorized from his little machine so he had to call the Big Boss Man over and he had to complete the transaction.

After we got the receipt that we had paid, we had to take it back over to the guy who originally helped us and he walked us out to the front door of the shop where another man had to verify our receipt and stamp it before we were allowed to leave with the toaster oven. So back down the street, to the alley, to the car with our very valuable toaster oven.

I never in my life thought that I would be so excited over a toaster oven but you have to understand this: in India, you have a gas range that basically sits on the counter, it is not built-in, and NO OVEN OF ANY KIND. People just don't bake here which is one reason why a toaster oven is so hard to find.

So now I can heat up stuff in the toaster oven and not have to rely totally on the microwave. This was a very exciting thing for me so don't laugh, I think most people would feel the same way in my situation.