Back on the East Coast Road to Chennai I visited Dakshina Chitra, another recommendation by Ashok and Atül. The place was a wonderfully interesting open air museum where some 25 typical buildings from the Indian states Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala had been rebuild. There was also a 15 minute movie about the way people from these different Indian states lived and the rituals around the house. All highly informative and entertaining as well, as were the two school classes of small kids that were having an excursion at the park. I must have looked remarkably much like Steve Irwin risen from the dead with the hat I'd bought in Tibet last year and my brown/green shirt and pants. I however doubt if that was the reason why they sometimes seemed to find me more interesting that the exhibitions. I lost count of the number of times I said 'hello' and 'hi'.

The staff of Dakshina Chitra has organised quite a nice and active program for the kids. Part of this program was Thomas, a magician who started talking to me while I was taking a rest in the shade. After explaining where The Netherlands was located he informed me that he was a magician, here to entertain the kids. I asked him if he was about to perform and he invited me to come into the activity hall so he could show me a couple of trick. Now, don't expect any David Copperfield, but he did have me baffled by some of the tricks that were at least beyond my kiddy-magic-box level of knowledge. Unfortunately the kids were coming in, so he wasn't able to show me more. And because I didn't want to draw away the attention from his performance, I'd thought I'd better leave. ;-)

Dakshina Chitra gave a nice impression of the diversity of India with houses ranging from the simple coastal huts of Andhra Pradesh to the luxurious merchant houses of Tamil Nadu. One of the most remarkable things I learned was how Hindu houses come with a small inner courtyard in the middle that seems to be related to the Hindu belief that the universe is square in form.

(Click on the pictures above to view the full photo album)

By now the temperature had risen dramatically, as had my water consumption. It must have been between 12 and 1 o' clock when we made our way back to Chennai, where George had a couple of additional surprises for me in store. Along Marina beach, with it's 13 km one of the world's longest beaches, we headed for Fort St. George. Chennai was once one of the first outposts of the British East India Company and Fort St. George was the local stronghold. Although not overtly remarkable the place is a little town in itself and still houses the administrative seat of the state Tamil Nadu. We saw the exhibitions in the museum, including coins, paintings of British officials, mortars, suits and tableware. Nice but unless you have thoroughly read about British-Indian history (I haven't) it's hard to put it all into context. We also saw the small St. Mary church, which was most remarkable for the many memorial marble slabs and the tombstones of the officers that had died while serving at Fort St. George.

Next, George showed me Santhome Cathedral Basilica. Thomas had been one of Jesus' apostles and had died in the Chennai region. Again, I'm not all that interested in Christian icons but this was still rather interesting, and taking into account that George was a Christian himself and his brother was studying in Rome to become a priest I was glad to know that it meant something special to him. The lovely white church had a nice wooden ceiling that I've never before seen in a church. Below the church lay the chapel with the tomb of St. Thomas, which we also visited.

Seeing that I was getting tired George decided to call it a day, but not before we had visited a shop with lovely statues. They were rather expensive but I was planning to buy my regular small country related statue anyway. I found a lovely Ganesh statue, haggled a bit but not too much (lack of energy and I didn't mind if George was getting some commission as well) and off we went, back to the hotel. Tomorrow we'd visit Kanchipuram and we agreed to leave at 8 o' clock. Leaving sooner, like we did today, was no option since the temples would not be opened yet.

I ended up staying in my room for the rest of the day. I was so tired I slept two hours and after showering I didn't really feel like going out to a restaurant. I ordered room service instead. Picking something from the long list of room service menu's proved to be a challenge. I'd like an Indian dish but the names and descriptions of the meals left me in doubt if I would like it. So I opted for a chicken burger with fries instead. And a wonderful one it was, McDonalds would be jealous. Then again, which burger isn't better than a McDonald's burger (the news today included an item on one of the Indian McDonald's in Calcutta exploding because of a malfunctioning air conditioning). While a thunderstorm was sweeping the streets of Chennai clean outside, I updated the journal, chatted an hour with Judith (via Skype) and watched a DVD I had taken along. I then went to bed, planning to start the next day with a refreshing dip in the roof terrace pool.

On the way back to Chennai George stopped at the hill where the original church was located where St. Thomas had been buried. It also offered a wonderful view over Chennai, which turned out to be much bigger than I had expected. After visiting the chapel with the 'bleeding cross' that had been found nearby, he also showed me the street in a nearby neighbourhood in which he lived. After this he dropped me off at the Rain Tree so I could get some lunch, since it was already around half past 3. I told him we'd seen more than enough today and that I would take it easy; he could go home to join his family.

