Sri Lanka and the Elephant Orphanage

 After spending 2 hours making our way through check in, customs and a short 1 hour flight from Chennai, Char & I found ourselves in Colombo, Sri Lanka.  There I had arranged to rent a motorcycle which was to be our mode of travel for the next two weeks.  This turned out to be a 250cc street legal dirt bike which when loaded with our gear and the two of us on I could just reach the ground with my toes.  I thought this was a bit of overkill, but Suranga, the very helpful man we rented from just said that not all of the roads in Sri Lanka were like the nice paved street outside his shop.  As we were to discover, this turned out to be true and there were more than a few times we were glad to have the big beast.

We wanted to see elephants while on our trip, so our first stop was the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage.  It was a beautiful morning as this view from our hotel room shows, but as soon as we got on the bike it started to rain nonstop for the rest of the day.  The orphanage has taken in about 80 elephants that have been orphaned or abandoned.  It has also become a major tourist attraction where people are allowed to get up close and personal with many of the elephants.  The elephants don't seem to mind, and even appear to like the attention, and the Mahouts are always close by.  Even the very protective adults guarding this nine day old allowed us to pet them and raised their trunk in greeting. The elephants have a large area to wander and seem to be well taken care of, so our overall impression was if the tourism pays the way for the animals it is worth any trade off for a more wild existence.There were also some sad scenes like this huge bull elephant that was chained tight inside a covered shelter with scars from his leg chains.  However, from what we saw of their treatment, this must have been a necessary restraint.    There was also the elephant on the right in this picture, leaning on the other who had lost a foot from a trap or land mine.  It was amazing to watch her as she shifted her massive weight to her hind legs as she limped forward on her one front leg which was permanently bowed from the weight it had to support.After feeding time the elephants were walked down to the river where they were free to wander, bathing themselves and rolling in the dirt.  We had a good laugh watching them slide down from the upper banks on their bellies.

Overall the Orphange was a great place to see many elephants, and they seem to be doing a needed service to abandoned animals.

That evening, still in the pouring rain, we made our way to our guesthouse in Kandy where we spent several days, and an attempt to dry out some of our clothes, which is not an easy thing to do in 100% humidity. 

Fruits & Vegies

One of the things we are enjoying about Southern India is the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables that are readily available year round in thousands of street side stands like this one. India is very careful about what they let into the country, and much of the produce is not genetically altered. In addition the fruit is picked ripe, resulting in much more flavor than what we are accustomed to. We are still discovering many new fruits, and will never know what all the different odd looking vegetables are, but we have learned how to cook Plantains.

Fruits and vegies are also very inexpensive. The haul of fruit here cost about 250 Rupees, or $5.00.

Of course with all the palm trees around here, we see plenty of coconuts. One variety is sold by the roadside, which the vendors open at the top for a straw to drink the juice. Here I am trying to break into the other "hard" variety that we are more familiar with.

Much of the population here is vegetarian, and cows are considered sacred, so we don't get much beef, and what we do get is definitely not grain fed! But chicken is generally available, though much smaller than what we see in the states. We also see a lot of fresh fish being sold at "fish markets", or from the back of a bicycle, but it's been hard for us to get past the smell and the lack of refrigeration to purchase any.

Char has three weeks off work over Christmas break, so we are spending a couple of them touring around Sri Lanka on a rented two wheeler. I'll be sure to take the camera........

Harry Potter

Char & I had our first experience in an Indian movie theatre this weekend where the new Harry Potter movie was showing.   After fumbling around with the online booking procedure, I was able to snag the last two available seats in town at a huge modern multiplex downtown.

I say experience, because the Indian audience is nothing at all like a US audience.  Our first clue was when the title came on the screen, a huge cheer went up from the crowd.  This was followed by another equally enthusiastic cheer when each character was introduced.  During the quieter moments, cell phones were going off, or someone would shout out an occasional joke or "poor Dobby!"  Overall it was more like going to a football game than a movie.  Fortunately the movie was subtitled, even though it was in English.  If it hadn't been we would have lost half the dialogue to the noise.  As we got half way through the film, it suddenly stopped and people started swarming out of the theatre.  We were a bit baffled at first until we realized this was an intermission and they were heading to the concession stand for drinks and snacks.

To say films are popular here would be an understatement, and movie stars have huge followings.  Indian movie production in Chennai is big business, being second only to Bollywood in Mumbai.  The films produced here are in the Tamil language vs. Hindu, but also have worldwide distribution.  The occasional glimpses we have had of these "Kollywood" movies is of nonstop fights with heroes rescuing heroines with impossible feats, or romantic scenes much like what you would see in a 60's musical.  But to be fair, I understand many films have won awards at international competitions.

So I'm left wondering if we'll be seeing the last in the series of Harry Potter movies in a subdued American theatre, our if we will be immersed in the midst of a very enthusiastic crowd.

Diwali School Festival

The PTA at Char's school is a very active organization.  The big event they put on every year is for Diwali.  Formal dress is required, which for the girls means having to figure out how to wrap yourself up in a Sari which consists of a blouse, tied skirt and a 5 to 9 yard length of fabric.  The fabric is then tucked into the top of the skirt, wrapped around, pleated in several places and then thrown over the shoulder, with or without a safety pin holding everything in place.  It is still the garment most women wear in South India, though we see a lot of Salwar-Kameeze outfits, and some jeans & t-shirts worn by younger girls.  Somehow Char did manage to keep from unraveling even when we got out on the dance floor. 

Formal dress for the men is much easier.  The traditional outfit is a Salwar-Kameez, but most men wear a western office type shirt and slacks.  Many of the men however wear a Dhoti, which is a short or ankle length piece of  fabric wrapped around the waist.

