An afternoon in Chennai

Oct. 17, 2006

I now had a 9 hour layover until I would catch my plane to Singapore. Again, I didn’t want to spend that much time sitting in the airport. This airport is very sparse, and it would make for a LONG day. So, I hired a taxi/tour guide to take me to the Oceanside resort of Mamallapuram. My drivers name was Auto, and he had very little English, but was really willing to play with the language barrier until we could figure out how to have conversations. The ride down the coast was unlike anything I had ever seen so far.

This piece of coast is far more developed in a resort kind of way. The beaches were beautiful and the wide open spaces along the shore were breathtaking. Auto showed me where the Tsunami had come, and told me the story of his experience with that life altering event. He had just driven a customer to one of these resort areas that morning, and as he sat at the hotel after dropping him off. Soon he noticed crowds of people running toward him and screaming. He was in a slightly elevated area and was able to look down and see the water rushing toward him. He could not figure out what had happened, and why there was water coming his way. He had never heard of a Tsunami, and stood in shock as the water came very close, but did not touch him. He also talked about how many people died, and how helpless he felt.

As we entered the coastal town of Mamallapuram we were charged an “entrance fee”. We were also charged every time we parked, entrance fees for every rock carving and park, and there were people selling drums, statues and necklaces at every turn. This little town was definitely a tourist spot, and they were hittin’ on me heavy to buy, buy, buy. I resisted until I was a approached by a young girl of 12 or 13 who had badly made necklaces. She was incredibly insistent that I buy, and followed me to my car. She was relentless and I finally caved. The instant I did I was surrounded by 7 or 8 women/girls all selling their own pieces of junk, all with babies, and all looking for a way to feed them. I had to wedge myself into the car as quickly as possible, and tell Auto to drive away.