Fire at Spencer's Plaza Resolved: Middle Class Can Now Get Back to Consuming!

This morning I made my way over to Spencer's Plaza. I heard last night that by this morning it would be open after the "major electrical problem" and "fire" of yesterday. Sure enough it was open and let me tell you, business was booming. Apparently people were making up for lost time. I've been to Spencer's before, but I've never seen it this crowded -- and on a Wednesday morning no less. People were practically banging the doors down to spend their money.

I had the best thali meals I've ever tasted at the Saravana Bhavan in Spencer's. Too bad that this chain isn't in Madurai. I visited "Food World" which has undergone an complete overhaul since the last time I was there. They now have an "American kind of store" within it, a "Dollar Store" as they call it, where "everything is guaranteed Rs. 99!" You walk in and it looks just like a dollar store in the States. Problem is, nothing is a dollar!!! They should call it "Two-and-a-half dollars store" cause that's exactly what it is. It would appear that when people have got money to burn around here, a one hundred rupee note has become the new single.

Spencer's Plaza, Chennai

'Maison Des Gourmets' !!! A special treat for Julie Cousin.

Julie, if you come to India I'll buy you a 'Strawberry Lindt Truffle' for Rs. 95!

"Sap-vee"

i-Pod has made it to Chennai now

People couldn't spend their money fast enough in Landmark

Word is spreading fast...

...that I am headed to Madurai soon, apparently. I just got an email from my former Tamil professor in Madurai who indicated that "everyone in Madurai" is saying that I am coming soon. Furthermore, people are already deciding where I should live. This is both good and bad. There are going to be some politics involved, for sure.

Today I was going to go to Spencer Plaza, which is the biggest mall in town. Turns out it caught on fire and is closed. I ended up going to Fab India way out in Anna Nagar. I got ripped off by the auto guy but what else is new?

Saw a sari exhibition today. This weavers cooperative is holding an exhibition and contest in which people from all over T.N. have sent in their heirloom saris, some of which date back more than 100 years. Those chosen for the exhibition receive Rs. 2000 ($50). One woman in Massachusetts even made a submission over the internet by sending digital photos. Check out some pics of the exhibition below.

Some of the selected saris

circa 1948

100-year-old sari

Sari from 1954 (during period of rapid economic development) with an interesting pallu:
It features cars, trains, and airplanes with a temple and mosques in the center.

Some treasures from the Government Museum, Chennai

Today I ventured out for the first time. Yesterday I had high hopes, but I accidentally passed out for about 12 hours. I woke up at 6:30 PM; it was dark and I was totally confused.

This morning started at 5:30 a.m. At least I managed to sleep 4 hours last night. This morning I had some Tamil chats with some guys in the restaurant, then with the woman at the travel desk who has booked a flight to Madurai for me on Thursday. The Tamil is coming back and I'm feeling less shy about it. I'm very glad to be staying at the Hotel Pandian again. It's expensive for what you get, but the staff is so friendly and helpful that it is worth it. One of the guys who works here told me that when he sees me next year I should definitely be married by then and should have a couple of kids to boot. HA! I appreciate the concern but I'm not sure I can oblige on that one.

Today I ventured to the Government Museum. Certainly one of the best museums I have ever seen in India. It has a very impressive collection of stone sculptures, bronzes (in a very glitzy A/C showroom!), as well as a natural history section with a huge collection of stuffed birds. Because it's one of the best museums around, there weren't that many hysterically funny exhibits as is sometimes the case. Nevertheless, some of the exhibits did not disappoint comically, and I'll share some of the more memorable specimens with you here.

My, what dusty eyes you have!

Detail of a 2,000 year old stone carving...

and the grafitti that Mehtab and Rizwan, among others, felt compelled to carve into it.

Turns out that the museum has an impressive collection of cattle horns,

as well as a number of different dismembered animal feet.

This is an elephant's foot, in case you were wondering.

I nearly bypassed this section on geological time. Good thing I stuck around, however, because I discovered one of the important developments of the Cenozoic era:
the ability to appreciate geysers.

"Natural Disasters": Here we have an absolutely terrifying picture of a tsunami.
I have no idea how this photo was taken.

Cosmic Nataraj

I hope you have enjoyed this virtual tour of the Government Museum in Chennai!

Back in India, and in one piece!

Well, hello. If you are reading this, you've made it to my "blog". I've decided to name it "Vellaikkaari" which means "white girl" in Tamil. I figure since this is my identity now I might as well embrace it. I've made it safely to Chennai in one piece. I'm staying at the Hotel Pandian, a very austere place with really friendly staff who remember me as the Madurai girl and only speak Tamil to me.

It's 2:30 AM and I'm not sleeping. I opened my laptop to discover that I CAN GET WI-FI IN THIS DUMP!!!? Seems that a lot has changed in 2 years around this place. I'm totally tripping right now. On top of it all, I'm watching TV -- some sort of Harrison Ford movie. Looks like I am definitely easing myself into it over here! HA! I'm not complaining. I've taken some pictures of the room, just to be more of a total nerd.

I'm feeling OK right now considering how hard it was to leave Philadelphia. I've never been more in denial of a trip in my life. I couldn't believe what I was doing. I considered aborting the mission and running away from the gate in Philadelphia but I thought better of it. It was about a 45 minute drive to this hotel from the Chennai airport. As I was looking out the window of the taxi it sort of felt like I was experiencing this place for the first time. There's always some degree of shock involved when you quite literally drop out of the sky and into this place.

I'm still in denial but am at least looking forward to a masala dosa in the morning.