Good Morning, Chennai!!!!

This past weekend CIEE took the whole group of us minus two students to Chennai, Pondicherry, and other places whose names I can't spell. The trip was....guess what word is coming next....AMAZING!!! Amazing basically means adventures and mishaps galore, but *almost* all ones that can be laughed over afterwards.

I've decided that I love sleep-over train rides in India. There's just something incredible and exhilarating about standing in the open doorway of your train car, watching India flow past you...and then returning to your bunk to read, or eat, or whatever...and then falling asleep to the rocking motion of the train and the click of the wheels on the tracks.

But back to news of my trip. So this past Thursday evening, the lot of us boarded the overnight train to Chennai, and disembarked Friday morning. We have been lucky in our campus location in that Hyderabad, while hot, is not humid. The same cannot be said for Chennai. When I stepped off the train, I felt like I was back in the midst of a New York summer!

Once we had dumped our stuff in our hotel, our group boarded a bus to go see some temples at Kanchipuram. The highlight of this day was seeing two elephants at one of the temples, who would touch your head with their trunks if you gave them coins. Unfortunately, I had no coins on me, so I was left watching.

The next day was really when the action started: our trip to Mammalapuram (sp?) and Pondicherry. Mammalapuram contains these breathtaking rock formations, with temples carved out of them, as well as walls and walls of relief sculpture. Here I had lots of fun leaping over rocks and taking landscape photos from high up positions. Mishap number one happened here, as I was happily taking pictures from high up positions...I kept my camera safely around my wrist at all times until I was climbing down from one particularly steep rock, at which point I turned to try to transfer it to the camera bag. Something went wrong during this transfer and it slipped off my wrist. Fred, who had been taking pictures with me (and who is my hero of the week), courageously or foolishly (depending on if you're his family or his friend) leaped off of the rock in a futile attempt to save my already doomed camera. I stood and watched in shocked silence as they fell together...thankfully Fred ended up safely but my camera did not. I am currently working on replacing it. The memory card is safe but the software was damaged in the fall, so I will not be able to access my pictures until it's replaced.

* * * * * *moment of silence * * * * * *

On to mishap number two. After my camera broke, for some reason I decided to test my luck again. So I set off to climb up some "stairs" that had been carved into a steep rock face because they led to the highest point at Mammalapuram: a tiny temple perched atop this rock. I made it up the stairs safely (barefoot for better traction) and had great views once I got there. After a bit I noticed a large group of male Indian tourists approaching the same way I had come, so I decided to descend, or try to, before they clogged the main stairwell. Unfortunately, this was also the day I had decided to wear my new skirt...I think you know where this is going. Unhappily for me, but quite happily for all the guys climbing up below me, a large gust of wind blew up right when I started to descend...from all the Tamil/Hindi/Telagu exclamations as I struggled to simultaneously hold down my skirt, hold my shoes & camera, and climb down safely, I think I was their favourite American that day.

Next adventure/mishap, same day: Pondicherry! Pondicherry is personally most famous for being home to Sri Aurobindo's Ashram, the place where he produced a large bulk of his writings, of which I am a great fan. Check out The Foundations of Indian Culture, if you have a chance. Pondicherry is also by the sea, and ALSO near this small experimental village called Auroville. I loved my time at the Ashram as well as at the sea, where I saw humongous crabs, so if you're interested ask me sometime later, because right now I'm going to focus on Auroville as that's where adventure/mishap #2 happened.

Auroville sounds interesting, but it's actually rather weird, in my opinion. Read on the website and decide for yourself, I suppose. It's set up like a galaxy, with this giant golden orb at its center. By the time our group arrived, the orb was already closed to the general public. But being the adventur-er that I am, I bought a town map for RS 10 and jauntily set out with Brittany and Gabriel in search of the orb. At first we were on the main road, down which a lot of Aurovillians were coming all at once, for some reason. They all looked rather odd, kind of Ithaca commons hippy-esque...and whenever I made eye contact, which was probably not a good idea, they gave me this strange smile. After several such encounters I suggested we move off the main road onto a side road to avoid unnecessary contact.

