The Chennai Challenge!

posted by: Mikkel & Janine

Well! Here we are with a new spicy story. Hopefully we can make our messages from the Indian continent just as enjoyable and spicy as the tandoori, tikka masala and korma curries that we get served here. It’s been exactly one week now since we arrived in Chennai (Madras), in the south eastern state Tamil Nadu. Before we left, we had been ‘warned’ that this 7 plus million city is not particularly one of the nicest places to visit on the planet. We are afraid that we actually see the point: besides a few nice temples there is not much else either to see, smell or hear than lots of traffic and people everywhere (working, walking, selling, driving, begging, sleeping). All this produces a hell of a lot of noise and smoke which enters your body and your skin as if it were to stay there forever.

----[Picture which shows our general appreciation of the city after a couple of days]----



BUT there are also some positive sides to the city. First of all people seem very friendly. Wherever we go – the bus, the beach, the restaurants – people like to chat. And here we are not talking about the rickshaw drivers, the beggars and the other sellers who generally take no for an answer. Secondly Chennai has a very long and wide beach and although you can’t really swim or lie in the sun there, it’s still nice to cool off in the sea breeze. Luckily we are here in the “cool” period where the temperature is bearable (but still 30°+) and occasional rain-outbursts wash away the smells of the city. And last but not least: the food is spectacular: Dhosas, tikka masalas, tandooris, rotis, naans, parathas, dals, kormas, koftas, idlis, lassis, etc. … its almost all great!

Now here are some of the challenges that we have been dealing with so far:

1. Finding a place to stay
Never before have we started to discover a city with only one criteria: ‘Where would we want to live?’ This question could be translated into: Where are the oasis in this overwhelming hectic chaos of people and noise? Eventually we had to conclude that there is non! And to make matters worse, housing (rental) prices have been rocketing over the last year here in Chennai (due to the IT and software-boom) up to a level that equals Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Besides that, nobody wants to rent out a place for only three months and even less so when it concerns untrustworthy foreigners… After a week of searching and calling, we slightly adapted the criteria and have decided to stay in a cozy guesthouse in the centre which is both much cheaper than any apartment and also includes furniture!

2. Avoiding a ‘Delhi-belly’
Yes yes: We are very proud to announce that we have survived our first week without a Delhi-belly (also known as an illness that causes uncomfortable toilet-visits).

3. Understanding the Indians
Already on our second day here, Janine had two meetings for her research with people from the Teacher’s Union. The first meeting with one of them started off interestingly: After the most difficult phone conversation ever, we decided to go by at his office to speak to him face-to-face. When we arrived there, we found out that he was just on his way to our hotel… Indians talking English are not necessarily talking the same English as we do! (Luckily the second guy did speak very good English, but he was also ‘National General Secretary’ of the Teacher’s Union with 2,4 million members).
Another thing that we haven’t gotten used to yet, is that shaking ‘no’ with your head doesn’t mean ‘no’ here. In fact, it usually means yes! Imagine a conversation with a rickshaw (three-wheel-taxi) driver:

We: ‘Can u take us to…?’
Him: (shakes no)
We: ‘No?’
Him: yes yes
We: ‘So you can take us to …’
Him (shakes no)
etc.etc.

To round up we just want to say one thing: Despite the ‘disadvantages’ of the city, we definitely feel that Chennai ‘has something’ although we don’t really know what it is (yet). It could have something to do with the honest and friendly smiles of the people. So hopefully the coming months will bring a lot more positive news than chicken tandoori to this India story!

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