Day 51 – Chennai, India

Oct 18th

Kapaleeswarar Temple
With the “family” reunited on board, we gathered for a quick breakfast of Cherrios and OJ before disembarking for our last day in India. Amidst the hustle of rickshaw drivers trying to get us to choose them as our driver, Logu emerged as the victor! He spent about 30 mins telling us he would be our driver for the day, and all we could do was consent to make him shut up. First, we endeavored for cultural emergence by visiting the Kapaleeswarar temple in the district of Mylapore. It was a beautiful Hindu temple with multicolored figures adorning all the highly-tiered roofs. We had to remove our shoes before entering, and were not allowed to enter the actual sanctuary because we were non-Hindus. Sara pointed out the mini Shivas that they dress up each day in new outfits and jewelry. A group of people were chanting and walking in circles around them. Even through we weren’t allowed to take pictures, I have become an expert at shooting from the hip and got some great shots. Christina was a little scared I might get arrested or 30 lashings, but I took my chances. Afterward, Logu tried to convince us that the bazaars were not open at 11AM on Saturdays and instead took us to two separate shops (scams) were he had agreements with the owners to bring tourists. None too pleased, we finally convinced him to take us to a bazaar to walk around.

Bazaar and Lunch
For the afternoon we wandered around shops at Spencer’s Bazaar, looking at pashmias, kasmir blankets and Indian trinkets. For lunch, we eat at Sangeetha Veg in the Egmore district. Goldie, Sara and Becca wanted me to order for the table, so I got us a round of banana lassi (yogurt drink) to celebrate our last meal in India. After some debate over what means what (and realizing we didn’t understand any of it), I got us butter nan and paneer (cheese) stuffed nan, along with three dishes: dal fry (yellow lentil stew), chenna masala (chickpea stew) and koftha (?). What made it more difficult was the waiter’s wobbling “yes” that I thought meant “no” the whole time. Once we finally got our meal, we were delighted with the dishes and savored ever last curry-soaked drop.

Back to the Explorer
The ride back to the ship took much longer than expected due to a huge political rally for a fat, jolly man whose face was plastered over every possible street corner in Chennai. We caught up with a bunch of SAS kids, and encouraged our driver to a race with little avail seeing as we moved a few feet every so often. Once back on the ship, we showered and spent the rest of the day chatting about our adventures with friends. Most students had mixed reviews about India, but all in all I felt like it was a great experience.

Highs and Lows
My “high” was watching the current America’s Next Top Model on Marg’s laptop, since her mom sent her a recording of it in a care package. (It was the first time we were excited to see commercials!) My “low” was realizing Pepto really does make your poo black.