Loving India!

I am loving india! Our 1st afternoon we walked around the neighborhood just as the children were getting home from school. Miriam and i were a source of great curiosity...the children were very curious about us, asking our names - especially the older ones who wanted to practice their english. The younger ones liked having their photos taken and then lookking at them on the digital camera. I am still working to see if i can downdload some photos...but that will have to wait for another day. One little boy was rather somber when i took his picture, and then broke into a huge smile when he saw it on the camera.

The neighborhood we are in - Porur - used to be considered a lower-middle class neighborhood, but now is considered more uper-middle class, according to our GV guide. By Americans standards, you would probably not see it that way. There is certainly garbage in the streets...there are open sewers, etc. But we feel very comfortable and safe here. The traffic is utter chaos -- pedestrians, bicycles, motor bikes (usually with anywhere from 2-4 people on each) taxis, cars, buses, all "sharing" the roads with LOTS of horn honking.

There is a festival going on - so in the evening people are lighting many small lamps outside and it is lovely to see them all flickering int he dark. There are, of course, cows in teh streets, many stray dogs, local chipmunks that are very noisy and have bushy tails, and many crows...shich sound just like our local crows but have a swath of dusky brown feathers around the neck region.

The women decorate the entrance to their homes with chalk drawings each day (sorry - I am forgetting what thtey are called)...but they are drawn with a powerded chalk - so it takes uite a bit of skill and concentration.

For the yogis here - our GV guide said that this is, in a sense, the way the women practice yoga - not the way we do it in the West - with the asanas, etc....but the drawing is a way that builds concentration, and the squatting positin helps keep them flexible.

I will try to post oa photo of a house under construction: they hang an effigy outside the house - it is to draw teh "evil eye" so that it wont be cast on the house. Then, when the house is completed - the effigy is taken to the intersection of 3 roads and burned. Maybe we should give this a try in the US as anyone who's had construction has probably encountered numerous things going wrong.

Yesterday we still had a free day before the program begins - so the 3 of us who were early arrivals went on a very comprehensive tour of Chennai. i don't want to hog the computer time now to tell all the details. But - I must share this - we went to a restaurant for lunch - i ordered a vegetarian thali - which is a complete meal with soup, 2 curries (1 loaded with panir), a dal, rice, yogurt, and a delicious dessert - all for about $2.50.

We visited the Government Museum - which has many sculprtures and bronzes from the local Tamill region. But, as in the neighborhood, the highlight was the curiosity of the school children who enjoyed speaking to us and repeatedly asked our names, where we were from, etc. It would seem that they don't see too many Westerners i this area. The people are remarkably friendly.

We also visited the Chennai beach where - again - people liked being photographed. LIke any beach - there were lots of stalls selling things (I will try to post photos later - if I can get doftware to download) and even fortune-telling parrots 9i took a chort video...the parrot picks out cards to tell your fortune).

miriam and I were incredibly lucky to arrive on time. Nearly all the other volunteers in teh program had VERY many delays in their flights - some routed to multiple cities. By the middle of the night last night all had arrived...there are 8 of us in total. We had our orientation this morning and will begin our assignments tomorrow. Some are doing construction of a dormitory for the orphanage, some will work in the childrens home (orphanage), some in a day care center, and threst of us in a school. All of us will go every evening to the orphanage to spend time with the children...starting tonight.

One last thing - I got a lesson yesterday on the meaning and interpretation of the Indian head bobble." It seems no wants want to say "no" or a definite "yes" to a question...sothe head bobble and body language are a general "ok"...but our GV host Stephen, said none of us will be here long enough to ever really interpret it. But you see it so much I can already feel my own head starting to copy it...so don't be surprised if i start to look a little goofy when i return.