My first day in Chennai

My first day in Chennai. I must have sweated a gallon of water. After each of my two showers I was soaked in sweat within seconds. This is not a bad thing if I stay hydrated. The brightness of the sun lifts up one's mood and everyone seems so optimistic, despite the discomfort. The traffic is heavy with everyone out in the streets enjoying their day off. Where do they all go? To the temples, the beach, amusement parks (nothing fancy), tourist stops and restaurants. The city has tourists who come here to see the ocean. There is so much on offer at temples that seniors congregate there in the evenings. Yesterday I was at the neighbourhood temple where a religious discourse on one of our ancient literary Tamil texts was in progress. The average age of audience members was 80. Which brings me to a little titbit, a lot of folks are chugging along in their 80s and 90s - a few even touching a 100. Talk about optimism - I was also stupefied by the accounts of my mother's companion, a woman who works outside, but stays with mom board free in a mutually beneficial arrangement, and her pursuit of her second year of a bachelor's degree in Tamil, through distance learning. She must be in her forties and yesterday she had travelled 2 hours each way via public transport to check out the test centre for her exam in 2 weeks. She said there were 55 of them who went out, several of them working class women pursuing a higher education with kids, full time jobs and mothers in law. Impressive!

There is a lot sickness, poverty and misery that is not immediately apparent, but there definitely is some truth to the maxim promoted by many doctors today "make life a little harder", given how well folks thrive, despite all the odds.

I ate mangoes from the in law's yard and wore a string of jasmine in my hair, from our own jasmine creeper, strung together by the help. I watched coconuts being plucked, peeled grated and added to spinach and enjoyed the pleasures of wonderful home cooking.

I spent the afternoon chatting with my sister who came over to mom's for lunch and we got caught up. I fed the brood of crows by my mom's kitchen / all of whom she spontaneously feeds and hydrates to help them cope with the heat. I went to the temple with her and at the altar a woman, another temple goer, approached me out of nowhere handed me flowers, fruits, betel leaf and nuts and said "may your auspicious wishes be granted. May you live long and happily married". (What can I say - patriarchy!) She had singled me out for this benevolence - I was touched. It was a good start to my stay here.