Lunch at the Rain Tree was brilliant. There was a buffet with a large number of - mainly Indian - dishes. I tried out a bit of at least 15, plus 5 types of desert and left the restaurant bloated like an average Ganesh statue. I decided to take a stroll around the neighbourhood and check out the art shop I'd spotted down the road. Unfortunately they had the aforementioned traditional lamps, but not in the size and shape I was looking for. Although there was much less traffic on this Sunday and it was easier to cross the street, Chennai's inner city continued to be sticky and smelly, and since there weren't any interesting shops in the close surroundings I decided to go back to the hotel, arriving soaked in sweat. I did some more reading in Kloteklanten, worked on the journal, went to the gym for half an hour on the treadmill and watched the rest of the DVD I'd started watching yesterday.

Welcome to India!  We are in Chennai (Madras) and it's 34 degrees and stinking.  Rick is trying to convince me that peeing on the wall in the main street is now acceptable.  It does not take long to integrate!

We have been here for one night and have already seen all kinds of strange things. WE are currently on a city tour which cost 70 rupees (about $2) and is all day.  We are skipping this section.  We have already been to two temples.  All the other people on our tour are india and we don;t exactly know what is going on.  THere are NO whities here!  So far the food is great but we are vegetarians from now on.  Refridgeration is a rare thing. 

We are heading to a beach are in the next couple of days. THere is high speed internet here so we will be uploading tones of photos in the next couple of weeks.

Bye for now Rick and Val

BACK TO THE CITY TOUR 

We said our farewells to comfort at Singapore airport and mentally prepared ourselves for our Indian adventure as we boarded our Tiger Airways flight to Chennai. It was almost as if things around us were trying to help out as the check in system at the airport decided to go on the blink and our check in was delayed. Somehow we still managed to get away on time despite the hundreds of tons of excess baggage the Indian visitors to Singapore were importing back to India. We saw some pretty basic things; such as pots, pans, hotplates etc, which if they're not available in India could be a bit worrying!!! The flight itself was made more bearable by some pretty discriminatory action by Tiger who for the second time in two flights with them packed out the emergency exit rows with 90% white westerners. They are supposed to be premium seats which you pay for but as they were unoccupied a steward came down the plane past dozens of Indians and asked us to move seats into them. Not that we're complaining but I'd love to hear an official explanation of this apparantly blatant racist policy.

The flight itself was uneventful apart from some turbulance and we landed in Chennai bang on time a 22.45. We had taken the precaution of booking a supposed mid-range hotel that offered a free pick up. We'd received an email confirming our booking and that a pick up from the airport had been arranged. We collected our bags and cleared the customs check and confidently walked out through the throng and deluge of shouts offering us the usual 'taxi','autorickshaw' etc and were merrily waving them away searching for our saviour with a sheet of paper with our undoubtably mispelt name. Nothing!! We gave them another pass, still nothing! We found an ATM and drew out some cash so we could call but none of the stalls would change our cash for coinage even if we bought something!!! Guess they were in the pockets of the taxi mafia!!! Luckily one decent driver appeared and gave us a 1 rupee coin for the phone. We called the hotel who didn't have a clue and after a very frustrating conversation which went nowhere, "Hello, we're at the airport waiting for our pick up. There's noone here!!", "when do you arrive?", "We're already at Chennai airport, we just landed", "You want a reservation?", "No! We've made a reservation our name is Sheffield, we need to be picked up", "When do you come?" So it goes until the money runs out!!! Welcome to India!

Figuring that it would be good kharma we sought out the guy who gave us the rupee and got him to take us to our hotel. We should have said the hotel is called the Hotel Chandra Park. Be warned!!! The drive from the airport was hairraising even by he standards we have become used to. The horn isn't so much used as a warning or even an alert to another vehicles presence. It's basically a statement of intent to hit you. The road was in various stages of being built and you can't help but suspect is constantly that way, maybe they just move parts of it about to give the illusion of a road but most of it was a building site. As we drew closer to the town centre the number of people sleeping rough went through the roof as did the numbers of the roaming packs of dogs. around our hotel there seems to have been a problem with fly-tipping as random piles of rubble forced the driver to swerve his way the last half a mile or so.

