Suzanne's visit to Chennai, India

Oct 25, 2010

I’m writing at this late hour, 11:30 pm, because of what I saw this evening. I was on a yoga retreat for the past three days where I was well fed with South Indian food. When we returned to Chennia this afternoon,  Louisa and Gail, my good friends, and I decided to go out for another South Indian meal. Paul preferred to eat on the air-conditioned ship but said we would eat out tomorrow evening.

We left the safety of the ship to wage war with the auto-rickshaw drivers who stand around like vultures waiting for customers. After negotiating a fee for a ride to the restaurant, we got into the rickshaw and headed out. We ate at a vegetarian place where no one spoke English. In fact, we were the only non-Indians in there. After a while, a young Indian student from our ship and his girlfriend came in, thank goodness! They helped us communicate with the waiter and get some pretty darn good food for very little money. We all decided to walk around the street together after dinner and then head back to the ship. It was 9:30 pm.

I wish you could see the streets and the people. Try to picture this. The streets are chaotic - packed with cars, motorcycles, rickshaws, auto-rickshaws and people. The sidewalks are almost completely covered with wooden palettes of various fruits and vegetables. Palette after palette. Block after block.



A rather poor photo of the streets



Woman at her flower stand



On many corners an enterprising woman sits on stool stringing and selling jasmine flowers which are used as hair decorations or as offering at the temples and altars.

Food vendors on portable wagons sell all sorts of delicious looking items like samosas, naan and many other Indian fast foods. These vendors pay no taxes and no license is required to set up a stand. No McDonald’s or Burgher King here! Litter is piled in corners and along the sides of streets. Sometimes cows and ravens pick at the litter. The streets are dirty, but “untouchable” women lean over with short brooms of thin sticks sweeping the streets in their not so pretty saris.



Our party with the girls on the street in Chennai



One barefoot girl about 12 came up to us with her brother and just wanted to shake our hands. She smiled and was happy to just shake our hands. Her little brother, however, held back. We walked on and pretty soon she showed up with another girl. Before we knew it there were four girls and a bunch of boys surrounding us. They wanted us to take pictures of them with us. We did. They laughed. They spoke no English. They did not beg but asked for a kiss. They were very pretty, but somewhat dirty. They also, most likely, lived on the street. That is the hard truth. Untouchables for life!




As we walked home, we came across entire families with their mats laid out, the children all in a row, some with light covers. One woman was asleep on a mat on the concrete sidewalk on a busy corner at the bus station. She held two tiny naked babies close to her. People were all around them, but they slept. We walked on and came across more families bedded down for the night on the sidewalks. Those who were still awake said hello to us. In fact, all the people everywhere have been so warm and friendly. They smile. They seem genuinely happy to see us! They have soooo little. No place to keep their things except on them. No closet or chest of drawers or bed or roof over their heads. Over 70% of the population live in poverty. And the population of India is going to double by the year 2025!!!

When I awoke in the morning, the streets were all wet. It had rained during the night. What do you suppose all those sleeping people and children did?

Chaos on the streets! Buses, cars, rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, motorcycles with families and women in saris, bicycles! Oh, my gosh!! We road through the streets with a fun driver who headed straight for the black cow in the busy road main road but swerved deftly around it while we screamed with glee and he yelled, “He Haw!” The next day I shook hands with a student in another rickshaw. We were that close! All the vehicles are so close! Honking is constant! It means, “I’m coming!” But surprisingly, it was all very civil. The drivers, polite. No anger here! It was just like dodge’m cars only one tries not to hit the next car.

On the other side of life, gold jewelry is very important – it is the woman’s security. The government offers micro-loans to set up a business especially to women. The churches and temples offer free meals on certain days. The government helps. The attitude exists that people can work if they want to. They are just lazy and can exist on just $9 a day in India. But I hate to think of the future of the street dwellers’ children, especially, the girls.

I visited a 14th century temple in Chennai twice, once on a tour with Paul and another after we learned there were weddings going on there and we were next door in a silk shop. We dashed over, removed our shoes, and went in. What a splash of color!! A feast for the eyes. The temples are not just places of worship, but community gathering places. They also have a stall for donated cows and a rooster or two.  On this day, eleven weddings would take place. We got to see three of the brides and their guests. Some of our students who had also happened upon the scene were actually invited to one of the receptions after they helped the bride change into her next outfit!



They requested our presence in the photo

 

Guest family








Note the .stunning saris on the wedding guests


Over and over, the Semester at Sea voyagers were invited into the homes of those they met. In India, Atithi Devo Bhavah or The Guest is a god, is practiced and many experienced this warm hospitality.




Muriel’s Story


One of the SAS student’s, Muriel, decided to visit the heart of India, Vernasi, the City of Light. It is one of the oldest cities in the world. People have been there since 2000 BC. It is a most important pilgrimage for Hindus. Here the Ganges River flows on its way from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal, 3000 kilometers. Here, the Hindus come to bath, live, die, be cremated, and have their ashes put in the river. They believe if you have your ashes distributed in the river, you will not return for another life. Your life cycle will be complete.