There were some beautiful Rangoli patterns made with colored rice, flour and sand drawn in the entry.  Women create these floor designs on holidays to welcome the deities and guests, and bring good fortune. 

There was a large Indian buffet set up, with lots of rice, potatoes, vegetable "stews" (curry type dishes), curd, and Tikka (spiced) chicken.  My favorite was the ice cream that took three men to make on a large stone drum.  One turned the crank, another dribbled cream and squeezed out the juice of fresh fruit onto the cold stone, while another scooped it off into a cup. 

The Dandiya dance is a traditional dance with sticks that you clack together by yourself or with a partner.  It can be pretty impressive in a well choreographed group.

Of course no Diwali festival would be complete without another half hour of very impressive fireworks.

Chennai Traffic going to Pondy Bazaar

I have previously mentiond that the traffic is one of the first things you can't help but notice in Chennai. I found this video on youtube that is pretty typical of an auto rickshaw trip in moderate traffic, much like Char's commute to school every day. Of course, video is nothing like being in it with horns blaring all around you and the occasional cow or 2 wheeler (motorcyle) coming at you the wrong way. Bear in mind also if there are lines on the road, they are totally ignored with people darting into the tiniest openings. Note the women often ride sidesaddle and miraculously manage to stay on their perch most of the time. It's amazing what we see on the small motorcyles. There are often 4 or even 5 family members on one bike, with the next to youngest on the tank, holding onto the mirrors and the baby squished between her mother and sister, sound asleep.  We also see motorcyle drivers or passengers carrying all sort of objects from TV's to ladders.  When it rains, the passenger is often holding and umbrella over their heads.  A lot of chickens also get delivered, dead or alive, to market hanging and stacked on all sides of a 2 wheeler.
The amazing thing is that it all works somehow, flowing along most of the time about 20-25 MPH, faster on the better arterials. The #1 rule I have learned is, don't look back, grab every inch of space you can and just keep moving.
By the way Char and I both wear helmets!

Diwali and a near miss by Cyclone Jal

We first started hearing the fireworks a week ago, and I don't mean the little firecrackers and sparklers we see in the states.  These were M-80's and major pyrotechnics that you see at organized fireworks shows that anyone could buy at the many fireworks stands that had sprung up on the streets.  People were gearing up for Diwali.  By the 4th day of the holiday the firecrackers were nonstop all day starting at 5:30 AM.  When night fell on the city, it literally exploded with people setting off major fireworks from every street and rooftop in this city of millions.  The next day and night were a repeat, but incredibly even more intense.  We began to get a sense of what it must be like to be in a city under siege. 

Of the many Indian holidays Diwali is probably the most celebrated in South India.  People take the day off and visit family, exchange presents and light clay candles around the house.  Diwali marks the start of the Indian lunar calender new year and it also celebrates the return of the legendary prince Rama to Ayodhya.  His story is one of many that is interwoven into the Hindu religion.  Char and I are currently reading a recently rewritten version of the Ramayana (Rama's story) by Ashok Banker, which is a great read, very much like reading a Tolkien story, complete with monsters, gurus and witches.  Be warned though, the whole story occupies 6 volumes.

After the 5th day when the fireworks had finally died down to a trickle we heard of Cyclone Jal which was heading straight for Chennai.  Fortunately by the time it hit it had lost most of it's strength so not much happened here other than a few broken branches and some fairly heavy rains.  But this morning is beautiful, even cool (75F), cool for here that is!  The other good thing to come of the storm is they cancelled school, anticipating the worse, so Char gets the day off!

NYC 100 years ago

I picked up a book the other day in Char's classroom titled "If You Lived 100 Years Ago". It is a children's book about what life was like in New York city. As I turned the pages I was shocked to see all the parallels I see in every day life here. People buying most of their produce from street stands, and many wandering tradesman with their particular call collecting used paper, the knife grinder with his portable wheel, the umbrella repairman, or the coffee vendor on his bicycle. The descriptions of some of the tenements reminded me of some of the poorer, more crowded areas of town. The beach scene in the book could have been painted at Chennai, women wading in full dress, the men jumping into the water in their pants, not to mention the high wire act and the hand cranked carousel. As the list of similarities grew with each page it came to me that I was in some respects living that life from yesterday. The difference of course is that India has it's other foot in the modern world we know in the US. Everyone has a cell phone, many people have motorcycles or cars, computers and TV's are common, people can shop in a modern mall, electricity is pretty reliable and modern high rises are popping up everywhere. I think the most important difference is the population as a whole is very well educated. This blend of old and new make for a very interesting mix! One of the most refreshing things for me to see is that the vast majority of businesses are small family run operations, though some larger chains are starting to pop up. I can envision a future India much like the US where mega corporations control most of the markets. (Coca-Cola has a huge business here selling bottled water)

I was also struck with the descriptions of the dirt and garbage in the NY streets one hundred years ago. The amount of litter and the pollution of the waters here is one of the hardest things for us to adjust to. There is some awareness of conservation and you see signs here and there about keeping Chennai clean and green, but it seems like an impossible task against the sheer number of people, and the often inadequate sewer and garbage infrastructure. Perhaps the larger problem is the apparent disregard by many for their surroundings. Men will stop to piss anywhere they please, people toss their litter onto the street and the many loose dogs and cows don't help.

The book also alluded to the idea that 100 years ago in New York people were generally much more focused around their families and extended families. Family members depended on each other for survival. This too seems like a parallel from what I have observed, family comes first, and often grandparents are involved.


It is my hope that India is able to keep the important values and culture it cherishes and learn from and avoid mistakes made by other industrialized nations as it leap-frogs into a new era.