Once at the Hotel we enquired what had happened to our pick up and were met with a totally expected stoney silence. We had been warned that this is a frequent response in India when an error is pointed out to someone. We knew there was no point in getting angry but couldn't resist making a point and pressed the receptionist on why there was no pick up. If he could have made the ground open up and swallow him he would've and if we could have made the ground open up and swallow him we would've too!!! Don't get us wrong we understand the importance of observing the cultural conventions of others and fellow tourists who don't usually wind us up but some boundaries need to be pushed a little. A sorry wouldn't have been too hard to say, would it?

It was obviously too late to take our business elsewhere so we settled into our very average and very poor value room. The whole place had a dampness to it that left you feeling slightly dirty.

We awoke the next morning to the chorus of our neighbours hacking up phlegm, spitting, coughing and shouting at each other!! One weirdo fresh from a shower and dressed only in a towel around his waist even banged on our door until we answered and asked to borrow a comb!!!! Talk about optimism!!

One saving grace was the excellent all vegetarian buffet breakfast which we well and truly tucked into before taking a stroll around the vicinity of our hotel. That pretty much made our mind up to forgo viewing any sights in Chennai and head straight to Mamallapuram down the coast. It's not that we didn't like Chennai, more that we hated it. We expected a bit of hassle checking out as we'd booked for two nights but with the same sparkling efficiency of our arrival they'd forgotten we'd made a booking. We headed to the local bus station another 7km autorickshaw ride away and were shocked that it was totally easy to navigate with not a single hawker, tout or other bothersome fool approaching us! Bliss!! The bus itself was not the most celubrious vehicle on the road but most of the side was open to the air, so the breeze was very welcome. The conductor was very helpful and the other passengers, whilst curious, were not intrusive and all in all it was a very pleasant experience. Mind you it was only two hours we wouldn't have wanted to be going any further!!!

March 21, 2008

A week passes.  Friday 21^st March 2008.  Previously I received permission to go to Chennai to say goodbye to Riskhan again, and then to Pondicherry where I planned to meet Kelsey.  After plans solidified, Aman called me, relatively out of the blue.  He is going to Pondicherry also.  Friday after work is Easter.  I got to church with Anitha and Uma.  It’s amazing, I know little about Easter traditions, and understand nothing during the Tamil service.  There are hundreds of people gathered outside the church to see the pastor.  Inside the church, it’s a swirl of children running, people seated on the floor, people talking, the PA system projecting the Easter service throughout the echoing hall.  Jesus is covered in white cloth, his feet covered too.  People come and kiss his feet praying.  Unlike typical Hindu ceremonies, this ceremony is relatively sublime, and it feels good to be present ~ again the only white guy ~ but even I forget that from time to time now.  

At midnight I hopped the bus to Chennai.  3^rd AC, so tired, I fell fast asleep and woke as the train was pulling into its last stop ~ Chennai.  An easy bargain for a rickshaw �" only 3 potential drivers before finding the price I wanted.  I met with Riskhan and the rickshaw guy told Riskhan that the locals pay Rs.70 and I, the white guy, won’t even pay that much.  We laughed.  He was a crazy old driver, missing teeth, with a case of Parkinson’s.  I felt bad for him, so slipped a few extra rupees.  Mostly I like how his Auto whipped into and out of traffic, horn blazing, cursing at everyone! 

Kelsey arrived around 3:00. Once settled in, we went out to explore Chennai for the afternoon.  I’ve heard mixed things about Chennai, and Lonely Planet is not that flattering… “Chennai has neither the cosmopolitan, prosperous air of Mumbai, the optimistic buzz of Bangalore or the historical drama of Delhi.  It’s muggy, polluted, hot as hell and difficult to get around.  Traditional tourist attractions are few.  Even the movie stars are as one Chennaiker put it, are ‘not that hot.’”  So, I was not so excited about venturing to Chennai.  But I was excited about seeing Riskhan and saying goodbye.

Riskhan told me that the day was reserved for me and I could do whatever I wanted.  This was great, but there didn’t seem that much to do.  So, we flipped open the Bible (a.k.a. LP) and found a few things.  The three of us first went to the Vivekananda Illum. This was a former ice house where Ice was stored and then sent to parts of India.  Strangely, the ice was shipped from Boston, took 3 months to get to India, and then was stored there.  One would think that there would be an easier way.  Well, when Indians figured out how to make ice from steam, it kind of killed the ice-trade business.  Guess no one saw that coming! 

