India

Back to Australia – 9 April to 25 April 2020

After 28 days of lockdown in India, we flew back to Australia. We made the tough decision to head home and abandon our plans for the year. We are now in Day 6 of quarantine in Adelaide. 8 days to go.

Our last couple of weeks in India passed in the same familiar pattern. The local and state police in India were taking lockdown duties very seriously. Roadblocks were set up in the streets, and police were questioning everyone that ventured out. During the morning, locals could head to the markets and grocery stores to get supplies. But from 1pm, the streets were empty. A homestay at the back of us had a Belgian guy staying there. We used to see him from time to time. One afternoon, I saw him out in the field afar jogging.

The jogging field for the neighbour

This was a little strange, and apparently the neighbours also thought so. We received a call from our landlord at 7.30pm that night asking us to turn all the lights as police were in the neighbourhood asking questions. We really don’t know why Benny asked us to do this as we hadn’t done anything wrong, but we assume that Benny didn’t want the hassle of having to come over, open the building up and act as interpreter. The following day, Benny said that the police had carried out a door-to-door inspection of him and his neighbours. We were warned to expect a visit. We notified the High Commission and waited for the knock on the door, with all our official paperwork handy, but they never came. We had received a visit from the local police a few weeks prior, where we provided them with copies of everything, so we can only assume they realised that they had everything that they needed. The Belgian guy was gone for a couple of weeks, but we saw him again on our last day. We don't know where he was. 

Easter came and went. It was our first Easter without eggs, but I guess that's not what Easter is meant to be about. Luckily we found a new grocery store that delivered treats, and we were able to make the day a little special. 

The bunny found us!

Damien’s decorated egg

Look what the Easter bunny left!

Jess had a special day planned, and invited us to a movie session. She set up one of the beds to be a movie theatre, and snacks were provided.

Our invite to the movies

The movie theatre

Our days passed. Back then we still had a glimmer of hope that lockdown would be lifted, or at least relaxed a little. The murmur in the community was that this was unlikely. Some of the Indian states had already made the decision to extend, but the prime minister hadn’t made his official announcement yet. 

Our daily life was pretty good though. My favourite part of the day was sunrise and sunset on the roof. Some mornings if the wind was blowing the right way, the air had a salty scent from the distant ocean. The ‘murder’ of crows were always good company on the roof, as they monopolised the skies throughout the daylight hours.

Sunrise from the roof

Sunset from the roof

The ocean in the background, on the horizon

Benny waving to us from his roof!

Our final visit to the roof to watch the sun go down over Puducherry

But I miss walking in the fresh air. I miss climbing a mountain with the sweat beading on my brow. I miss shuffling on the footpath with music in my ears and good friends beside me. Maybe it’s time to head home.

The first charter flight was announced. It left Delhi on 11 April at full capacity, with 444 passengers bound for Melbourne. After this successful flight, two more flights were announced for 16 and 18 April, again leaving Delhi. These charter flights were arranged by a private group of people, with the Australian High Commission (AHC) providing assistance with required ground travel-related passes. The AHC couldn't endorse these flights because the airline that the charter group are using, Lion Air, had a crash a couple of years ago in a Boeing 737 MAX and the investigation is still ongoing. A minor technicality. The aircraft used for the Indian to Australian charters is an Airbus A330-343, and we figure that any issues with the airline would be fixed after an investigation. Wouldn’t they??

We were happy in our apartment, but there didn’t appear to be a reprieve coming anytime soon. And then the lockdown was extended until 3 May. At the same time as this announcement, a charter flight was offered from Chennai to Melbourne, departing on 19 April. We bought tickets. 

The next five days were charged with a mixture of energy. It was almost surreal. It was a relief that something was happening, but also tinged with sadness that we would be leaving. Puducherry is a beautiful town and we only had a week to explore it before being locked inside. And all our meticulous plans on where we would go and what we would see in the south of India were not going to happen. So close, but so far away.

Then we ran out of toilet paper. But Benny came to the rescue. I honestly think we could have asked Benny for anything at this time. Benny has been absolutely wonderful, but he's been getting a fair bit of grief from the neighbours about having foreigners staying. I think he was pretty relieved when we had a leaving date. He even bought ice cream for us. And toilet paper.

