09/10/2006: "India - The Conclusion (Or Is It?)"

I'm back home now. Actually, I've been home for several days. But I experienced the worst case of jet lag I've ever had! I got home Sunday night and had a good night's sleep, and then I basically didn't sleep again until Wednesday night - other than a couple of hours on Tuesday afternoon. I feel human again and that means I feel like writing about the rest of my India trip.

First things first, I like Indian food. When we go out to eat it here, it's a treat. If you were to compare similar Indian dishes prepared in the US or India, the food would be spicier in India. At least that's my experience. But after eating Indian food for several days in a row, I was CRAVING a cheeseburger. There are NO McDonald's in Chennai! I thought there were McDonald's EVERYWHERE. Hello? Major franchise opportunity!

After the first few days there, I began to calm down about the whole diarrhea/malaria/other diseases thing. I went to the beach for a while. It was practically deserted, but a man who could obviously tell I was a westerner immediately walked up and tried to sell me some sea shells. They were beautiful, but I didn't want them nor did I have any money with me at the time. Plus, I didn't want to feel like an easy mark.

I also walked the grounds of the resort and hung out by the pool. The grounds are lush and beautiful: lots of green grass, exotic plants and trees. The pool is very large and beautiful. It has a HUGE, gorgoeus mosaic of the sun in the middle of it, surrounded by blue tile.

The resort and office were a bit outside the city, but we ventured into the city twice: on Thursday night for a group dinner and on Friday afternoon to do a bit of shopping (which turned out to be very little shopping, actually).

The city of Chennai was bustling!! New York or London don't have a thing on it as far as busy sidewalks, streets and traffic. OH MY GOD, the traffic! I thought the traffic was bad when I first wrote about it, but that was before I went into the city.

People walking on the side of the street. People riding bikes on the side of the street. Thousands of motorcyles, usually with more than one person on them. City buses filled to overflowing, with men hanging onto the sides. Lots of trucks. Thousands of cars. All of them honking horns, flashing lights and jockeying for prime position on the narrow street with no painted lines. Madness, I tell you, madness! I don't ever want to hear anyone complaining about Atlanta, New York, Washington DC, (insert your city here) traffic ever again. Not after being in the middle of this. When we were heading to the shopping mall on Friday, my friend Rajdeep (more about him later) told me a few times, "Just look down, Mike. Just look down." I just knew some agressive motorcylist was going to be flattened in front of my eyes. Fortunately, not that day.

I want to mention a few people that stood out:

Rajdeep - he was my host at the office I was working out of. He recently moved to Chennai with his lovely wife, from the north. He has also spent time in the US, where he lived for a while, so it was interesting to listen to him compare Indian and US culture. I asked him a lot of questions about Indian culture, religion, politics, etc. He graciously answered the hundreds of questions I threw at him, and also shared his pizza (no pepperoni - it had Indian chicken on it!) one day at lunch. I loved it and ordered my own the next day. I felt such a bond with him. He is someone that were it not for the distance, I could really enjoy spending time with. He's incredibly smart, very open, and generous time his time and attention.

He and his wife explained that Indian names usually have meaning. They have an 8 year old son (I didn't get to meet him) and his name means something like being very wealthy, having everything you need or want, but being able to walk away from it. I know I've bastardized the meaning in my feeble attempt, but I thought it was very meaningful.

Raj and his wife took me shopping on Friday afternoon. I was planning to buy a long, traditional Indian shirt called a kurta (the pants that go with it are called pajamas) but then figured I'd never wear it so I decided not to. Instead I bought my mom a top that looks Indian but still modern enough to wear here. I then left it in Rajdeep's car. He's going to send it to me and I'll give it to my mom when I get it.

Kaushik - he is quite the social man and quite a talker. I don't think he's ever met a stranger. A very smart guy and a lot of fun to be around.

Prem - is engaged to be married in October. He showed me around the office the day that I arrived and also went with our group to dinner on Thursday night. (Prem, don't forget - I have the pictures of the beer in my cell phone. You owe me!)

I stayed at Fisherman's Cove, which is a very, very nice resort. The staff there was amazing. But there was one person who stood out, Sayan - he works at the hotel and I had the pleasure of talking with him on a few occasions. He is incredibly bright and well spoken. He is very passionate about art (is an artist himself) and wine, even though he claimed not to know a lot about it. I don't usually drink wine because it makes me sleepy. But after hearing him talk about it, I wanted a glass myself.

They have their own version of "casual Friday" at the office. That day, many of the women wore jeans or pants -- in general, more western clothes, not the traditional Indian clothes.

I have to go back in October for two weeks. I plan to get out a bit and see some of the temples there and possibly do some other sightseeing.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Chennai was hit by the December 26, 2004 tsunami. One of my drivers lost his home because of it. He now lives in a thatched hut, as do a number of people. I saw a few of those villages every day on my way to the office. But my driver is lucky in that none of his family perished. Thousands of people in Chennai died that day.

Well, those are my impressions of India so far. I certainly didn't experience a true Indian life, as I stayed in a terrific resort and had drivers take me anywhere I needed or wanted to go. But from the people I met, I was struck by the fact that underneath all of those differences, we're really the same in so many ways: we have too much to do, we're always in a rush, we laugh, we love, and we hurt.