But in one of the strange India circular coincidences, Swami Vivekananda has been presenting himself to me in the south.  First, in Kanyakumari there is a huge statue of him there where he meditated for a few days.  In there I meditated and snatched a photo of the OM symbol while quietly listening to the waves wash along the rocks and the recorded OM sound mixed in.  Then in Chennai, I find myself back in another Vivekananda meditation hall.  And upon returning to Madurai, I learn there is a Vivekananda library and attached meditation hall ½ block from the guest house where I stay.  Sometimes it takes me a while to see the signs…  So after wandering around the ice house, looking at photos of Vivekananda and his contemporaries, including swami Sivananda ~ see ashram entry, we crossed the street to the beach.  The sky was overcast, on the verge of rain, but only spitting a little drizzle.  So Chennai was pleasantly warm.  We ate fried Bhaji �"at least I ate some vegetables ~ its fried vegetables in a very unhealthy batter, and then headed for dinner.  We talked our way into the Bike and Barrel because we were not wearing appropriate shoes.  Kelsey and I shared a beer, then another, and Riskhan sipped his coke.  I was very happy to see girls in jeans, people drinking and smoking, and hearing some hip hop music.  I almost felt back in the “City.”  I did not expect to miss the scene.  We retired around 12:30 full, Chennai was not so bad after all.  We had a very pleasant time.   

I spent a week in Chennai for business and stayed at the Raintree during this time. The hotel is a trendy new place with very reasonable pricing. None of the posh classic decoration that you'll find in fancy overpriced places but the staff still makes you feel like you're staying in a palace. They are always friendly and greeting you, whether it's the doorman, receptionist, waiter or housekeeping. The food in the Lemon Grass restaurant was excellent: a chef prepares the selections of meat, vegetables and sauce you can select yourself. The only disappointment there was the noise from the nightclub at the other end of the wall that sort of killed the atmosphere. Maybe I should have come a bit earlier. The roof terrace was a bit too hot in the evenings to have dinner or a drink but the pool that is located there was splendid for a refreshing morning swim before going to the office. Wireless internet is fast and efficient (use the 2 hour ticket; it allows you to log-in and out over 24 hours), unfortunately it only worked on my laptop since the log-in page was not working on a PDA. Minbar is reasonably priced and room service was quick and provided excellent food. There's a selection of continental and Inian food during breakfast and an excellent buffet of many different Indian dishes and deserts during lunch. If you're worried about gaining too much weight from the Indian food: there's a nice small gym with a home trainer, two treadmills and some other fitness equipment on the top floor in the Spa. Only other minor complaints: I didn't get a reply to an e-mail I sent them inquiring about excursions. Note: if you have some days off make sure you visit Mahabilipurum and Kanchipurum if you like temples and Indian architecture. Next time I'll definitely be going back to the Raintree.

Here’s just another entry to keep my little travbuddy map straight.  Again, just for record’s sake.  After all, I need to acknowledge the time spent and several modes of transport taken to get from my haven on Havelock island to Hampi.

Here we go:
-  autorickshaw to port on Havelock
-  2 hours ferry ride to Port Blair where I spend the night
-  morning flight to Chennai, 2 hours
-  inner city train to my guesthouse where I spend one night in Chennai
-  autorickshaw to Central Train Station, followed by…
-  FRANTIC autorickshaw to Egmore Train Station after discovering that my train has been re-routed to a different station
-  7 hour train to Bangalore (less than half full as most people seemed to have missed the train)
-  10 hour train to Hospet
-  30 minute autorickshaw ride to Hampi ferry boat
-  ferry across the river where I walked to Shanti Guesthouse

It only took 3 days.  

Needless to say, I’m not moving from this place anytime soon.

This entry is just for clarity’s sake regarding my travel map travbuddy.com has so kindly provided for my travel blog. I like my little travel map, it makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something. It’s very QUANTITATIVE.

But I couldn’t let my marker at Kochi be followed directly by a marker on Havelock Island here in the middle of the Andaman Sea. I feel it necessary for that little line to make a stop in Chennai. It doesn’t look right for that yellow line to go from Kochi straight to Havelock Island.

It was not as direct as the map makes it out to be.

That one line would have represented several days and several modes of transportation although my faithful viewers might have interpreted it as a single, simple flight. Not so my friends!

From Fort Cochin, the island I was staying on in Kochi, I walked about a kilometer to the boat jetty where I rode the ferry back to the mainland. A zig-zaggady rickshaw ride later resulted in my arrival at the Ernakulum train station where I settled into my top berth, air-conditioned sleeper for a 12 hour overnight train ride to Chennai.

In Chennai, it was a local bus to my guesthouse where I stayed one short night. I woke my tired ass up at 4:30am to hop into the rickshaw that I had previously arranged to meet me at that UNGODLY hour. 30 minutes later and I was at the airport.

