Monday-Thursday, Aug. 1-4, 2011

It came pretty unexpected that I booked a flight for Chennai on Monday night. I was feeling a little under the weather last Thursday and didn’t do much. I emailed one of my long time friend, Muthu Kumar whom I met when during my last year at Berkeley. We both took first year Sanskrit together and I haven’t seen him since ever since I graduated. One word to describe Muthu is that he is, like most Indian that I know, is an overachiever. The guy has a PhD in physics and mathematics and was a lecturer at Princeton University for five years I think. When I met him, he was pursuing a second PhD in something related to Indian studies. Well anyways, I was glad that he returned my email saying to call him so that we can meet up. I actually didn’t plan to travel to Chennai. My flight on Wednesday midnight was to Bangalore...and I wanted to hang out with Pratap, Shilpa’s brother in and around Bangalore. Then again, when Muthu replied,  I thought that I actually know three ppl there: Muthu, Prasanna, and Avanti. I booked my flight at the last minute which cost me quite a bit but was well worth it.

It was a 11:10 pm flight and I got to Chennai by 1 am...spent a fortune for a private taxi to take me to my hotel. But the most important thing was I got there safely. The weather in Chennai was pretty bad and I think it’s kinda like that year round. It was hella humid and the temperature hovers around 34 degrees which is like in the top 80s and low 90s. You add that with bad humidity and everyone sweat, Indians and especially me.

Even though I know three ppl there, I didn’t want to spend my entire trip in Chennai only. I was thinking of leaving by Friday the latest...because I had to catch a flight in Bangalore on Monday at 6 am. I also wanted to go to Mysore and see what ppl were raving about the sandalwood carving that the place is famous for.

I hung out with Prasanna on Tuesday evening..we had dinner and went to a shopping mall because really that is the best place to cool down. The place is too hot and humid to do anything else really. I learned from Prasanna that he was getting closed to finishing up his studies and that he was thinking of going to business school but he worries about his grades. Otherwise, he would find a job...he studied computer science and his sister is married...dad works in Kanpur and mom lives in Chennai. What really is amazing about him is that he knows like four languages. We had a great time.

Prasanna and I having a little bit of a snack in a very nice mall

Some really magnificent temples in Chennai.

It's very different from the north.

On Wednesday, I hung out with Muthu for several hours in the afternoon. Muthu maintains a strict routine schedule every day. I had lunch with him at about 12:30 and I met his beautiful mom and dad. His mom is 75 and dad is 81...Muthu resembles more like his mom...while his elder brother who works as a professor in Texas looks more like the dad. Now that Muthu is almost finished with his dissertation, I’m not sure what he has in terms of future plans. He lives in Chennai for over two years and I guess as a dutiful son, his plan is to take good care of his aging parents.
 

Muthu's mom.

His house with aunts and uncles.

 After hanging out with Muthu for about three hours, I went back home took a shower and met up with Avanti at a cafe at 6:30 where we talked for a few hours and grabbed a little bit of a bite. She didn’t feel so good after traveling for a month and eating so much greasy food, so she didn’t want to have too much. We just shared a small pizza and I gorged down a couple of sandwiches. We talked for about two hours and I learned a lot about her. I was just so happy to see her you know; she was so beautiful and sweet. I only wished that I could hang out with her more. I thought she would be back in Chennai by Monday night because I thought she was taking a flight from Delhi to Chennai but instead she was there Tuesday night. I flirted with her of course and I just felt that we both have some feelings for each other. I tried to convince her to at least come to Varanasi with me, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen. On Saturday she’s going to Aurangabad to attend one of her cousin’s wedding which is a low affair kinda marriage. Unlike many ppl, I don’t think Avanti believes in going broke for marriage ceremony. She believes in the sanctity of marriage and that it should be fun and all but it shouldn’t be too lavish and wasteful. I was really glad to hear that. This wedding of her cousin will be a low key kinda thing...signing of a marriage contract and then there will be a two day trek to the Ajanta & Ellora caves, I think. I also flirted with the idea that she should at least travel to California in December where I would have two weeks winter break. She seems to like the idea but told me that she’s been traveling too much and now that she is finished with school she needed to start thinking about finding a job. She’s only 22 years old and I am already 27. She told me earlier that she wanted to work for a few years and then probably go back to school...she never said she wanted to get married anytime soon....which is totally understandable. God, I luv this girl. I think it was pretty clear to her that I have some feelings for her...and it’s pretty clear to me that she also has some feelings for me.

We parted, both taking different auto-rickshaws because we were going in different directions. It was kinda awkward because I forgot to hug her and then she reminded me when she tried to hug me or at least came close to me and put her face close to mine, not sure what she was trying to do. But when I saw that, I gave her a nice big hug and a little smooch on the cheeks which is very very uncommon here in India. There is no public display of affection here in India. I think she was a little surprised when I hug her so closed to me. But it felt so good, knowing that it might be the last time we’ll see each other.

On Thursday, I went to Mamallapuram which is about an hour and half drive from Chennai but with traffic about two and a half. At first I almost couldn’t go because no one signed up for the tour except for me. I had to convince the tourism office to let me at least buy 5 tickets so that I could go on the tour knowing that it would be my last day in Chennai. There’s a saying in India that one ought to treat guests like a god and so I was able to book a tour to Mamallapuram on an empty AC tour bus all by myself. I only had to pay the price of 3 tickets but I gave the guide and driver a nice tip. I mean it was quite a bargain...there were some beautiful stone carvings and a huge boulder.

The sea-shore temple

I also wanted to get some souvenirs but since I’m a tourist they really tried to rip me off quite a bit so I didn’t bother. Most of the red stoneware were priced five times higher for foreigners than it is for locals. If I could have bought it for about 1000-2000 rupees I would be pretty happy to haul back a 5-7 lbs statue...but they really didn’t want to bargain. Those guys wanted to sell it for 6000, so I didn’t bother.

After I got back to Chennai at about 6:30, I wanted to hang out with Avanti one last time, but she was busy shopping for the upcoming wedding so I ended up having dinner by myself before I headed to the train station for the trip to Mysore. I was a little torn inside; however, this trip really clarified a few things for me. Yolanda was right all along. She said that when I go to India, I will probably change my mind and will eventually decide to get married despite my protest and skepticism about marriage in general. But one thing is clear to me now. I would like to get married in the next couple of years--whether it’s to an Indian woman or someone else, let fate decide on that one.