Living in Madras - First Impressions

And now in Chennai..I'm liking it here. Though I used to live here, I'm awed by the 'discoveries' I've been making on the culture here. It's just so different from the north. Yesterday, I walked down the street from my hotel to find a restaurant to eat at. In my long walk, I found one with 'AC' (=upscale). The rest were similar to where I ended up having dinner: shop-front open, potbellied guy asks you what you want, lanky adolescent guy in an illfitting suit brings you a banana leaf, another plonks an assortment of chutneys on the leaf, while another finally brings out the main course, which you eat with your hands. And a meal fit for a king for a grand total of 18 Rs.

I dislike generalizations, but I still feel people here are less pretentious than in the north. Its still a very traditional culture. Most men are in lungis, most women in saris. My apartment search yesterday brought that point squarely home: I was getting antsy at not being able to find anything the first day, but it’s amazing what a little internet searching can find you. I called up this agent whose listing I found on a local website. He was unlike any of the other agents I had talked to: his English was very poor and heavily accented (Smita and Chris would have a field day with my impersonations of his accent :)), and his every third word was punctuated by the ubiquitous "madame". He said he had a few places; to be honest, I had my doubts but I thought, "why not". I was even more surprised when he walked into the lobby of my hotel to find me: barefoot, in a saffron lungi and with orange paste smeared across his forehead, I couldn’t believe that this guy was for real. Surprisingly, he had some good places to show me. But every place we went to, people could not believe – could not believe – that I was for real. "A kid" as one so adeptly put it. All of them stared at me and asked who the apartment was for ("why does she want to take this place alone?" they all whispered in tamil to my saffron-guide. Little did they know that my comprehension of tamil is far better than spoken). And what kind of a company was NABS? Why on earth aren’t there other colleagues -- what kind of a "professional" was I?

I kept my cool, though the final crossexamination (with the landlady of the place I decided to take) did get trying. I felt like I was in some strange 17th century timewarp. I guess I do make for a sketchy package on the whole. The landlady has not-so-subtly made it clear that there should be no partying, no 'strange men'. Hahah..little does she know :) (of course, I'm only *half*kidding;)) When I stammered, "what if my little cousin brother wants to visit from Ahemdabad?" she emphatically stated "you please ask him to stay in hotel wonly."
Ahh, it'll be interesting being here.