I’m not even going to get into THAT. It was one of those "Oh my GOD, I’m SO in India!" moments.

Next, I embarked on a two hour flight where I questioned whether it was proper for a walking, talking child to spend an entire flight in his mother’s lap. I sat next to this family. I thought it was weird.

After landing in the Andamans at Port Blair, I applied for my free and instant special permit visa. It was perhaps the fastest paper work I’ve seen anywhere in India. Go Port Blair airport!

This run of luck was unfortunately balanced with the super long lines at the Phoenix jetty (reached by the help of yet another rickshaw). I filled out a form and waited in the "Ladies" queue where it took over an hour to process the ten people in line ahead of me.

Thankfully, I managed to get a ticket for the next ferry. Two calm hours were spent cruising through the Andaman Islands where I had great fun dolphin spotting.

At the dock, I climbed into a taxi van with some new friends and now I’m here, in my beach hut on Havelock Island. I managed to find myself a cheap thatch hut for a not-so-cheap price just before sun down.

I’m sleeping on a 1 inch thick mattress under a mosquito net on a raised wooden platform in a thatch hut roughly only twice the size of my double mattress.

I can hear the waves from here.

I think I’ve found paradise.

And just for the record, all of India follows the same time zone as Delhi. So sunset for me on this island is at 5pm and apparently sunrise is at 5am. Like I’m EVER going to see that.

…..hmmm……..I hope paradise doesn’t come with bed bugs…..

I cannot stress the importance to any traveler heading to India of how essential it is to have ALL your bags locked.  And not just locked either.   They need to be secured with good quality locks and not some cheapo lock you can buy at the market.  And you need chains.  Well, I use bike locks but you need something to secure your bags to the train or else someone will walk away with them while you sleep.  I kid you not.

From Bhubaneswar I got onto a train that would take me to Chennai in 20 hours. 

I found my bed and proceeded to secure all my belongings.  However, as soon as I got settled into my prized upper bunk, a man came up to me and showed me his ticket that listed the SAME BED.  20 minutes of talking things out with railway officials and consulting lists and what not, I got my ass vacated from the berth.  Apparently my name wasn’t on the official lists even though my ticket seemed legitimate.

Sucks to be me at this point.  But not as much as it sucked later when I decided to lay down with my iPod to calm myself after having to deal with the berth fiasco.  I fell asleep with my iPod running and when I woke up a little while later, the lights were off. 

I thought that I better lock my iPod into my backpack in order that it not get stolen during the night.  So I groped around to find my keys, stuck the key in the lock, and then IT GOT STUCK. 

Yes Sean, I did it again.  I did this in Koh Phi Phi and Sean and I spent a good 15 minutes struggling to remove the key.  You’d think that after having to cut one lock off my bag I’d learn to never let that mistake happen again.  But no.  I’m apparently a glutton for punishment.

I was in trouble.  Not only did this mean that I couldn’t open my day pack, but the key I needed to unlock my main backpack was now stuck in the wrong lock!  I had successfully managed to lock myself out of both my bags! 

I asked a passing railway worker to help me out.  He came to take a look, told me to wait right there, and then he walked off. 

He never came back.

I asked a second guy to help me out.  He tried to pull out the key with no success and then he told me that since we were sitting in the dark, that maybe it was best that we wait til morning.  It was 12:30 at night so I agreed and went to sleep.

The next morning there was no sign from my second hero-to-be.  Sometime around 11am I caught him passing by and I reminded him of my problem.  He remembered and told me to wait right there.

He didn’t come back.

Around 1pm I found a new railway worker.  He asked me what berth I was then told me to go back to my berth and he’d come by to see.  When he didn’t show up I went back to find out what happened to him.  I found him TAKING A NAP.

Yes Allan, I know you’re laughing your ass off right about now but it WASN’T FUNNY FOR ME.  You see, my backpack was locked in that duffel bag.  But unless I removed the backpack from the duffel bag and had it strapped on to my back properly, I COULDN’T CARRY THAT BAG…….at least not for very long that is.

Finally I managed to find a railway conductor and explained my story.  He told me to go to my berth and wait.

So I went back and cried.  But this time someone came by about an hour later and asked me to follow him.  He took me to the section where all the conductors were and sat me down so I could explain my situation to all of them.

I thought FINALLY, now something is going to get done!  They all listened to me explain what happened and how I needed someone to cut my locks off.  After waiting 14 hours for help, it was obvious that I was tired and very upset.

