In Transit

Well, I'm now about halfway through my journey to Hawaii. I'm currently in Nerita (Tokoyo) and I have to occupy the next 6ish hours here. All in all, the flights and transfers have, thankfully, gone smoothly and neither flight has been full. I left Chennai last night (I think!) :) and flew to Singapore via Singapore Airlines. That was a really great flight! I highly recommend Singapore Airlines (for those of you planning on coming to visit me!) ;) The food was good, the on-demand entertainment selection was quite extensive and there seemed to be a good amount of space between the seats-even in economy class. Singapore airport is great too; I'm glad because I have another 6ish hour layover there on the way back. There are plenty of restaurants and even several places to get a dayroom to sleep! One of the great parts is that the internet is free! (Unlike Heathrow, where you have to pay for it!)

Japan Airlines (my second leg-from Singapore to Nerita) is not bad either. There's a little less room between the seats and I don't recommend the Teriyaki eel for lunch. But the hostesses have been very helpful so far. However, Nerita is not an airport that I recommend for an extended layover; there doesn't seem to be many shops or restaurants, but at least the internet is also free here. I may take another trek around the terminal to see if I missed anything in a couple of hours. Or I may try to snag one of the reclining chairs around the corner and catch a few winks!

Speaking of sleep, I'm hoping that this has some coherence because I didn't really sleep much on either flight. But, I did catch up on some chick flicks that I had missed-Must Love Dogs and the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants-and I recommend both, as chick flicks. :)

I have one story for those of you that know me well. You know how I'm fascinated by the way Indians can find out someone's name and instantaneously know what part of the country he's from, what religion he is and what caste he is. Well, on the way here, I sat next to an Indian. When the stewardess came around, I found out his name was Ghosht (or however you spell that!) [Luckily I had just read an article about a Bengali author of the same name!] We chatted a bit, so I asked him if he was from Calcutta and he was. I was pretty excited to have been able to put it all together! :)

Leaving for Hawaii...

But, seriously, I'm glad that I was able to celebrate with Liz before I left. Tomorrow I'm flying off for almost a week in Hawaii to celebrate the wedding of my friend and college roommate, Heather. Tropical Paradise, here I come!!!! Hmmm...I think those words would have more effect if I was coming from a place where it was snowing already (see Sarah's blog) but I'm definitely looking forward to the event as it will be a very non-traditional ceremony. I'm honored to be in the wedding, as we've lived on separate coasts for almost 8 years now.


I'm hoping to be able to update pictures on here while I'm there, so stay tuned. :)

Happy Birthday Liz!

Isn't it great how some people like to stretch their birthday celebrations for more than one day? :) Well, we spent all weekend celebrating Liz' birthday, which is actually today. Saturday, we went out to a lounge in one of the big hotels here, Provogue. It was a fun time-the drinks were good (although a bit pricy) and another friend knew the manager, so they arranged for a cake for us to celebrate. We put out the word and people just kept showing up. The cake was good too-it felt more like an American cake than most of the ones that I've tasted here (Plus, it was chocolate!) Afterwards, we went to an after-party near the beach where the music & dancing were good. Sunday, we got up and went shopping to get Liz a saree to wear to work on Monday. We had a good time picking them out (she got two) and accessorizing them. After dinner, we went back to our apartment so that she could learn how to wrap the saree to wear into work. Let's just say that laughter was filling the apartment at the first couple of trials. :)

A few of us joined together and got a cheesecake and surprised her with it at midnight. It was a good time and such a fun weekend!

Festival season

It's still raining here. I read in the newspaper that the death toll due to the floods is now up to 148 in Tamil Nadu.

But the rains did not dampen the festival spirit that was here last week. Last Tuesday (November 1st) was Diwali (The Festival of Lights) for the Hindus and last Friday (November 4th) was Eid (the end of Ramzan, the month of fasting) for the Muslims, so everyone was experiencing the holdiay spirit. Liz and I celebrated Diwali, since we both had the day off of work. Diwali basically celebrates the triumph of good over evil from a story in (I believe) the Ramayana. It is, most probably, the biggest holiday in India (in some places the celebrations go on for 5 days!) and is compared to Christmas in the West. Most people try to be home to celebrate with their families. They traditionally mark the occasion by doing a pooja and putting on new clothes in the morning. Then, in the evening, lamps are lit along the outside of the home. Here is an explanation from an article my manager sent to us:

Diwali literally means a row of lights, and the main attraction is the candles and lamps, called diyas, that are lit in almost every home after puja (a ceremony where the lamps are made). The lights are meant to welcome Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and prosperity, and to bring joy, mirth and happiness in the new year, which starts the day after Diwali.

