Chennai: The Gateway to South India

I have allocated half a day here to getting over jet-lag, culture shock and the heat. As we will be staying at my parents’ house, we have no worries as far as accommodation is concerned (NOTE: This is an exception for me only, my parents do not have an open door policy)!! The other half will be spent at the Marina Beach, the longest in Asia . Here my friends from my High School will join us so that Josh can get to know and see that they are just ‘normal teenagers’ with interests very similar to those back in his hometown of Philadelphia . 9 of my friends have agreed to come over so that we can form 2 groups of 5 and play a football match (the last person can be referee or someone may drop out at the last moment!). Maybe Josh can teach us American football??

This will probably be very different from the beaches of Miami or Florida which he is used to as Marina Beach is highly urbanised, just off the city’s busiest, longest commercial street called ‘Anna Salai’. No one ever lies back on a deck chair to get tanned nor are people encouraged to go deep into the sea as the beach is very rocky and hence unsafe. Nevertheless, it is a pretty beach with lovely breeze and the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen.

Day two will begin early with the first stop being the Tirupati Balaji temple in T.Nagar. As south Indians are extremely religious, temples occupy pride of place in this city, with almost every street having one. The main Tirupati Balaji temple is on the border of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, about 5 hours from Chennai by car. Unfortunately due to time constraint, Josh will have to make do with the internet version.

Here is a quiz for you all – what is the connection between Angelina Jolie and Tirupati Balaji temple?

Already making you do the research, eh? J

Answer: since it is a religious ritual to donate hair to the gods (in Hinduism), all the hair collected from devotees is cleaned and made into wigs which are exported to Hollywood and used by stars such as Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston. Talking about Hollywood , Chennai is home to India ’s second largest movie industry (after Bollywood) – Kollywood. Chennaites worship their movie starts and it is not uncommon to be stuck in traffic on Fridays if a major blockbuster has just released. I will provide no links for this as if you come to Chennai and come out of the airport or the central station it is impossible to miss the huge billboards with movie posters.

We will travel to the temple by a tutu or what is known as an ‘auto’ in Chennai. They are cheap (this journey should cost you about Rs. 20 = 50 cents) and readily available throughout the day and are a must for experiencing the flavour of Chennai. From the temple we will head for Murugan Idli Shop, a popular restaurant for traditional south Indian food. This will truly be a different experience as they provide no cutlery and food is eaten using fingers- this is the traditional Indian way of eating. So if any of you are not comfortable with that idea, take your own spoon! As this is really popular, avoid going there during lunch. A set breakfast will cost you about Rs. 15 only!! We will then head over to the Sangeetha at R.A.Puram for the famous ‘ Madras filter coffee’. Here you can sit in your car / motorbike / auto and will be served in the vehicle itself. We will then have about 2 hours for shopping before we head over to the Chennai port. Chennai streets are inundated with ‘saree’ and jewellery shops, especially gold ornaments. This is not surprising considering Indians are the world’s largest consumer of gold. We will head over to the famous saree shop – Nalli in T.Nagar. Here you can buy all kinds of sarees under the sun. They are also famous for their towels, made from special local cotton. I can guarantee that they are great as I use them myself. After the lovely breakfast I am sure Josh will want to take home some delicious spices and seasonings for his family. So I will take him to Nilgiris, a well known and the oldest supermarket chain in Chennai. We will then head over to the port to see the INS Godavari – one of the Indian navy ships. This should take us about 4 hours. For dinner our next door neighbour has very kindly invited both of us for dinner. She is from the neighbouring state of Kerala and thus Josh will have the chance to taste Malayali food as well.

 In the evening we will go to Music Academy to see a Bharatnatyam performance – this is a traditional Indian form of dance. Josh has listened to some of my music CDs as well as seen some videos on you-tube and can’t wait to see it live on stage.

You can also learn the basics of this style of dance at workshops which last from anywhere between half-a-day to a year.

We will then head over to Pondicherry , which is a small union territory about 2.5 hours from Chennai by car. This is a former French colony and thus has a lot of French residents and tourists. We will spend time at the ‘Ashram’ a meditation centre. We will be able to attend meditation and yoga sessions as well as avail one-to-one health advice. We will then head over to the Matri Mandir –

‘a gigantic globe shaped meditation hall with its interior lighted up naturally from rays of lights entering through Belgian crystals placed all around the globe's surface’ ( iExplore). It is perfect for those seeking to get in touch with their spiritual side. This will be followed by a visit to the paper-making factory, where all sorts of hand-made paper are manufactured and sold. I have been here twice before and every time I get to see a different type of paper. It is a must-visit for anyone who has never been to a paper manufacturing plant before. From the next day onwards for 2 weeks we will both volunteer at a local under-privileged children home. We will be teaching English to children between the ages of 7 and 9. This is something both of us have not done before and thus are both nervous and excited. We have been given some material to prepare beforehand, but much of it will be fundamental concepts such as numbers and sentences.