The Trident, Chennai Chennai (Madras)

... is serious business!

The first evening was spent as an induction........and at 7pm the silence and seperation of sexes began...........the next Morning DAY 1 would start with an alarm calling Bell at 4am.

I had my own room ......so i spent that induction evening with my mind thinking things through.............as part of the induction we had just spent 2 hours meditating in the Dhamma hall..........i was already becoming concerned and we hadn't even started the course proper ...

It's Saturday morning and we went to the office to review and help out with night settlement. We brought the team breakfast from the hotel snce they had been working all night. After we left the office we went and meet with Divya and Aarti (her sister) at a mall called city centre. We went to lunch at a really nice Indian restaurant in the mall. After we ate we drove around Chennai and went to a couple of indian shops to purchase some ...

... the British Raj, and as such was not built with grandiose plans and displays of superiority or royal prowess as many other Indian cities. Nonetheless, there was an air of optimism, and the upwardly mobile now flock to the city and its booming manufacturing and information technology industries. This was evident by the variety of India to be found here, as well as clear and outstanding foreign influences and expat populations. But Chennai became a sad place as Sash and I, the ...

... with her rather than the other way around. I'll digress for a moment and describe the bulkhead row on the flight. I don't know if this is true on all long-distance Air France flights, but the entire bulkhead row was occupied by people with babies, and once we were at a certain altitude the flight crew attached bassinets to the bulkhead wall for the babies. It was really a cool touch. It relieved the parents of having to hold their child for an entire flight and ...

... and I've seen the Taj Mahal. I predicted India would be my favorite port and it has definitely lived up to my standards. These people, these places are the most awe-inspiring things I have ever seen in my entire life. When I return home I hope everyone asks me about India because there is just no way I could ever begin to explain the phenomena that is India.

... to be as direct with photography. There were so few people around that it was eerie. I walked down the beach in near solitude (am I in India?), looking at the many giant tanker cargo ships settled on the horizon waiting for an opening in port. You could pack a landfill or two with all the trash on the beach, tragically enough. I found a suitable place to stop and read one of the dozen books I am currently reading, by C.S. Lewis, a great mind. I glanced up ...

... world. In many more ways than this, I am changed. I don't mean to be redundant as I have mentioned this before. But I am in awe because even I did not expect to be this much affected by my adventures. The Mark Twain Quote speaks for itself; which is why I believe the world would be much more harmonious if we all took some time to travel. What's more, we should take the time to see, to truly see.

... person, busted open sewer drain, cow, tout (keep walking)... - bollywood film - history of the godfather - rich boy grows up, demands emancipation, dances, cuts loose with gang of friends, gets into adventures with improbably attractive (thanks ben) women, dances, gets engaged, dances, goes nuts and attacks fiance's family, gets admitted to hospital for multiple personality disorder and selective amnesia, dances, evil twin revealed, flashback to evil twin ...

Checked out of Royal Orchid Hotel in Bangalore and went to Divya's house for Brunch. Today Arun and I had to catch a train from Bangalore to Chennai. Chennai will be the final city to see on my trip. Though I will be back in Bangalore in 3 days for the wedding. It has been nearly 2 weeks since I have been away travelling. It has been quite an experience. Not as bad as I thought it would be. Still eye opening, especially the poverty the country ...

... into several homes. They were so welcoming and excited to show us their homes. They met us with such love and kindness, so proud of the very little they had. When tsunami hit it struck the village and the women described how they ran from the wave and luckily no one was killed in their village, but the waters did great damage to their homes. The roofs of all the houses I visited leaked. The roofs were made from palm leaves and the stoves were all outside and inside all there ...