India - the Prequel - Part 1 - 12/05

Because connectivity was in it's infant stage at the hotel we stayed at two years ago - I did long emails until I could get the blog up. There's a ton of first impressions and trip info in these so I've decided to add them to the blog. Remember that this is my trip two years ago - that way I won't have to retype all that info this time and can go from there. These are very long with no pictures so feel free to skip them. They do however give a pretty good picture of how India first hits a Westerner.

The Trip Over

22 hours of flying with a scant 2 hours of running in between connections for the next flight. Very tiring, but nice to get it all out of the way in one swell foop! We flew from Seattle to Chicago, had 45 minutes to drag carry-on bags waaaaay over to the next gate, flew to Frankfurt, Germany; then had another 45 minutes to race-walk around the huge terminal (again dragging bags that seem to have mysteriously doubled their weight by now) to the flight to Chennai, India. It’s truly amazing that flights were all on time and that we made all our connections. A moment of panic when we reached the gate for the Chennai flight and most everyone had already boarded but we actually had plenty of time. For $3,000 more we could have given ourselves more breathing room between flights to make sure we’d make each one, but 3k is 3k and we decided why not chance it. Just before the end of the Chennai flight, an attendant gave us the glad news that my large checked bag had not made it onto the plane with us and that we’d have to fill out forms in the lost baggage section before proceeding through Customs. This was just as David discovered that something in the Business Class menu had violently disagreed with him and that staying close to a W.C. - ANY W.C. - was a prudent measure. (I have to say that flying Business Class the entire way was a wonderful luxury. Seats that recline a LOT, great food - except when it ganged up on DH and very friendly and efficient cabin stewards.) So, off we went to Passport Control, DH with a faint greenish tinge to him and dealing with the sweltering heat that hits you the second you’re off the plane. I’d forgotten what it’s like in a country with a huge population, i.e. everyone has a much smaller personal space bubble around them and are used to waiting (and shoving and muttering) in long lines. We were way too slow for everyone even though we weren’t dawdling… the others in line… the officials who were waving us on with fairly fierce expressions… and the customs guys (REALLY fierce expressions). We found our baggage pretty quickly and I queued at the lost baggage desk after finding a rolling cart for the heaviest items. Keeping an eye on DH’s color, I inquired where the nearest bathroom was. Seems it is outside the airport! No chance to go until you’ve collected everything and passed through everything. Half an hour and 3 sets of triplicate forms later we waited while they handed me off to part of Customs so I could collect 8,000 Rupees (about $165 US) in compensation for the inconvenience of not having my clothes from my missing bag for the next several days. Oooooo, shawl purchase money! Not that I wouldn’t have bypassed the cash in a hot minute to save DH the extra agony of desperately clamping down on all orifices until we cleared the airport and got to the hotel. Little did they know that we’d both packed extra undies and a change of clothes in our carry on bags, and also another change of each other’s clothes in our checked bags. So I had 2 day’s-worth plus extra underwear at a minimum. Didn’t proclaim it to the world and turn down the money however. By the time Customs handed us the Rupees they were sick enough of us hanging around that they waved us right through with nary a question.

We had a hotel driver scheduled to pick us up in Chennai and he was there among the several hundred other drivers waiting for passengers with a large easy-to-see sign with DH’s name on it. Whew! We drove for about half an hour to reach the hotel, checked in, and DH could let go of everything at last in a lightless bathroom while I tried to figure out the lights and air-conditioning (you take the card that opened the door and insert it in another slot the opposite way to make the lights and power work. We were in Chennai (formerly known as Madras) for the night and were to be picked up the next morning to drive to Pondicherry - our final destination. DH felt pretty wretched and yet so tired he dropped right off. The room had nice cool tile floors as many of them do in hotels here. I became more acquainted with their benefits after dropping an empty club soda bottle that shattered into mostly teensy bits. DH slept on and I worked my way around the floor with a wet towel getting up all the bits. Nice and cool on the knees! AND, I found a one Rupee coin under the bed. Oboy! $8001 Rupees to spend on shawls! Rupees by the way are abbreviated as Rs. 49 Rs. equal roughly a dollar.

Our driver was right on time the next morning and miraculously DH felt like a new man. We debated whether to take the inland route (a bit slower but more “safe” and freeway-like) or the coast route. The company had told the driver to take the inland route as it’s less scary to the tourists, but he was willing to take the coast route as DH had taken it several times. They consider it scary for us because the introduction to Indian traffic and driving is indeed scary and totally overwhelming. I sat in the back of the (blessedly) air conditioned car and DH sat in the front so he could stretch his legs. Every once in a while he would turn to me and say, “Sooooo­..? What do you think?” I’d say WOW and he’d give me a “C’mon, give me more” gesture and I’d peep out another “Wow!” After a while he gave up, faced front and just let me absorb it all. It took another 45 minutes to negotiate our way out of town to the coast route as it was rush hour. Rush hour means inching along 2-3 cars per lane (at the same spot! The bravest gets the biggest part of the lane), with an amazing mix of cars, trucks, buses, rickshaws, motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians, cows, and goats all trying to get where they’re going­­..without getting dead. Our driver was excellent and not chatty - which I loved because my mouth was hanging open while I tried to take it all in, and loosen my death grip on the nearest handle I could find. Once we were out in the country it was much more relaxing.

Where are we?

Pondicherry is on the SE coast of India facing the Bay of Bengal along the Coromandel Coast. Isn’t Coromandel a pretty word? Wouldn’t you like to name your next dog or cat Coromandel? Except in no time it would be Corry or Mandy and you’d lose the whole romance of the thing.

Chennai is the city we flew in to. Chennai was formerly called Madras and is where the big Tsunami of ‘05 hit when it bumped up against India. Pondicherry is about 2.5 hours South of Chennai and escaped much of the devastation because the city has a 17-foot rock seawall that kept much of the Tsunami at bay (pun intended). The fishing fleet was devastated unfortunately and it’s just now that seafood (for which the city is famous) is once again in all the restaurants. On the way down the coast route we saw many small refugee villages with houses made from woven palm fronds donated by various charity and fraternal organizations. It’s hard to get used to the idea that North is on the LEFT as you face the ocean. Being on the East Coast means that you never have the evening sun cooking you for dinner when your room faces the ocean - a huge plus to my temperament.

Pondicherry was French until finally relinquished back over to the country in the forties. Much of the architecture and historic houses are French colonial. People born in Pondy can actually vote in French elections and people from both countries can live and work in either without restrictions of any kind. There are many Catholic cathedrals here and a lot of Catholics in the Indian population. When I see other Caucasians around town I tend to assume they are American. It’s a silly-of-me generalization as it turns out. They are almost all French and German. I won’t go into a lot of history because you can look it up and I’m already in danger of being booted off the Net for the Longest Catch-Up Blog Entry in the history of the World!