Thursday, January 3, 2008

India: I love you but for no real reason just yet


after a flight debacle that resulted in an overnight stay in DC, I've arrived a full day late to chennai, where I'm staying with my friend Shona. I haven't left her apt yet and actually I've only been in india for about 6 hours, but I think I'm going to love this country because:

-- it's so humid here that the pages of my books are curling. I'll probably learn to hate it, but so far it's a nice change from the freezing chicago cold.
-- it smells really . . .raw. I don't know how to describe it, but it reminds me of the smells in the provinces of the philippines. sort of earthy mixed with rain and diesel and soap. yum.
-- the driving is chaotic and it's really fun as long as I don't die. it took me a few minutes to realize that everyone drives on the left side here, because my taxi driver was taking advantage of the empty streets and driving on the right to speed past gas trucks that had "flammable" marked all over them.
-- people everywhere -- my taxi driver got lost in the small neighborhood where Shona lives. at 430am, we asked 5 different people where her street was. that even beats NYC I think.

look for more halfway-formed opinions once I actually get off the couch and meet Shona for lunch.

2 comments:

ninjaclectic said...

Glad to hear you got in safe. Dan got your note. Great seeing you.

corazon francisco said...

Dad and I are thankful you got there safe