Pondicherry to Chennai
hi everyone! i know it's been forever since i have written, but that is good news because it's because stephanie and i have been having very full days together.when was the last time i wrote? if the below is the most recent messgae, then it has really been a long time and i have lots to report.
(NB: this computer is a bit slow, and i type faster than the screen registers. i'm going to not worry about correcting the typos because of the delay)
ok. so last time i wrote was before i went to auroville. the day i went turned out to be the day that the major interesting sights are closed, so that was a bit of a bummer (supposedly the largest whole crystal in the world), but you still get a feel for the place. it really is a commune, with people from all over the world. it is a whole little community with schools and health centers and cafeterias and everything. they are all about self sufficiency and responsible alternatives to environmental devastation. pretty interesting. there is also a requirement for having attained a certian level of... i don't know exactly what the word is... it's what you work toward... enlightenment i suppose. you have to be particularly enlightened and super committed to the yoga to live there. i'd be interested to talk to some of the kids that grew up here and see how they think about the world and interact with it.
anyway, from there i went back to pondicherry and met up with the guy i mentioned in the previous email and his son (14 years old) -- the only way i would agree to meet him was if it was public and not alone. he offered to bring his young children and i thought that seemed pretty safe. so i met them and they took me to this place -- alright, get ready -- to get my nose pierced. i know! i mentioned i was thinking about doing that, but i wanted to know where to go, and so i asked around from ladies around here and these two took me to the place that are friends of their familiy. it hurt! and i brought my own disinfectants -- even though he passed it through the fire, i had him use my stuff as well. i got the smallest they had. i wonder what y'all will think of it. i think it looks nice, but maybe makes me seem younger. stephanie thinks it looks good, but she's my friend.
after the nose piercing we met the rest of the family -- mom, dad, brother, sister, niece -- and i had tea and shared photos with them and they had me take their pulses and look over their medical records. i tried my best to explain that i am really not qualified yet to give any medical advice, but i did give some general health advice to the dad who is in his late 70s and has heart problems. no yolk, stop smoking, no fried foods, fish is good, cut back on meat, cut back on salty foods. they were just lovely. we took photos, they gave me a bindi (to indicate that i am married, which is my story when i travel alone), braided my hair and pinned lilacs into it (all the south indian women wear these ropes of lilacs in their hair and it smells just wonderful), and everyone invited me to stay with them the next time i am in pondicherry. they describe their home as large, which i suppose it is for indian standards, but anyone from the states would consider it a very poor, small place in moderate disrepair.
from there, we went to a friend of the family's to look at saris. basically it was a dress-up session for me. this woman dressed me in a turquoise sari (the top was way too tight, and she shoved my boobs in and forced it closed -- interesting how differently people view personal space and bodies in other countries), rebraided my hair, added bangles and necklaces and put a bit of red powder on my forehead as well. then we all took photos together and laughed and had a good old time before i left. i had intended to buy a sari, but the top was just too tight and i couldn't communicate that i wanted to buy one that was larger. i gave her 50 Rs as thanks, which felt a bit weird, but it's all i have to give as gifts here, and i know that she could use it. the fitting was in her home, which is a thatched-roof hut, with dirt floors, one room separated into two with a couple of pieces of furniture. the whole place (where she and her son and maybe a husband? live together) is no bigger than my bedroom in brookline, maybe even a bit smaller. and these are not the poor, at least not here. this gives you an idea of how much poverty there is here. this family is not one that is considered to be suffering in poverty -- they do have a tv set, after all -- and they are happy and clean and would never consider begging in the street.
i thanked them and we set off for a quick bite to eat before he took me back to my hotel (brake for monkeys crossing the street!) so that i could get ready to leave the next day.
back to the room, shower and pack, writing a bit and enjoying the last night out on the balcony, then to bed. up early the next day and took an autorickshaw to the bus station to catch a bus back to chennai. so difficult! i joined a crowd of people on the platform and when the bus arrived a rush of people crammed to the doors and windows and there were no seats left before i could even blink. one man told me that we would get the next bus and it would be better. i followed him to a different platform where we waited and another bus came and another crowd of people forced their way onto the bus (not even waiting for the arriving passengers to disembark) before the bus was even stopped in the platform. one more bus and on the fourth bus i was able to put my bag in through the window to save a seat. funny how this works, but it does. i sat next to this man who was nice at first and quickly became too nice. total invasion of my personal space -- "but we are good friends now" -- actually, no, you need to move over. it was fine, but irritating. 3 1/2 hours later we arrived in chennai, and i caught a rickshaw to the hotel i had booked for the night i was going to spend there before meeting stephanie in delhi..
