India

I'm sad to say, I haven't been able to upload any photos of this trip just yet, but let me tell you a little about it while I steal a few moments at this internet cafe.

Wow, India is, as you would expect, pretty amazing. The first day I was walking around thinking I was just in a dream. I couldn't believe I was here. My friend Juen and I just kept looking at each other with wide eyes. Also, we hadn't slept in what felt like two days.

We're here for my friend and coworker's wedding. Babu is doing a totally old-school arranged marriage. He hasn't even met his fiance yet. But he is taking care of us as if we were royalty. The company we work with in Chennai has the most AMAZING guys working there. I was already excited to meet the people who'd been building all of my pages at work, but I never would have guessed how incredibly patient, hospitable and charming they were. They're shepherding us through their country in a way we couldn't ever pay for. What kind, kind people and we are really going to miss them when we leave Pondicherry!

South India is beautiful and tropical and lush. We landed in Chennai, which is a gritty place that doesn't offer much for the Western traveler. My friend Juen said she'd read it referred to as the "Detroit of India." We agree. We did have the singular experience of walking through these city streets at 3 am, a once-in-a-lifetime experience that we NEVER would have had without Babu there. The streets were populated with stray men and boys walking late, just hanging out, a lot of loose dogs, and cows. Then we had our first auto ride! (The three-wheeled, bright yellow autorickshaws that maneuver the traffic wildly and recklessly.) Wow. One of the most amazing things, though, was watching the city unfold as the hours went by. Early morning was dark, and quiet, but still populated. Morning slowly begins, and the incessant honking starts in the streets. Shops open, the streets flood with everything that moves: people walking, bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, autos, taxis, trucks, dogs, cows--everything and everyone shares the road. No one walks on the sidewalk. No one pays attention to lane divisions. There are hardly any streetlights to speak of. Hence the incessant honking. It gets louder and busier as the sun goes down. The auto rides are wilder, the neon lights come on, the Bollywood tunes emerge from shops. Then slowly, the streets fold up again.

The city is a living entity, and the traffic is truly its pulse. You can sense the life of the city through the flow of its traffic. It's a community event. The drivers honk incessantly as they round the bend to alert anyone coming the other way. It seems rude at first, but when you think of it, it's really rather neighborly. They're always communicating.

Truthfully, we experienced this traffic flow more in Pondicherry. But that's another story I'll have to tell at another internet cafe...!