India: Initial Impressions

1. Humid
2. Filthy
3. Poor
4. Polluted
5. Kind of hot
6. Friendly People
7. Insane traffic and drivers.

These, of course, were just my first impressions as I stepped off the plane and made my way to Auroville.

The first thing that hit me was how amazingly humid it was as I landed in Chennai. Moisture was literally condensing on the exterior of the (cold from just being at high altitude) air-liner, and dripping off. It was obviously humid outside. As I stepped off the plane, it was even more obvious. Imagine a foggy day, only with no fog. Fortunately, as I made my way thought baggage claim and customs it was still a relatively comfortable temperature. As it turned out my luggage containing my clothing was stuck in the UK. My camera equipment made it though OK, thank goodness! As the day wore on, the temperature would rise steadily until about 4-5pm, at which point it became hard to think.

After making it though customs (if you can call it that), I wasn't quite sure what to do. My driver was supposed to be waiting for me, but I wasn't sure where he was. After hesitating a couple of minutes, I decided to leave the protective womb of the airport. I walked past the rows of drivers pitching me a ride until finally I found my driver. (I didn't catch his name, and I would have forgotten it anyway.) 3 hair raising hours later we would be in Auroville, me 1400rs poorer. Tell me any other country were you can get a 3 hour taxi ride for $31. Petrol here, BTW, is actually more expensive then the US, about $4 a gallon. My driver a little Diesel car of Indian manufacture. A Tata, maybe? I'll have to find out. Anyway, the car seemed just like what I imagine an Indian (or Russian) car would be like. But it did get us where were needed to go!

The trash in Chennai was saddening. It's very much like Mexico (the only other even remotely comparable place I've ever been personally), and I imagine most other developing countries. It seems like everyone must just drops trash and since it's nobodies job to pick it up, it just accumulates.

My drivers little diesel wasn't the only smokey car on the road. It seems like many cars are diesel. All the trucks and busses are diesel, and many of the motorcycles are two-stroke. I though LA had bad "smog". But let me tell you, it is nothibng compared to the perpetual cloud of diesel and two cycle smoke over Chennai. I was told that Chennai isn't even the worst. There are much worse cities.

There are probably traffic laws here, but I can't say that I witnessed any evidence of them. There don't seem to be any traffic lights or stop signs. Traffic can best be described as anarchy. Not COMPLETE anarchy. I mean, you are supposed to stick to the left. But it seems that many people don't even bother with that unless they is a good reason for it. (Say, like a bus or dump truck driving straight at them) The horn is an integral part of driving here. People use it like a bell on a bicycle, to announce their position... the only difference is that they do this at 80km/h. I tried to get some video clips to show the trafffic. But I seriously doubt that they can do it justice. I'll post them when I get the time. I rented a motorcycle. It's costing me 90 rupees ($2) a day. I've taken it to Pondicherry twice already. But that's only becasue I was hoping to get some cloths to cover me until I get my stuff. I'm going to avoid driving on the "big" roads if I can help it.

More soon!