Mmm, butterscotch

Benny dropped us at the Puducherry bus station on 18 April to meet our bus transportation to Chennai. 

Travelling on the roads is not ordinarily allowed during lockdown so, armed with our travel passes from the High Commission, we received a police escort out of town. We crossed several roadblocks during our 3 hour journey to Chennai, but the official paperwork got us through. Buses filled with Australian citizens were travelling from all parts of the south to catch this flight. Some Aussies had a 12 hour bus journey with significant delays at roadblocks that required AHC intervention, but thankfully our bus ride was uneventful.

Police escorting our bus out of Puducherry

Cows on the road out of town, saying goodbye

We stayed overnight in the luxurious Taj Coromandel Hotel in Chennai. The only hotels operating were five star hotels, and the AHC negotiated a special price for these rooms ($80 per room x 2, including breakfast). It was very fancy, and we were pretty happy that the food delivery services were operating in Chennai. Dinner that evening was definitely an indulgence. We also ordered food for the following day for the airport, which was lucky as the midday flight ended up leaving at 3.30pm.

Taj Coromandel, Chennai

Two days before our departure, we received a message saying that accommodation in Melbourne for repatriates had been exhausted and that we would now be flying to Adelaide. Apparently a committee of Commonwealth and State officials meet in Canberra to discuss and approve repatriation flights. Factors such as hotel availability, Border Force personnel, come into play. Melbourne and Sydney have had their share, so our destination was changed to Adelaide.

Line up to enter Chennai airport

Whilst in line to enter Chennai airport, this fellow popped up (we think he was sleeping on the roof)!

Bye bye India!

View from the plane window

Hostesses on the flight in their hazard gear

Safety briefing

Sunrise on the plane

Jess and I on the plane - they borrowed this photo from our Facebook group (sneaky!)

And then we landed...

Us on the news at Adelaide airport

Camera crew outside Adelaide airport

In the name of social distancing, only twenty people were allowed on the bus from the airport to hotel, and we received another police escort for the drive. We are staying in two hotel rooms with interconnecting doors, and all meals are delivered. 

Inside the hotel room

We can’t go outside our door, but thankfully can receive deliveries. Jess was excited about the vegemite, and Damien was super excited when the carton of beer arrived!

Vegemite and Anzac biscuits!

Our delivery driver 

On our first night in Adelaide, we all slept very well. Jess slept for 17 hours straight, and Joe for 14 hours. Everyone from the flight received a test for COVID-19, and results today confirmed that the whole flight was NEGATIVE!

Damien getting his COVID-19 test

We are eating lots and not exercising, which is not ideal! There is an amazing gym in the hotel but obviously it is not open, so I had an idea. Perhaps we can hire the gym equipment? I made some enquiries and they offered us an exercise bike and some hand weights. The bike, a $7000 TechnoGym SkillBike, and the weights, were delivered on the same day. Our 12 day hire is $200 plus a cleaning fee of $100, which is expensive. But we can all use it, so we plug in our music or audiobook and pedal away while gazing out at the wonderful views of Hindmarsh Square.

The fancy exercise bike

The staff in the hotel are fantastic. We are the first quarantine group to stay here, and they are so accommodating and eager to help. This makes such a difference. Prior to us arriving, the staff were on stand-by. No customers at the hotel meant no work, so they are pretty happy to have us here. And extra happy when the COVID-19 results were all negative.

The hotel even arrange for a couple of local musicians (that usually play at the hotel on a Friday night) to do a concert for an hour outside, and gave us a bottle of wine to enjoy the show. 

Concert in Hindmarsh Square - great view from our balcony!

Apart from our deliveries, we have also received a couple of amazing care packages from wonderful people. Thank you! I think we will survive now...

We don’t know how we are getting to Queensland after this, but we’ll get there. One adventure ends, another begins.

Stay safe, stay inside.

 ***************************************************

Everyday life during lockdown in Puducherry 

– 27 March to 8 April 2020

Day 28 in Puducherry. Day 15 of lockdown.  

This time next week the lockdown will be lifted. Maybe. Although hopeful, we are not entirely sure this will actually happen...

