India

Namaste! This is the Sanskrit way to say “hello.” Literally it means “I see God in you.” My time in India has been wonderful. I unfortunately was not on a trip to the Taj Mahal in Agra but I had a great time in Chennai and its surrounding areas. Chennai is the capital of Tamil Nadu, one of 4 South Indian states. Chennai has a population of 7.5 million. Upon arrival on the 11th I attended a yoga demonstration and bought a great poster with all the Sanskrit pose names. I went on a City Orientation Tour that day which stopped at some of the most well known sites in Chennai- St. Thomas Basilica, the Kapaleeshwar Temple, Fort St. George’s museum detailing India’s history under British rule, and Marina Beach (the second longest beach in the world). Marina Beach is essentially a fishing village. Thatch-roofed huts line the beach and fishing boats and nets are everywhere. The beach is completely covered in trash. This area was hit by the Christmas Day tsunami of 2004. Today on my FDP, Socioeconomic Problems of Chennai, we visited a slum along the beach and talked to some its residents and were bombarded by excited kids. It is amazing to see the poverty they live in- it is unfathomable. The food is swarmed by flies, their huts are dark and unfurnished, and the water would make us sick instantly. The ocean is violent and I can’t believe there are so many young kids running around so close to it and even swimming in it. 250 million Indians live in desperate poverty.
The port area is a very sketchy area and we had to walk through the cargo-loading areas and often wade through tar and oil slicks. It is the dirtiest place I’ve ever seen and people work there all day long without shoes or gloves.
On my second day in Chennai I did a little shopping at Spencer Plaza- pashminas galore. Then in the afternoon I visited the Bala Mandir Orphanage. We saw kids of all ages- from day care to high school- and all of them were excited to see us. They were obsessed with our cameras! They love to shake hands and they were very cute. The high school girls were extremely talkative- and many spoke English very well. Their school buildings were sparse and the power went in and out while we were there, but they seem to have very dedicated teachers.
The next day I was on an overnight SAS trip to Kanchepuram/Mamallapuram. There were only 8 students accompanied by Dean Enbohm, Student Life Director Al, and 2 life-long learners: 80-year old-Nancy and Ernest from Sri Lanka. We visited 3 temples in Kanchepuram (the Golden City)- which were all extremely beautiful and fascinating. I didn’t know much about Hinduism before arriving here but our adorable guide, Kala, taught us all so much. We had a great Indian lunch at a local hotel and visited a silk house- Sreenivas- which is know for child-free labor.