the first rickshaw driver asked for 150 Rs. i said i would pay no more than 100. he said no, 120 that's the lowest. i said 100 finish. he let me walk on. the next guy asked for 250! that guy just said 120. no i no the area and you cannot go for less than this. i said i will pay 100 to get there, there are many rickshaws. the next guy agreed to take me and everyone got angry at him and yelled at him and he just kept his head down and we went.
my room there was small but clean, and i was able to shower and change before heading out to meet some of the folks that dr. velandy had wanted me to met. the first i met was gopal, who is a ham radio operator and is clearly rich, at least for indian standards. he lives in a two story penthouse with a balcony garden and has a servant. it was the first place i've been that could have been in a wealthy country. he was very kind, funny, sympathetic, and offered to help me in whatever way he could if i am able to return.
from there i went to meet vani, another of dr. v's folks, over at her place, and with her i went to meet v. pushpa, dr. v's sister. we had tea in dr. pushpa's home, which is much more modest. vani and dr. pushpa are characters! vani is this very elegant and somewhat eccentric older woman, tiny, giggling all of the time, joking and laughing and with a spunk that doesn't quit. dr. pushpa has a very calm and serene presence, she sits very straight, speaks slowly and quietly, and is absolutely hilarious. it's quite unexpected to hear such funny things coming from such a personality. and the two of them together are quite charming and amusing. they are very very good people, very warm, very easy to be with. i enjoyed them immensely and regret that i did not have more time with them.
they arranged for me to get back to my hotel and also arranged for a friend of theirs to come and check on me to make sure i got back ok. late that night i went out to make a phone call to lynn and to stephanie, then back to the room to go back to sleep and get ready to get up early the next day for the visit to loyola university, where i met with other folks through the dr. v network.
again, these people were absolutely wonderful. i think i will not spend too much time here writing about that, only i will mention that i am still struck by the different perspectives we have on what is important... oh, i don't know how to say what i mean. i am thinking here of the work that they do and the setting in which they do it -- dirt, concrete, very old very basic furniture, fans, few computers, often doing without electricity (until the generator kicks in) -- and comparing that to our standards for an environment conducive to doing good work. but they do do good work. i'm not being very articulate. i will have to think about this more and write again on that or talk with you about that when i have more organized thoughts.
from there i went back to the hotel (i had one of the guys there call the rickshaw for me and arrange the fare, then i get in -- this way i don't get the "white face mark up") so that i could get my stuff out of my room by 2:00pm which was check out time. then i stored my stuff at the front desk and went to do email -- wait, why didn't i write then? or did i? -- i think i only had time to do work-related email (i still haven't finalized my plans for the next several months, though i am supposed to speak with lynn this week). from there i went to call lynn, and from there i went across the street for a lassi. a young woman came up and asked me to buy medicine for her grandmother for 700Rs. i said i couldn't and she asked me to buy her a kilogram of rice for 500Rs instead. i offered to buy her a lassi. she asked me to buy her some shampoo. i said i was sorry. she accepted the lassi and thanked me and i went into the restaurant i had lunched at the previous day (i didn't even mention this yet, did i?) to touch base with the friend i had made there the day before -- shankar.
this place serves thalis (sort of like a grab bag -- they give a set variety of the foods they have that day) on banana leaves. you eat with your hands (actually, just the right hand since the left is for wiping (!) -- everyone everywhere does this here) and get as much as you like. shankar had offered to show me around, blah blah blah, but i did enjoy his company so i went back to visit a bit in the hour i had before i had to head out to the airport to get my flight to delhi to meet stephanie. we had yummy masala chai and talked a bit and then he arranged a rickshaw to the airport for me and i was off...
posted by Dr.Quel @ 1:39 PM
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