...is nothing like anyone's been telling me.
I've been in Chennai for 3 and a half days, and its been great so far—and really unexpected. My hostel is beautiful beautiful and clean clean clean (surprise!), and the people here (outside of rickshaw drivers but what's new) have been remarkably kind. A man saw me arguing with a driver today, so he hailed a few rickshaws and bargained for me. A canadian couple adopted me as a fake daughter as we waited for a dance performance and we tried to discuss American politics with an Indian electrical engineer-cum-journalist who knew way more statistics than all of us put together. A teenager girl chased me down the street when she realized she had given me the wrong directions. Outside of people,the landscape of Tamil Nadu (where I am currently) is amazing, too—big big trees, hanging moss, huge leaves. I'm walking distance from the second-longest beach in the world.
There are a bunch of kittens that live on the floor below me. It may be hard for life to get better.
I'm alone, but I chat with people. So far, on day 4 of the all-Michelle-all-the-time two weeks in South India, I've been reaaaally liking the "do whatever I feel like whenever I want" thing. Do I just want to eat a banana and some nuts right this second? I'm going to do it. Do I want to sleep for three hours, get up, shower, wash my clothes in a bucket and then sleep for five more? I'm going to do it. Do I want to wander around Triplicane for two and a half hours before I find that temple I was looking for? I'm going to do that regardless of whether I want to or not, and no one is going to get annoyed with me!
I'd love to sum up the "character" of Chennai, especially in relation to the "personality" of Delhi (whom I've come to really love), but I can't, especially on 4 days experience. I thought the other day that I wanted to grow up to be the kind of person that can discern the "personality" of cities. Then I realized that the last thing I ever want to be is pretentious. I'm not sure if you can have both.
I've been in Chennai for 3 and a half days, and its been great so far—and really unexpected. My hostel is beautiful beautiful and clean clean clean (surprise!), and the people here (outside of rickshaw drivers but what's new) have been remarkably kind. A man saw me arguing with a driver today, so he hailed a few rickshaws and bargained for me. A canadian couple adopted me as a fake daughter as we waited for a dance performance and we tried to discuss American politics with an Indian electrical engineer-cum-journalist who knew way more statistics than all of us put together. A teenager girl chased me down the street when she realized she had given me the wrong directions. Outside of people,the landscape of Tamil Nadu (where I am currently) is amazing, too—big big trees, hanging moss, huge leaves. I'm walking distance from the second-longest beach in the world.
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| Two of said kitties + my gorgeous hostel |
There are a bunch of kittens that live on the floor below me. It may be hard for life to get better.
I'm alone, but I chat with people. So far, on day 4 of the all-Michelle-all-the-time two weeks in South India, I've been reaaaally liking the "do whatever I feel like whenever I want" thing. Do I just want to eat a banana and some nuts right this second? I'm going to do it. Do I want to sleep for three hours, get up, shower, wash my clothes in a bucket and then sleep for five more? I'm going to do it. Do I want to wander around Triplicane for two and a half hours before I find that temple I was looking for? I'm going to do that regardless of whether I want to or not, and no one is going to get annoyed with me!
I'd love to sum up the "character" of Chennai, especially in relation to the "personality" of Delhi (whom I've come to really love), but I can't, especially on 4 days experience. I thought the other day that I wanted to grow up to be the kind of person that can discern the "personality" of cities. Then I realized that the last thing I ever want to be is pretentious. I'm not sure if you can have both.
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