Chennai India April 12

India! Unbelievable, depressing, compelling, spellbinding, and incomprehensible all rolled into one. We arrived early into the port of Chennai, a city of 9 million people, only one to two miles from the heart of the city, but still a 20-30 minute drive by bus.

Right of way here is apparently determined by the size of your vehicle, therefore our bus had right of way, pulling directly out into the path of oncoming traffic either entering the roadway or turning at an intersection. Motor bikes, pedestrians, autos and Tuk Tuks everywhere. Horns honking constantly. Hot; very hot, and extremely humid.

Our drive into town took us by several of the city landmarks such as the High Court, Chennai Central Railroad Station, the old British East India Company fort, and others, but it was impossible to keep our eyes off the street life going on all around us. Small shops packed to every square inch of capacity with whatever that particular shop was selling; auto parts, clothing, food items, you name it. Small street side restaurants cooking up all sorts of take out food items, and every description of shanty lining every side street we would pass, none of which were pointed out by our guide.

And people; people everywhere, going about their business whether it was an old woman stooped over sweeping gutters with a short straw broom, or another woman hanging her wash along the railing of a fence bordering a roundabout at a busy intersection, or people sleeping on the sidewalks, cooking food at a makeshift campfire on the side of the street, or congregated in front of shops and on the crowded side streets.

We stopped at the Government Museum, where we visited the Bronze Gallery which houses India’s finest collection of bronze castings of Hindu gods, dating back as far as the 6th century. While we were there, a large group of middle school age students came through, all dressed neatly in their white school uniforms, and all very polite, pleasant and talkative to our group. A total contrast to what we had just seen on the streets.

From the museum, we were taken to a 5 star hotel in the downtown area, where we were let off to have lunch or to spend some time visiting the surrounding shops. The hotel, hidden behind a high wall and a locked iron gate, was another total contradiction to the life all around us. We spent some time strolling the streets, and taking in the atmosphere of the city before heading back to our ship, which our captain refers to as his “beautiful white lady.” But by this time, the white lady had turned gray from the coal ash spewing from a nearby coal fired power plant.

India is a striking contrast to other countries we have visited on this trip. In China, construction cranes were everywhere. In Chennai, we saw none. In China and in Viet Nam, we saw building, we saw progress, and mostly we saw happy people. In Chennai we saw poverty beyond belief, depression, and little hope of progress. Maybe Mumbai will change our impression. We’re hoping so.