A conductor then told me that I needed to submit a formal complaint.  A formal complaint?  I asked him why I needed to do that since I wasn’t actually complaining about anything (other than the sleeping railway worker!).  I just wanted some cutters!

He said that that was procedure and then handed me some forms.  They were titled “Theft of Luggage Report”.

I said “No no.  Why do I need to fill out this form if all I need is someone to unlock my bags?  They’re not stolen.  They’re the OPPOSITE OF STOLEN.  In fact, my bags are so secure that even I can’t open them!”

But the conductor insisted I fill them out.  He helped me and watched as I wrote out “none” for how many bags lost, and “nothing” under what items were stolen.

After that was done I asked them what was I supposed to do with my bags now.

It was at this point that they started to realize that I still had my bags.  Nothing was stolen.  The conductor then said to me “if your bags weren’t stolen, then you didn’t need to fill out these forms!”

WHAT?!?!?!

Apparently they listened to my story by NOT LISTENING to my story!  They all spoke English by the way.  I think they just didn’t bother to listen!

But it gets better.  They send a railway worker to cut off my locks.  He followed me to my bags, looked at the problem, AND THEN SNAPPED OFF MY ZIPPER!  That’s right!  Instead of cutting off my $3 lock, he cut the zipper off my $200 bag. 

And the worst part?  When he stood up he grinned at me as though I were going to thank him for being my hero!  He was so proud of himself!  I wanted to wring his neck!  He didn’t even get how STUPID that was! 

Eventually, I got the locks actually cut off and today I had to get the zippers replaced on my bag.  After all, I needed to be able to lock my bags up again……once I buy new locks that is. 

Just for the record, I’m buying combination locks this time.  And it only cost me $1 and 20 minutes to get my bag fixed.

Thirty hours on a train is a long time!!! In addition to looking out the window and taking in the beautiful landscape and/or getting bored, it also gives you the time to make some new friends. There was a group of 7 Bangladeshi Buddhist monks on their way to sri lanka in the same carriage as me and this made the whole trip a lot nicer. They were telling how they were traveling from their hometown in Bangladesh all the way to Sri Lanka over land and sea and the whole trip took them like five days or something. Must be exhausting! They were on their way to a buddhist university in Sri Lanka to go and study. One monk was telling the story of how he, on the way back to Bangladesh last time, got drugged on the train and had all his stuf stolen (and monks do not have a lot of stuf). The worst part was that he was carrying a lot of money this time because he was supposed to come back with this new group of monks, and had to make all their travel arrangments. Almost 200 euro's worth of rupees was stolen. Not a nice story amd it makes you want to be very careful with what you eat on trains...

After (finally!!!!) arriving in Chennai, I checked in to the Salvation Army guesthouse, which was grubby but cheap. The next day I went to a neighbouring town, Tirruvallur, to the office Sidamma's organisation. Upon arriving there she was not in, but not to worry, one of her emplyees called her and so we could arrange a meet up back in Chennai. After three years, we finally were able to great each other in front of the Chennai trainstation and were very happy to see each other.

Siddamma is an amazing woman, who runs an organisation that works for the tribalpeople (adivasis) of Tamil Nadu. She not only defends their rights, helps to set them up in education and defends their rights, but is also heavily involved in reconstruction work after the tsunami, since many of these adivsis live on the Tamil Nadu coast and are fishermen.

She immediately made me stay in her house, stated that I was very skinny and not looking well and stated feeding me at every moment she could. The next day, she went on a trip visiting all the reconstruction sites and took me along to see her work. It was amazing. The first stop we made was on a large organic farm, which she had started to give freed bonded-labour workers a chance to become self-sufficient. This also expleined why I was not able to find her on her old address. Taking up work for the rights of bonded labourers will make you some enemies and threats were issued to her family. She had to move a couple of times to insure their safety. The far itself was lovely. Green, spacious, fertile, a real good place to live, or if you are just visiting, to relax and hang out for a bit.

The next day we went along the coastal area's to see the new houses build for the people that lost everything they had in the tsunami. The houses were in their final stages and were looking lovely, painted bright green that was sparkling in the tropical sun. Siddamma had truly been working hard!!! The days for the opening ceremonies were fixed with the villagers, who had been invloved in all the stages of planning and building the houses.  It was really their village!