Fifteen minutes later, we still hadn't found the orb and it was about time to turn back. I decided I was just going to quickly explore this one little path leading into the brush. B & G followed, and after a short while we arrived at a fence and some trees, and through the trees I saw a building. After determining that the building wasn't a private residence, I crawled under the fence, (B & G watched and took pictures) and found myself on a well-trodden mud path leading up to what looked like some rock gardens. After climbing the path, which ascended a small hill, I saw........ THE ORB. Or rather, a corner of it, as it was to my left. It was HUGE. And very golden. But there was something odd about it too.

Anyways, instead of continuing, as I should have, I jumped and waved to B & G to signal that they should come. They were coming, but slowly, so I finally shout-whispered to them to come. That was a mistake. This small man came running out of a little hut on the side of the path, very agitated and upset, saying in broken English that this entrance was only for insiders and we weren't allowed to be there. When we turned to go down the path that said "WAY OUT" he wouldn't let us, but forced us to go back under the fence and around a different way (following us the whole time to make sure we wouldn't try to get back in) and over this other fence covered in thorns and worms....we were quite scratched up by the time we got to the road. And even when we were IN the road, he stood in the road and watched us walk down it, just to be safe.

Of course, my curiosity and over-active imagination got the better of me and as we walked back to the bus I figuratively beat myself over the head for not keeping quiet while at the same time imagining all of the strange things that could have been happening at the globe which I wasn't allowed to see (sacrifices, chanting, meditation, anyone?). None of which were too far off the mark, as it turns out, because once we were on the bus and leaving Auroville I read a rather disturbing pamphlet describing what it is like and what one must be/do in order to become an Aurovillian, one of which was that they are "preparing for the new species." Next to this statement was a picture of Aurovillians sitting around the globe, with a fire lit in front of it, into which they were all staring......I'm pretty sure I had my first cult experience.

Next and last major adventure of the trip happened in Chennai. Right before we left on Monday, we visited a museum of East India Company artifacts, among others. (I read original letters from Robert Clive there!! Crazy!!!) The museum was housed in a old building, which was Fort St. George during the colonial period. Next to the museum was an old church, Santhome Church to be exact, where Elihu Yale, the founder of Yale University was married. (They had his marriage records on display there). This church still had the original organ, and it was in working condition. Brittany, who is an amazing musician currently taking a break because of tendinitis, asked one of the wardens if she could play the organ. He said yes, and as they were heading over, I spotted them, and to make a long story (and blog entry) short, Brittany and I played the organ!!! It was GREAT. My first organ experience!!! I played the upper keys and Brittany did the pedals. We used one of their original hymn books, too, and played at least six or seven hymns before we had to leave. I think the organ was the overall highlight of that trip.

I also made several gift purchases this trip, and by several I mean one, which was Ruth's sari in Chennai. (Chennai has some of the nicest silk in India, by the way....) There is the chance that my Dad might come to Bangalore on business at some point, and if he does, I am planning (please?) to send some of the gifts I've bought home with him so that I can still fit everything into the original duffel bags when I head home.

So that's it. I think this has been my longest blog entry! In other news, health wise, I have been doing very well. Early on I had a slight cold that I think was just the after-effects of a very stressful semester. Otherwise, I am pleased/surprised to discover that after my Cambodian experiences, I have a very strong stomach. I can drink the regular water that everyone drinks, (filtered water) and be totally fine. I even had tap water by accident (we said regular water at a restaurant and they brought us tap water) and had no stomach issues. I've also had fruit juice on campus, street food, and several coconuts which are DELICIOUS. Aside from the odd 1.5 and stomach pain that makes me wonder how *gone* my former friendly organisms really are, I'm doing great. This coming weekend (ie, Thursday night, returning Monday morning) I'm travelling to Hampi, in Karnataka. So stay tuned, more adventures to come!!!!!