Settling in

Posted by Mikkel

Hello again everyone. It’s been three weeks since we arrived in Chennai. 3 weeks in which we have tried to accustom ourselves to the amounts of people (not at all there), the noise (getting there), the air (will never get there), the heat (getting better), the food (still getting some great surprises YUMMIE), the Indians (one moment there and the next further away than ever), the bus system (still not quite there), the traffic (still trying to just stay alive) the Indian bureaucracy (will hopefully never get there) …

…but as you imagine: Still going strong! What really helps is that we have now found a perfect little home in a small Indian artist community south of the city (see address and phone numbers to your right). It’s like a very quiet village tugged away between one of the main roads and an almost deserted beach. We live on the first floor and our downstairs neighbour is not surprisingly…an artist. There is a small rat problem, but besides that it’s truly perfect. (Janine’s slogan of the week: Better a house with a rat, than a mouse in your bed… ...if you can’t make sense of it…just enjoy her rhyming skills!)

Janine is getting underway with her research after some tiring lessons in Indian bureaucracy. She will surely tell you more about this. When (just to give you an idea!) you are a guest in a hotel here you first have to show your passport so they can register you with full name, address, passport number, occupation, length of stay, etc. on a special registration form. After that there is the hotel’s own registration book which must be filled in…again with your name, home address, occupation, etc. etc. and lastly you get a receipt for the amount of money you pay…again with your name, address, the date, etc. Luckily the receipt can be shared between the two of us!

I’m also gradually getting started. Anandhi, an Indian researcher at the MIDS (Madras Institute for Development Studies), has given me permission to come and go at the institute as it suits me, use their computer facilities (there are only 4 of them, but most of the time I’m alone there) and the library. The library is mostly for reading your own books since they don’t really have that many titles that are not directly related to India. If you do find an interesting title in the database, you ask one of the assistant librarians to get it for you, which then takes a couple of hours! I’ve been trying to find a place to play football…but so far without luck. I asked two guys my age if they knew a place: they smiled at me saying “that here we only play cricket!”

Next time I promise not to bore you with too many of these practicalities. Instead we shall supply you with stories (and images) of movie stars, auto action, marriage customs, poverty and injustices...

Take care for now.