However, we are still sane. Just. Seriously though, we are so lucky to have this big apartment. I think in this situation you need some sort of routine. Even if it is just getting dressed, making your bed, preparing breakfast and brushing your teeth. My saving grace is the exercise routine we do. We pound the stairs morning and night until sweat drips from us. It doesn’t take much for this to happen though, as it’s so hot! The doorman of the building must think we are crazy, but he just gives us a little tipple of the head each time we get to ground floor. Respite is the cool breeze from the rooftop of the building, which is a gorgeous spot to refresh, especially after the 37 degree day ends and the sun is setting. 

Sunset view from the roof

Boredom is part of our everyday, although strangely it seems to be getting easier. We humans are very adaptable. The kids (and adults) are using electronics WAY too much, but we are breaking it up with card games, reading, schoolwork and chores. And Netflix – thank goodness for Netflix! Life seems to involve moving from the lounge to the bed, and back to the lounge, to the kitchen table for cards, and the kitchen to prepare meals on the days that the deliveries arrive. For anyone looking for a good card game, I definitely recommend the Monopoly Deal card game. This is our favourite game and we spend hours playing!

We love this game!

When lockdown began, we wanted to stay informed of the local situation, so searched around for local community pages via Facebook and Instagram. One of the sites gave a list of about a dozen places that deliver food. This is an absolute necessity, and I think we have been in touch with all of them now! After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, we now have three regular vendors that we use every few days.

This delivery thing holds a degree of uncertainty and unreliability. We place the order either via the shop website and/or a WhatsApp number. Then we cross our fingers that it arrives, and that everything we ordered is there. 

LeMart provides our grocery items. With the current situation, only essential items can be delivered, otherwise the supermarket can get a fine. Even if we place an order that includes something deemed to be non-essential, ie. biscuits, jam, chocolate, it won't be delivered. The order is sometimes culled by two-thirds due to either the store being out of stock, or it being a non-essential item. There are so many things that are out of stock, I guess due to the absence of supplies coming over the border. It does get confusing though. Sometimes an order includes fruit juice and bread, or sometimes even Marie biscuits, but other times they just deliver rice, pasta, salt, herbs and spices. Maybe its not as complex as we think, and the order might just be pushed out the door with whatever they can fit on the scooter. These days we are getting low on toilet paper, but we can't find stock anywhere. Like I said, we just order and cross our fingers. A bonus is that in the absence of lots of treats, we are staying really healthy.

Our fruit delivery comes from Gratitude Farms and they are usually great quality.

Except for that sad day when the papaya must have been at the bottom of the bag on the delivery scooter, and it was so squashed it felt like a rubber ball! Luckily we have a juicer, so ended up with a delicious orange and red papaya juice!

We also saw on Gratitude Farm’s website that they make their own pesto and marinara sauce! We were probably a wee bit too excited when it arrived. When we first had the sundried pesto pasta, the kids said it was the best meal they had ever had. How soon they forget…

A lovely fellow called Azeez brings vegetables, eggs and paneer. Yay, frittatas for breakfast! 

Azeez delivering veg, eggs and paneer

Some goodies from Azeez

Breakfast frittata

 Some delicious fresh vegetables and delivery items

And of course, our lovely landlord Benny messages us every few days to see what we need. He brings us fresh meat (chicken and mutton), eggs, milk, rice and fruit. Tap water here is contaminated, so Benny provides 20L water bottles for drinking and cooking. The potable water is collected by residents from the local water station, at a cost of about 0.15c. It is funny to see scooters all over town balancing one, two or three water bottles on the bike, but probably a little dangerous going around corners!

Safe drinking water

We had a moment of worry a few days ago when our malaria tablets ran out, but Benny was also able to get us a top up of doxycycline from the pharmacy. We are mainly self-sufficient and don’t hassle him too much, but we are so lucky to have him helping us. 

The highlight of our day is when a food delivery arrives! We unpack, hoping that everything we ordered is there, then start cooking. There is no oven, so all meals are done via the stove top. However we do have a pressure cooker in the cupboard, which is our new favourite thing. Might have to invest in one when we get home...

Love the pressure cooker!

