Exploring Chennai

Friday 18th
What better way to begin a tour of traditionally Hindu South India than by offering a garland of flowers to be blessed by a Hindu priest? He returns the garland to Si, who made the offering, to hang in the tour bus. We're at Chennai's most impressive temple, Kapaleeshwarar, which is thronged with worshippers. Many practice the ritual of walking around the statues of deities nine times, both to honor them and for the worshippers' health - as our guide explains, rituals often serve a dual purpose. While they walk, people breathe in the fumes of the ghee lamps, said to be good for blood pressure. The temple is elaborately decorated - in stark contrast to the Christian churches that we see the next day.

Today is a prime shopping opportunity, since Janet and Viji know the best merchants in town. Near the temple, we stop at a store which is a treasure trove for silver and colorful jewellery. I fall for a blue stone and silver pendant on a cord, but later resist some fabulous blue sapphires which remind me of my mother's purchases of sapphires from Colombo. After lunch, we dive into a shopping center to buy silk scarves from Kashmir, and embroidered cotton tops and jackets. The men in the group go off to order tailor-made shirts, and Janet takes the women to Nalli, a vast emporium for buying sarees and lengths of fabric of all kinds. We can but admire the dazzling wedding sarees (some costing as much as $2,000), and enjoy seeing whole families choosing the perfect outfit for the big day. Nearly all the women we see around Chennai wear traditional dress - either sarees or the more modern tunic/pants/scarf combination. In Nalli, which is packed with shoppers on a Friday evening, I notice only one woman in jeans. Lengths of silk are very affordable, and many of us pick up a few before heading back to the hotel after a very full first day.

And it's not over yet: three more arrivals complete our party, and over dinner in the Taj's South Indian restaurant, we are treated to a performance of traditional music and dance - and get our fortunes told!

Saturday 19th

In 1640 the British negotiated the use of Madraspatnam as a trading post, their first foothold in India. Today we explore the legacy of three centuries of British influence. They were by no means the first or only foreigners to have an impact on the region. Our first stop is the Catholic Saint Thomas Cathedral, originally built by the Portuguese in 1504 and later rebuilt in neo-Gothic style. It houses the tomb of St. Thomas the Apostle, who brought Christianity to the sub-continent in the 1st century. Only two other cathedrals are built over the tombs of Christ's apostles - Santiago del Compostela (St. James) and the Vatican (St. Peter). Saint Thomas Cathedral is remarkably low-key by comparison.

Within the precinct of the original British settlement, Fort St. George, we visit a charming white-washed church (pictured here), the very oldest continuously-used Anglican church in Asia, notable also as the spot where Elihu Yale, the founder of Yale College, celebrated his wedding.

Fort St. George is not so much a fortress as a large encampment with a low perimeter wall. It's especially meaningful for Sugar, one of our group, because her grandfather served here as a physician with the British military. We are shown the hospital, an old colonial building, where he may have practiced, as well as the notorious 'Clive of India's' lodgings, and his portrait in the museum.

Ending our city tour, we head back to the hotel for lunch, then to drive south of Chennai along the coast. We make an afternoon stop at DakshinaChitra, a well planned attraction which brings together examples of traditional Tamil Nadu architecture in a reconstructed village. It's a showcase for local arts and crafts, as well as an educational experience. By now, we're longing to reach our home for the next two nights - a beach resort at Fisherman's Cove. There's just time for a swim before dinner!

Arrival in Chennai

I landed in Chennai at midnight, after traveling for 24 hours from New York. Exiting the airport into the warm night was a welcome relief after the last two months of frigid winter weather in New York. It's my first visit to India, and I'm on the advance team with the President of Concordia College, Viji George and his wife, Janet, to do some groundwork for the arrival of our party of a dozen travelers. We're all connected by living near Concordia's campus in the leafy suburban village of Bronxville, and will spend the next two weeks on a whirlwind tour of India and Bhutan, part of the College's Travel and Learn program.
Viji George is no stranger to Chennai, for the city (previously known as Madras) is his hometown and he is greeted warmly wherever we go. We begin the day doing some College business at Concordia's brand new India recruitment office. Maybe one of these schoolgirls in their flowing pink uniforms will be among our students one day!
At the office, we meet three local artists who'll visit New York this summer with a pilot International Artists Residency that we're setting up at the College. These three painters are very excited about the opportunity to exchange ideas, cultures, and techniques with American artists, and to see in New York City's museums the originals of some of the masterpieces that have inspired them - paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Monet or Gauguin. We're also looking forward to seeing their uniquely Indian interpretations of our American landscapes, and their sketches of our friends and family. Most of the five artists who've been selected for this program have never traveled outside Asia, so it will truly be a cultural exchange, and hopefully not too much of a culture shock!

After lunch at a Chinese (!) restaurant, Janet George and I scope out some of Chennai's main sights with the help of Pearl, who works for the government of Tamil Nadu and is married to Concordia's representative here. More on those sights when we visit them with the group...

I get some downtime for a moonlit swim in the outdoor pool at our hotel, the Taj Coromandel, and now await the late-night arrival of a few more of our group.