Liz and I celebrated by going shopping a few days previous to purchase new clothes to wear (like we needed an reason to shop!) :) We then watched a Tamil movie (Thirmalia? Something like that...) to feel culturally connected. :) We also took a walk down the street to the local temple to see the activities going on there. We came back home and lit lamps along our balcony rail and outside our front door.

The other thing that is done to celebrate Diwali is the bursting of crackers everywhere. It was so loud here for quite a few days! The kids started with pop guns the weekend before. Both the morning before Diwali and the morning of, I was awakened at 6 AM by people setting them off. I managed to sleep in a little bit, intermittently, but, for some reason, my dreams were filled with war images!

And the rains came to Madras...

As you might have heard, Chennai was in the news last week because of the major flooding that occurred here. It had been raining pretty much every day since I got back, so I didn't really realize that it had rained continuously for 24 hours, starting in the afternoon of October 26th. You might be thinking that a country that has monsoons should be prepared for something like this; however, I have been informed that Chennai doesn't actually have a proper monsoon. I actually once heard it described as a "reverse monsoon." The monsoons that hit the western coast of India head northeast across the country, but are driven back by the mountains. This backlash is what hits Chennai.

Normally, there is only moderate rainfall during this time. However, as I mentioned earlier, it had been raining almost every day since October 19th. The drainage here is not equipped to deal with a steady rainfall, which resulted in the flooding of October 27th. The parking lot in my apartment complex was covered with water up to my ankles. The road outside my apartment complex was covered up to my calves. In many other parts of the city, it was even worse. I heard 11 people actually died from stepping on downed power lines throughout the city. Needless to say, the company was unable to get a cab to pick me up for work. [Yes, I was still expected to turn up for work that day. In fact, I later found out that they wanted me to be there to help TRAIN the 90 or so students that actually made it to work then (that's less than half of the normal amount.) As if anyone was thinking about LEARNING in the midst of that! But that's what my boss was more concerned about, rather than the fact that we were facing an emergency situation. (Yes, let's bring in more people that we'll have to transport back, especially since they were unable to get the people that worked the shift that ended at 8:00 AM home until noon.) What a great company I work for!]

I did actually walk down the street in the afternoon to get some lunch, groceries and minutes for my phone. Boy, it was quite an experience-then only shallow part was in the middle of the road, which you had to share with the few cars, autorickshaws & bikes that were out. As you may imagine, I was completely soaked and ready for a nice, warm shower when I got back! :)

Lines/Queues-Part 2

So it has been a whirlwind time since I have been back in Chennai. I have many posts to write, but I'm trying to keep everything in order. Since I have been back, I have been assigned to work the morning shift (UGH!) Most of you can probably imagine how much work I actually get done starting at 8:00 AM. I've discovered this malt beverage called Boost that is helping me get through my mornings, but it was a hard adjustment-particularly since working night would've kept me on a similar schedule from being in the US. :)

But, what I really want to rant about first is my experiences flying back. Not that I want start a huge debate like the last time I brought up a similar topic. When I boarded my first leg of the British Airways flight in Chicago, they began boarding in a nice, organized fashion. First, they boarded people who needed assistance and families with young children. Second, the first class and premier world (or whatever.) Then, they began general boarding starting from the rear of the plane. Very organized. However, when I boarded the flight from London to Chennai, it was quite a different matter. First of all, they stuck us at a gate that was quite far from the main terminal-down a maze of hallways. Also, the PA system didn't work there, so even though they attempted to announce that the plane was delayed, it was ineffective. [I only heard it because I was at the counter verifying my boarding pass.] When the plane did arrive and boarding began, there was absolutely no organization; the British Air staff didn't even try! One woman began only boarding the passengers with small children and then ones who needed more time...but she didn't even say that out loud, just sent people away. The other line just started boarding general boarding, regardless of where your seat was in the plane. It was mass pandemonium-people were just headed en masse up to the ticket counter!

This is the second time similar incidences have occurred while flying to India on British Air. Has British Airways given up on trying to get Indians to board in an orderly fashion? Is this subtle discrimination? Or, is it an example of exemplary customer service in accommodating their Indian customers?

The fun part was, though, watching all of the other foreign tourists get annoyed with the Indians who tried to cut in line at customs. I think I've decided that the customs counter in the Madras airport is the only place where having white skin is not an advantage-the Indians go through much quicker than the foreigners do! (Yes, yes, I know the opposite is true when I hit customs in the US!) :)