It's almost midnight on my first night in Chennai. Unfortunately, I slept from 1:30 to 7 today, so I'm not at all tired. I think it's daytime in the States, so it could be a long night for me. Today included a maelstrom of emotions... and when I say today, I mean the last like 40 hours or so since I left Chi-town.
My flight was delayed a full hour an a half (Go Air India!), then we randomly stopped in Frankfurt, thus wasting more time (Go Air India!), finally resulting in me missing my connection flight from Delhi, India to Chennai (Go Air India!). They were nice enough to put me in a very nice Radisson Hotel (seriously, Go Air India!) and provide me with a great dinner. I finally arrived in Chennai this morning at 9 am.
Well, after the power went out last night, I'm now writing after have been in Chennai for over 24 hours. The power goes off pretty regularly. Sometimes, the power companies do it to conserve the electricity. To put my Econ minor to work, there is simply not enough supply to meet the demand. At my workplace in Royapettah (a different region of Chennai; think New York City with the boroughs), they have daily power shutdowns from 12-2 pm, which means that all work stops. Everyone plays a game from 12-1 and then eats lunch from 1-2. It really puts the "save energy" campaigns in perspective. It definitely makes you think about turning off lights and such.
We live in Ashok Nagar, a relatively middle class area and we had two or three random power outages. I can't imagine what the very rural lower class neighborhoods are like.
Last night was probably the worst night of sleep ever. I tried to fall asleep from 12-7 and finally fell asleep but was woken up at 8:30 for work. Well, power just went off again...
Power's back on. Luckily that was only ten minutes or so. Phew! Last night, I met a few great guys who are staying on the guys' floor of my hostel. I got to know Alex and Senthil best. Alex and I went up to the roof and just talked for a few hours. It was amazing. Alex is from London, studying music. He's taking a gap year and has been in Chennai for three months. Apparently, Chennai is a hotspot for Indian music. AR Rahman (Slumdog music) works five minutes away. It was fantastic talking to someone who could tell what I was going through. Senthil is from India and works for IBM. He's actually leaving for a few weeks today, but will be back. He gave me a few videos to watch about how India has developed over the past hundreds and thousands of years.
Today we got into work at around 11. The auto (which is a yellow three-wheeled taxi essentially) ripped us off and charged an extra 10 rupees (it was kind of my fault...). We were learning what everyone is doing and how they teach the children different subjects. They are taught math, science, and English after school, which is when we will help as well. Apparently, the closest village is approx. 3 hours away by bus. In the afternoon, we were learning about math, but I could barely stay awake. I'm trying all I can to not fall asleep right now, so that I can sleep well tonight, but I may have to succumb to a 30 min nap.
p.s. The title is meant to point out that India feels like a bunch of lines that you have to stand in. But not lines, they're called queues.
Also on another note, crossing the road in India is probably one of the scariest things I've ever done. They don't stop and everyone is constantly honking. It is the most chaotic thing I've ever seen. Bikes, Autos, Cars, buses, bikers, and people all trying to do the same thing and no one follows ANY rules...
My flight was delayed a full hour an a half (Go Air India!), then we randomly stopped in Frankfurt, thus wasting more time (Go Air India!), finally resulting in me missing my connection flight from Delhi, India to Chennai (Go Air India!). They were nice enough to put me in a very nice Radisson Hotel (seriously, Go Air India!) and provide me with a great dinner. I finally arrived in Chennai this morning at 9 am.
We live in Ashok Nagar, a relatively middle class area and we had two or three random power outages. I can't imagine what the very rural lower class neighborhoods are like.
Last night was probably the worst night of sleep ever. I tried to fall asleep from 12-7 and finally fell asleep but was woken up at 8:30 for work. Well, power just went off again...
Power's back on. Luckily that was only ten minutes or so. Phew! Last night, I met a few great guys who are staying on the guys' floor of my hostel. I got to know Alex and Senthil best. Alex and I went up to the roof and just talked for a few hours. It was amazing. Alex is from London, studying music. He's taking a gap year and has been in Chennai for three months. Apparently, Chennai is a hotspot for Indian music. AR Rahman (Slumdog music) works five minutes away. It was fantastic talking to someone who could tell what I was going through. Senthil is from India and works for IBM. He's actually leaving for a few weeks today, but will be back. He gave me a few videos to watch about how India has developed over the past hundreds and thousands of years.
Today we got into work at around 11. The auto (which is a yellow three-wheeled taxi essentially) ripped us off and charged an extra 10 rupees (it was kind of my fault...). We were learning what everyone is doing and how they teach the children different subjects. They are taught math, science, and English after school, which is when we will help as well. Apparently, the closest village is approx. 3 hours away by bus. In the afternoon, we were learning about math, but I could barely stay awake. I'm trying all I can to not fall asleep right now, so that I can sleep well tonight, but I may have to succumb to a 30 min nap.
p.s. The title is meant to point out that India feels like a bunch of lines that you have to stand in. But not lines, they're called queues.
Also on another note, crossing the road in India is probably one of the scariest things I've ever done. They don't stop and everyone is constantly honking. It is the most chaotic thing I've ever seen. Bikes, Autos, Cars, buses, bikers, and people all trying to do the same thing and no one follows ANY rules...
Sorry this post was all words. Pictures to come.
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