Savera Chennai (Madras)

... take it and started crying, but for the most part we kept it together. Tommy and I were not bothered too much by it, which partially makes me feel really bad about myself. I think part of it was that I prepared myself well for it, but then I think about maybe part of it is that it doesn’t personally affect me first hand, which makes me feel pretty selfish. Our guide gave us the smart advice to ignore the beggars as much as possible, and if we feel inclined to ...

... of life, and he inevitably relates to the world with a deep and uncritical love.<br><br>Meditation is a lot like cultivating a new land. To make a field out of a forest, fist you have to clear the trees and pull out the stumps. Then you till the soil and you fertilize it. Then you sow your seed and you harvest your crops. To cultivate your mind, first you have to clear out the various irritants that are in the way, pull them right out by the root so that they won't ...

This was a crazy day! We woke up this morning, went to breakfast in the ship's cafeteria, and discovered Les and Judy had returned from their awesome trip. I don't think I mentioned it before, but they went further south in India via an overnight train ride to a farm/family homestay. Matthew and Les wanted to stay on the ship today, and Les offered to hang with Barrett so Judy and I planned our "Girls day out" in Chennai. The plan was to hire a tuk-tuk to take us ...

... waiting for me in my hotel room as well as a massive chocolate cupcake that I ate for breakfast. Don't misunderstand. I love my home. I love my family. I love my country. Sometimes I even love my work (though the part I love happens to be the part that will be done in India). But I think we've forgotten a lot of the basic rules of society. For example, an Indian man that went to the US lamented that nobody there got him any gifts. I've received ...

After I said my farewells to Ram, Ramya, Neeru, Kripap and their family's I was put into a taxi (i think it was one) with two of Ram's Uncle who I'd vaguely met. I didn't know much about what was happening at this point in time, just that I was heading to Madurai with Ram's parents, even though they weren't in the same car. With all my belongings in the boot, we were taken down the mountain that was where Tirupati temple was, and taken to a hotel carpark. We all ...

... of me. With the exchange rates I'm barely spending anything anyway, but it's still fun to truly get the best deal. That evening we took a bus to Agra, India. I slept a good amount of this time, having missed the previous night of sleep. Then I arrived at a really nice hotel. It was kind of ironic. The last things I saw were dirty shacks and cows eating garbage on the side of the road, then I woke up to a beautiful hotel. The next ...

... to make some evaluations of India. One of my goals in coming to India was to study how they support the achievement of girls (like Alexa and Bella) and woman in what has traditional been a male dominating society. I say that knowing that India (And Israel, Britain, the Philipines, etc) has elected a female Prime Minister and the US has not. In general there are less girls in school than boys. Many of the classrooms we have seen have been lopsided (2 ...

... Bangalore in one piece but with too many bruises to count. We were kindly ****** around by many bus drivers and auto rickshaw drivers and eventually learned that there were no more buses to Pondicherry, we would have to travel 6 hours to Chennai and then get another bus to Pondicherry. The bus to Chennai ended up being 8 hours long, not 6, and we were then dropped in the middle of nowhere in Chennai. After hours of walking and trying to get at least one piece of ...

... The food was stirfried in front of our eyes and wrapped up in newspapers. But I can assure you : the food was delicious and we still haven't suffered from any major stomach problems. We finished the meal off with a couple of Kingfisher beers and enjoyed our last evening together with our hosts. Kingfisher is a pretty solid beer and handles itself well with spicy food - all the more amazing considering how light it sits on the palate.

... go back to the house first. We (in the Rickshaw) got a little lost on the way, and our driver didn't know where he was going, at one point we went up a ramp we shouldn't have, and we stopped on the side of the road, and the driver got out and pushed us backwards down the ramp to where we could go the right way, this would never be allowed in the States, but it was perfectly alright here. I'll say another thing about driving in India now. The horn is used very often, however it is a ...