Muriel’s twin brother had been there last year while on an SAS voyage. While standing at the edge of the Ganges, a young 12 year old girl engaged him in conversation. They spoke in Spanish. When he arrived at the river at 5:00 am the next morning, she was there. She stayed with him again. He asked her what she wanted. She wanted to be his friend, she said. She gave him her photo when he left Vernasi which he brought home and shared the story of the unusual girl with his twin sister.


Muriel walked to the river after arriving in Vernasi and stood there entranced by the sight. You would either have to be there or have seen a movie of the ceremony and activity to picture what she might have been seeing. Crowds of people are always present at the river side washing clothes, themselves, standing in the water, drinking it. Hindus who are able, go there to die, be cremated and have their ashes spread in the River. Muriel turned around and recognized that same young girl from the photo! Excited, she spoke with the child asking her questions that she would be able to answer if she was indeed, ‘the girl.’ The girl did not believe that Muriel was the twin of her friend – they are not identical twins and Muriel was not Spanish. But when Muriel began speaking to her in Spanish, they both began crying. Who would have believed that Muriel would meet this same child who had befriended her brother among the thousands of people at the river a year later!! When she left to return to the ship, the girl gave Muriel her ring which now Muriel proudly wears. The human connection had been made again!


Thai-Len’s story


Thai-Len left Viet Nam 14 years ago. She will complete her last semester at SAS and will graduate from UC Berkeley.  She joined the SAS trip this fall anxious about returning to her homeland when we dock in Vietnam. She and her mother are devout Buddhists. When Thai-Len learned that the Bodhi tree that Buddha preached under was far in the north of India near the Himalayas, she made plans to travel there with her friend. The two of them had a somewhat harrowing trip up north far from the ship and safety, but she did not explain that comment during her story. They finally arrived at their destination, hungry and tired but happy to have reached their destination. One of the first photos she took was of a monk sitting peacefully in prayer. They prayed together. They walked around the grounds of the holy site entranced.


After a couple of hours, a Vietnamese woman approached them. After discussing their backgrounds, she invited them to her home for lunch and they accepted. They shared their harrowing adventure to get there with her. She asked if they had a place to stay. No, they had not yet been to a hotel. She invited them to stay there and sleep on the patio with the rest of them at no cost if they would like to. She invited them to stay with her. She told them that she usually does not speak to strangers, but ‘gravity’ had pulled her to Thai-Len. Gravity holds us to the earth and attracts certain people to each other. That "Gravity" would protect them because they were good people. Nothing bad would happen to them.


At 4:00 am, they all arose and went to the temple to perform the morning rituals. After breakfast, they returned to the site, performed more rituals and went to sit by the famous Bodhi tree. Thai-Len had hoped for a leaf from the tree to take to her mother, but none were on the ground. The leaves are precious to the monks and gathered the minute they fall. Thai-Len’s companion noted a squirrel and stated he was getting her a leaf. About 10 seconds later, the leaf fell and a thrilled Thai-Len retrieved it for her Mother.


When Thai-Len returned to the ship and downloaded her photos of their pilgrimage, she realized that the monk in the photo she had taken upon arriving at the temple was actually the Vietnamese woman who "Gravity" had pulled her to!

India is truly a fascinating country. There is so much to see a absorb. The Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Christians live peacefully together, somewhat like the people of Mauritius. Religion and philosophy are a large part of everyday life and the signs of that are everywhere. Delhi reportedly looks lilke Washington D.C. Accra is more like Chennai. There are tea and rubber plantations, rice fields and lots of fruit and vegetable farms. Some construction methods are way out of date, but we saw a group of houses that looked like those in San Diego not far from the Art of Living area. I saw six men pulling a concrete railroad tie into place with a thick bamboo pole and ropes at the port where we docked. Scaffolding in Chennai was wooden poles tied together with rope.



Indian scaffolding



See me hold this up!



My three days of breathing, meditation and yoga were wonderful and so relaxing. I slept like a log for two nights after that. The shopping with my three friends, delightful. The prices of things in India are about one-third of what you could expect in the US. I did go to Mamallapuram too and enjoyed seeing the centuries old temples that were carved out of huge boulders the size of those at Elephant Rock State Park in Missouri. The temples were never completed.  The carving tookover a century and were never totally finished, so they are considered monuments, not temples.



Frank on far right with SAS students Catherine and Drew



Relaxing


I’m ready to come back to India and see more including, by many experts, the most beautiful building ever built, the Taj Mahal! Anyone want to go with me?

On to Singapore in two days!!






Betty, Suzanne, Gail and Louisa - happy shoppers!

 



Mammalapuran carving