When you arrive in India - the HEAT, HUMIDTY and POPULATION density are the immediate things you notice. You can't help it... it's IN YOUR FACE everywhere you go! Chennai is at a lattitude of 12 degrees or so above the equator (Panama City, FLA is about 30 degrees north).
The people I dealt with are generally very pleasant, friendly and eager to help. The population as a whole is well intentioned - but there are some "quirks" in this region you need to understand.
1) It is a caste society - meaning very specific, structured social classes that are rarely if ever crossed exist. If you are born into one of the low castes... that's it. It isn't like America - the land of opportuity to pull yourself up by your boostraps... and the upper castes talk down to and treat the lower ones as if they are sub-human. It's hard to witness. They say it is getting better - OK... I can only imagine life when it "wasn't better".
2) When they are agreeing with you, they shake their heads from side to side (like how we indicate "no"). it is VERY confusing and distracting when you are trying to explain a complicated financial/legal transaction like I was doing. You are talking along - looking to them to see if they follow you, and they are all shaking their heads. You stop to make sure they understand? (yes) Is what you're saying wrong or not allowed? (It's fine!)... this is how the agree as you talk. Very, very hard to get used to!
3) There is a "poverty mentality" - and many of the basic things we all assume as fundamental things simply are not over there. It's difficult to explain the basic thought process being so different, but it is. Hard to wrap your mind around because from birth, we are conditioned to think a certain way - which can be different to other ways - but because we know it from birth, we don't even realize that we are "programmed" that way. As basic as "trash collection" (which really doesn't exist from what I can tell in most of the areas of India I visited)... you dump your rubbish right onto the street - for the "Rag Pickers" (super poor people) to sort through and collect whatever they can from it. Scraps of rubber, shards of broken glass, food scraps, etc. Imagine a month's worth of garbage piled up in the 90-120F heat! Pretty gross! The movie Slumdog Millionaire didn't exaggerate (might have held back!)
4) There are huge divides between rich and poor there. The split in the USA is trival compared to the millions and millions in Mumbai alone that live in the shack slums and live off picking through the garbage and begging... with the handful of super-rich and the splendor they live in. Unreal difference, and I feel fortunate that when I traveled there, I was in the "latter class" there. Our hotel was a simply amazing multi-acre 5 star resort complex in the middle of the city, surrounded by slums. You forget where you are, until your car pulls out of the complex into the huge throngs of people everywhere... and you see their living conditions, and can't help but feel bad about it. You want to help - but you can't. There are too many... and if you do give a beggar something - you will immediatly be swarmed by 1000 (no exaggeration!) more beggars... small naked children begging... old sick, crippled people... it's heart breaking.
Having said all that, there is a rich culture and heritage in the country. Amazing art and a few beautiful monuments, historic sites and the like. Again, the people are quite nice, despite their situation... and the FOOD IS INCREDIBLE!
The food could cause a 20 page blog alone. Such strong and amazingly different flavors, textures, sights and tastes. Some so simple, some complex! I was quite adventureous with the food, and it didn't disappoint. Wow. The curries are all so different! The heat/spicy is so intense (sweating more than you already are there!), yet you can taste all of the complicated flavors.
Before arriving in India, I researched running groups - and found a very nice group in Chennai and also in Mumbai that helped me find places to run (difficult to find safe places in India to run!). I ran with the group of runners in Mumbai on a Sunday morning. What a great group! I ran 25k (the first 10K with another runner at my speed, the rest were 9-10min/mi pace runners). It was really a nice place to run along the Mumbai coast (actually along the Mumbai Marathon course) and they had guys on scooters with water to support the runners along the way! That was great! (Except that I took some, and drank it, and then realized a few minutes up the road that it was probably LOCAL water - and therefore a really bad idea to drink it!!). The heat and humidity were INSANE! Also, it was windy and monsooned a litte during the run, then the sun came out and evaporated it all back into the air again to make it even more hot and humid! You can see a picture from after my run of all of the water bottles I drank to rehydrate! That was a highlight for me - to meet a group of like-minded runners on the other side of the world and share the run with.
I did great from a "not getting sick" standpoint... until I made one mistake - the water from the guy while doing the run. I'm used to taking and chugging water during a race. This was the same scenario - except that this water apparently came from the contaminated local water source. A couple minutes after I took the big drink, I realized that this was probably a bad idea (funky taste in my mouth was the first clue...). Next day, I was SICK AS A DOG! The other possible contributing factor was drinking a lassi at a restaurant which probably also had local water in it. This was at lunch on the same day I was sick. Not sure which one did it to me... but both were gaps in judgement in an otherwise fully "on guard" trip. Oh well - I'm human I guess!
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