We stayed the night at one of the regional offices and the next day we were on to see more sites. Here it became apperent that it can also go less wel sometimes. One of the sites had been build with the help of a German organisation. In all the other places Siddama's organisation had done the fundraising itself, and involved the villagers in the whole proces. Here the funds were handled by the German organisation, who skimped majorly on the materials for the houses, but splashed out on salaries for consultants and engineers. The houses were of less quality (which was even visible to a total nitwit on building like me) and Siddama swore that she would never work with an outside organisation ever again. Good for her!

All in all it were some truly amazing days, in the rural area's of tamil Nadu, and as I was gearing up to leave for Bangalore, Siddamma was fixing the dates to be interviewed by a singaporean tv channel. I was said to leave the comfortable hospitality of this Siddamma and her family. I hope to be back soon!

Ok that's it for now, more on Bangalore the nex time,

bye,

saskia

Ça y est c’est le der des ders, alors aujourd’hui relax a la piscine…

Après une bonne nuit levé a 7 heure, toujours pour profiter de la fraîcheur... nous prenons un rickshaw direction la "beach street" Madras à une des plus grande et longue plage de la cote (ce qui lui a permit d'éviter trop de dégâts avec le tsunami) malheureusement très sale, et très squattée! nous longeons la côte en direction de Georges Town ville administrative où ce trouve « Fort George », devant lequel nous nous arrêtons, il y a une queue d'enfer, tout les gens attendent de se rendre dans les bureaux, le musée à l'intérieur n'est pas génial, alors nous continuons à pied en direction de la Haute Court de justice dont les bâtiments de loin sont très attractifs, nous passons la grille sécurité ; pas de problèmes, et commençons à prendre des photos car l'architecture est très belle, au bout d'un quart d'heure un excité (policier) commence à nous faire des signes de loin pour expliquer qu'il est interdit de prendre des photos!!! Nous rangeons les appareils et nous dirigeons vers la sortie... au détour d'un bâtiment il (l'excité!) nous attend et exige les pellicules de nos appareil, la nous expliquons que ce sont des cameras digitales et qu'il n'y a pas de film, il s'excite un peu plus, heureusement un autre se pointe un peu plus "évolué" qui comprend (et surtout qui parle mieux anglais) nous faisons nos plus plates excuses, disons que nous ne prenons plus de photos, désolé, désolé, désolé... et nous dirigeons à pas très, très rapides vers la sortie, les laissant s'expliquer entre eux!!

Ouf! Nous décidons dorénavant de ne plus visiter les bâtiments avec des flics devant et reprenons un rickshaw vers la plage il commence a faire très chaud! qlqs pauses : une à l'université et une à la cathédrale St Thomas ou est supposé être enterré l'apôtre Thomas qui évangélisa jusqu'en Inde! Et retour à l'hôtel, à la tombée de la nuit nous ressortons shopping, shopping, et un très bon resto chinois "a la mode indienne" puis retour au bercail... Demain dernier jour en Indes enfin presque on part samedi matin a 00.15!!

Ce matin relax avant le départ, nous prenons une voiture de l'hôtel pour nous rendre à l'aéroport, pas très grand l'aéroport! il pourrait tenir dans un mouchoir de poche! Par contre confortable et le service excellent, nous voyageons avec Paramount Airline compagnie de jet avec seulement business et 1ère classe!! ;) L’avion est très confortable, le service impeccable et le déjeuner vraiment très, très bon (c'est la première fois que l'on me sert de la soupe dans un avion! et leur soupe de potirons aux épices est a se lécher les babines!) seul reproche à leur faire la ponctualité (45 min de retard!)
Cette fois et pour finir en beauté nous avons choisi un hôtel un peu plus "class" The Park, avec un décor moderne et des posters et photos de vieux films de Boliwood ambiance sympa! :) en fin d'après-midi première escapade à pied, c'est bien une ville avec des trottoirs ou l'on peut circuler! (a part Pondi jusqu'a présent nous n'en avons pas vu beaucoup) nous essayons un resto mexicain, très bon Don Pepe! Eh! On ne rigole pas! après 8 jours de curry et autres...on a le droit de changer :)' . Quelques achats de tissu et retour à l'hôtel. Il y a TV5! Enfin des infos autre que BBC a la sauce indienne ou le cricket fait la "une" de tous les journaux télévisés!

