India Strike's Again

So Mekhala, one of the girls on the trip with us, has come down with Chicken Pox....That's right Chicken Pox. Nobody know how or where she caught them, but she went to the doctor today and is now quarantined in her room.

She won't be able to go to Kerala with us this weekend, which is going to be a lot of fun.

Indian Haircut

I had my first and last Indian haircut today.  I was skeptical before I went because most Indians have very straight hair, not even similar to my hair. Pramod, the Indian PhD student that is our chaperone asked the baber if he knew how to cut my hair and the guy said of course. What he meant was "Yes, I will cut most of his hair off".

I got a very thorough haircut. The one upside was the head massage that came after the haircut...but it wasn't enough.

Overall..I'm not going to get another haircut in a foreign country unless everyone else in the country is a white boy with an Afro.

Indian Washing Machine

This is the washing machine that we have in our hotel room. It works well but requires a little more arm work.

The dryer is a clothes line strung up in our window.

Notice the brush and bar of Tide soap.

Indian Fashion

I saw this shirt in the mall. It says "What if they gave a right and everybody left". I have no idea what the shirt was supposed to say or what it means.

Also, the cross hairs are a nice touch, I guess they are meant for the people who "gave a right".

Any ideas as too the meaning?

This shirt is also a funny example of American style as seen by the Indians.

Indian Wedding Reception

 Last night we attended the wedding reception of Dr. Ramachandriah's daughter and some other guy. Our entire group went in traditional Indian clothing. The ladies wore Sarees and the gentlemen wore kurtas. We received many compliments on how nice it was for us to dress in traditional clothing. And I have to say that kurtas are quite comfortable.

The reception setup consisted of a stage with a nice bench where the bride and groom sat. People would walk up on stage, congratulate the bride and groom and give them a gift. We all chipped in and bought the bride and groom a 'his and hers' watch set.

This is the van we took to the wedding. It's straight out of the 80's and looks like a molesters van.

The awesome van we took to the wedding.

Stephen and Jourdan

The Guys

Representing

Inside the "Molesto Van"

Inside the wedding reception

Pramod and I at the wedding

All the guys including Dr. Sankar

The Hindu Funeral

Well yesterday was interesting. I was lying in bed taking a nap and I was woken up by drums and fireworks. I looked out my window and saw this. It's a procession of people walking through the streets playing drums and dancing.

It was a Hindu funeral. The Hindu burn their dead and place the ashes into the river. 

You can see all the smoke that is being put off..we had to walk through the body smoke to get to leave the hotel. It was a very strange experience.

This is the view from my hotel room on a normal day

 This is the view from my hotel during the funeral.

The white wall with the green netting is the wall we walk by every day to leave the hotel.

Removing the body from the "Hearse"

Burning the body

View from the wall separating the hotel and where they burned the body

Chennai Night Life

We decided to have a night out on the town. After Googling many bars in Chennai and asking our Indian friends at work we settled on a club called, Club Candy.


We began our journey by heading to the train station.. after buying tickets we had to push our way onto the train as it was rush hour and quite crowded. Once we arrived at the train station we began our negotiation with the auto rickshaw drivers for  ride to Club Candy. When asked how much the driver came back with 200 rupees (a ridiculously high price) we simply said that was too much and walked away. We got about 30 feet  and he came driving up and offered to take us for 130 rupees. A much more reasonable price. We agreed and off we sped weaving through the rush hour traffic disregarding all traffic laws.

We arrived at our destination. paid the rickshaw driver and entered Club Candy. This club was far nicer than any club/bar I have ever been to. It was a very upscale and  had a dress code that did not include open toed shoes. This was a problem as I was wearing sandals, or at least I thought it was a problem. You can rent shoes for 500 rupees and you simply return the shoes at the end of the night and get your 500 rupees back. So I abandoned my Chaco's for some black, fake leather shoes and was ready to take on the night.

Once inside we noticed how empty the club was, but it did not stay that way for long. Within an hour of our arrival the club was packed. We were not prepared for how expensive the drinks were compared to the prices of everything else in Chennai  (450 rupees for a Jack and Coke). Also, the girls all drank for free, which was not fair.


After tearing up the dance floor for an hour or so we headed outside to find an auto-rickshaw to take us home.

It was a good time and a nice break from hotel life.