The sun was set to rise over India at just afte5 6 am, so like the other ports I was up and ready to go. I went up to see it and as always the sunrise was pretty stunning. Unfortunately though we could not see India yet, so it was pretty much a sunrise over ocean. I ate breakfast with some other people who ambitiously woke up and after a couple of hours, Chennai, India appeared on the horizon. The port of Chennai is extremely industrial, there was construction equipment all over the place, trucks going back and forth, and an extreme amount of dirt. The ship in fact put ceran wrap over every piece of outdoor furniture and cardboard down on all of the carpet near the gangway. After a diplomatic briefing and a passport check we were free to go. I went with my roommate Eric in search of a post office to mail a package to a group of 6th grade pen pals in Connecticut. The ground outside was SO dirty, there was a layer of oil/dirt mixture about 2 inches deep everywhere we went. On top of that the smell was dreadful. It smelled like sulfur and feces about everywhere that we went and I never fully got used to it.
We hopped in a Tuk-Tuk (Auto-Rickshaw) and told him to head to the post office which was apparently supposed to be about 1 km away. He took us to a different one which took 30 minutes to get there and the ride was honestly a lot of fun. After dealing with the hassle of the post office and having them open my package and scrutinize everything inside, they sent it for a whopping 9 dollars US. We were going to be late for a SAS trip that we had to be back for so we hopped back in the Tuk-Tuk and told him to hurry. On the way back we saw Jill and Sarah walking and I made the mistake of yelling to them and saying hi. Our driver turned through traffic and went right up to them, insisting they get in. They did and apparently he ended up driving them around for the next 5 hours. We got back to the ship 5 minutes before our trip was supposed to leave and hopped on the bus. The trip was supposed to be a joint venture between SAS and a local engineering school, but the school cancelled so instead we headed to a rural orphanage. The bus was nice and air conditioned and the ride was long. At least we saw some cool scenery on the way. We finally made it to the general area of the orphanage where we got out and walked. It was here we had our first run ins with the numerous cows that are all over India. They were sitting in houses, around houses, in roads, fields, etc. After a 10 minute walk we were greeted by a sign that said “Home for the retarded and spastic”. Quite a different culture we were in.
We walked into the orphanage bearing clothes and toys as gifts and prepared to work like we though we would. As it turns out, they didn’t really need us to work, so we just hung out with the people for 3-4 hours. Neither walking up to random kids nor relating with mentally handicapped individuals are strongsuits of mine, so the trip for me was not the best, but we did have fun with them. Some of us ended up helping them clean a bit so we were of some use, and they definitely enjoyed having guests. We colored with them, played cricket, watched them dance, and gave them stickers. It was pretty uneventful, but interesting to see how they were treated in comparison to the US. While the conditions of the orphanage were not nice, it was a place where they were comfortable, well fed, and probably lived in a better situation than millions of others. After a few hours it was time to go so we waved goodbye and got back on the bus. I went back to the ship, changed out of my now dirty work clothes, and got ready to do something that evening. I ended up meeting up with a group of 6, my friends JulieAnne, Deirdre, Tucker, Lindsay, and Amy and we headed out to grab some food and see a movie. We went to an area recommended to us by the Global Studies teacher Don, and when there tried to find a restaurant. The first one we went to was totally empty but apparently had a lot of reservations so we couldn’t eat there. They directed us down the street to a different one which we found with little trouble and ate at. This was my first real taste of Indian food and I liked it a lot. We had a sampler plate thing that had Naan and Roti, fried pita like bread, and rice. You then took one of the numerous sauces they had for you and put them on. It was so different eating mostly with our hands and having so many new things to tried. I definitely am a fan now though. The meal took longer than we thought so we ran out of time for a movie and decided to just head back to the ship. Our Tuk-Tuk driver dropped us off at the complete wrong side of the port so we had to walk probably 2 miles through a market to get there. On the bright side, I did buy Avatar in blu-ray (or so they say) for less than a dollar, and Angels and Demons, which I just got done reading and wanted to see again, for 30 cents. The quality on Angels and Demons is stellar so far, so I’ve been pleased. We made it back to the ship and I said goodbye, went to the room and crashed. We had to be up for our trip to the Taj at 6:30 the next morning.
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