Départ de Bangkok de bon matin, le vol prend du retard, un group de passagers arrive à la dernière minute... et l'avion ce transforme en place de marche! Une vraie foire, on échange les places, on s'amuse avec les dossiers des fauteuils, on s'interpelle d'un bout a l'autre de la rangée, on parle au téléphone...il faut plus de 20 minutes aux hôtesses pour remettre de l'ordre. Apres la trêve du décollage rebelote et tout le long du voyage, nous avons pu voir l'équipage perdre au faire et a mesure leurs sourires et leurs patiente jusqu'a l'atterrissage ou la ils ont commence a se mettre sérieusement en colèrequand tout d'un coup des dizaines de téléphones se sont mis a sonner et le cliquetis des ceintures c'est fait entendre alors que l'avion était toujours en taxi! Je pense que la Thaï donne en punition cette route aux employés qu'elle veut eprouver! Ca promet pour la suite... Nous sortons de l'expérience partage entre irritation et amusement! :( :) A l'arrivée quelqu'un nous attend, qui nous conduit au taxi réservé par l'hôtel, et voila maintenant nous sommes vraiment en Inde! C'est dans une "Ambassador" que nous nous rendons a Mamallapuram première étape de notre périple. D'abord nous traversons la banlieue de Chennai (Madras) pas très accueillent et ensuite direction le Sud, la route longe la cote et les paysages très beaux bien que très sec et La mer du Golf du Bengale est très bleue. Nous payons un péage pour la voie dite rapide ou en fait la plus part du temps la limite de vitesse est de 40 km/h!! Nous arrivons a Mamallapuram, ville pauvre qui garde encore des stigmates du tsunami, la ville n'a pas trop d'intérêt en elle même, les rues et la plage ne sont pas très propre, quant a l'hôtel!!!! Disons que les guides touristiques sont parfois menteurs! Je ne recommande pas le "Green Wood resort" mais notre opinion change très vite quand nous découvrons les différents temples et murs sculptés parsemés ça et la dans la ville, tout simplement magnifique! ça vaut vraiment le déplacement!!!*** demain nous abrégeons l'étape et direction Pondichéry...

Heathrow airport had been pretty easy t manage.  Security was a 2 minute stroll through, small terminal and easy bag drop since I checked in the day before online.  No trouble.  Sauntered onto the plane to find that we had to sit on it for an hour and a half before it left, thanks to some debric on a runway or something.  Great, BA and Heathrow at its best.  Still my luggage arrived with me at Chennai airport about 11 hours later with the delay, at a local time of 4.30 am.  Of course the airport transfer wasn't ther to pick me up, not that id have known with the hundreds on indian people crowding at the barriers outside the airport terminal.

still i got the hotel, and it sucked to be honest.  the sheets had suspect stains on then indicating a lack of washing and what seemed to be dirt specs or mites.  great.  add to that lizards hanging out with spiders in the corner, and a toilet that smelt like the ones in fire, (for those who aren't regulars at fire this means badly, with a strong smell of urine)  and i was really not happy.

The first day out and about in Chennai was a massive culture shock.  The hotel was in real india, so to speak.  So a dirt track with all sorts of street stalls and small dark shops, bicycles, people, rickshaws,  animals, cars - you name it and it was running around the street.  I tried to get into the vibe but as my first lone travel, i must admit, i freaked out a bit.  got a rickshaw to the beach, but was the only white girl, and def only white haird girl, around and got some unanted attention.  Although I had'nt managed to get photos of everyone, they were certainly taking enough of me.  damn this peroxide...

add to that a cockroah storming towards me and i ran off pretty quickly to eat alone in a hotle i hoped would be clean, and getting the usual stares and feeling of being a complete muppet.  Decided to hide away watching bbc news 24 on my lice ridden bed that night until i joined the tour the next day and might get more of an idea of what India was all about.  Because so far i was really confused and exhausted - with only a live ridden bed and a fill it yourself toilet for comfort.  Check the photos for a shot of said toilet!

The next day things improved markedly.  Met the intrepid group and moved into a  far nicer hotel opposite, with clean sheets and a clean bathroom.  Finally.  Went out with the group for some beers and shared stories of travel etc, and felt much more confident to explor the town.  We went out for a pretty posh indian meal in a trandy restaurant - pretty much like London.  This was in a much posher area than we had stayed in, and I was told Chenai is generally quite poor, as I had seen, especially the shanty areas of make shift woodhouses by the river, and doesnt have as many rich westernised areas as the other 3 major cities in India.

Chennai had certianly shocked me at first, btu even now, i was quickly getting used to the ways of India.  Especially after the 3 hour talk we had with the intrepid group leader, which made me realise why I kapt getting laughed at every time I tried to do even the simplest things!  The next day we were getting a local bus to the seaside fishng village of mammallaporum, so I got some rest ready for the dirty and polluted journey!