We can go from having almost nothing in the fridge, to all deliveries arriving on the same day. We did have one day when we were getting low, but luckily the deliveries arrived just in time!

Empty fridge

And with the limited choice of ingredients, there is a fair bit of improvising happening with the cooking too. Jess got creative and whipped up a mixture in the pressure cooker, and presented us with cheesecake cookies!

A few of our clothing items are starting to show signs of wear. The kids mentioned that a couple of things are getting holes in and need to be thrown away. How life changes, as this is probably what we would have done a few months ago! Or recycled them to the shed to use as rags. But not today! The little sewing kit came out and the holes were mended, albeit with the wrong coloured cotton. Who is up for the challenge of not buying any clothes for a year? Now I just need a lesson on how to sew…

Damien’s artistic flair is bubbling to overflowing! And his outlet appears to be drawing henna all over us (and himself!). Damien and Jess took a class at the local art centre a few weeks ago, so we had stocked up on henna. Fortunately, he is very talented and his scribblings actually look amazing.

I know there has been lots of media coverage regarding the stranded Aussies overseas in different parts of the world. I must admit that we are getting a little concerned with the COVID-19 numbers in India rising so fast. We are on the list to receive regular updates from the Australian High Commission (AHC) in India, but their priority at the moment are those in India who are not safe, don't have food or accommodation etc. This is definitely not us, so we play the waiting game.

Commercial flights to and from India (domestic and international) are not operating at present. Actually no transport is available - no buses, trains, private transportation etc. The Indian Govt have made concessions for countries to arrange non-scheduled flights to bring citizens home, and numerous flights have been carried out by other countries to evacuate citizens. Commercial flights were released by Air India and Qatar with dates after lockdown, but this has now been paused awaiting the outcome of a possible lockdown extension.

There is also discussion about a possible charter flight to evacuate Australians, and the AHC advised that although they '... are not in a position to endorse this as an option, we are actively supporting this group to make it happen'. We might end up back in Australia a little sooner than expected.

So we sit tight for a little longer, eagerly awaiting the announcement regarding lockdown. 

P.S. just as I was about to post this, something amazing happened! They gave us chocolate with our grocery order! Just little ones, but we are sooo happy. Small things…

Stay safe, stay inside

*******************************************************************

Locked down in Puducherry – 12 March to 27 March 2020

Three months. 

That's how long we have been away from home. We left on 27 December 2019 and the world was a very different place back then.

ACCOMMODATION

We are in the town of Puducherry (formerly known as Pondicherry), which is in the union territory of Puducherry (a bit like NY, NY – so good they named it twice). We are staying in a huge two-bedroom apartment with a kitchen, lounge area, balconies and washing machine. 

Our living room

View from the balcony off the main bedroom

The apartment is very secure and safe, with a guard and locked gate at the entrance. In the building there are three apartments the same size as ours (one on each floor), and on the top floor are two single rooms. We booked the first 4 nights through Airbnb (AUD $70 per night). Now we are going directly through the landlord and paying AUD$55 per night. We are the only guests at the moment.

Our Puducherry stay was meant to be 4 nights, then we were moving south and on to Kerala. As the cases of COVID-19 escalated, including the numbers in Kerala, we decided to reassess.

We initially extended our stay by an extra week. We have now been here for 16 days. We are in day 4 of lockdown, and counting…

Puducherry means ‘new town’ in Tamil. The history of the town bounced between Dutch, Dane and French settlers, and the French settlement for a couple of hundred years had a big impact on this town. The French officially left in 1954, but there still remains a strong community of about 5,500 French people living in the city. This influence is very apparent with the number of bakeries and restaurants in town, which we love!!

The baked goodies in Le Petit Four

Hot chocolates and sweets after our early morning walk along the beach

Enjoying hot chocolates and mini meringues

In our first week in Puducherry, we did lots of exploring on foot, and also hired scooters for one day, driving through the surrounding countryside and villages. We have kept our contact at a minimum, wearing masks in shops and not eating at restaurants. For our daily main meal, we were taking advantage of the local food delivery service Swiggy for yummy Indian food from a multitude of different restaurants – omg, the curries are delish!!

Locals getting photos with Joe, when we first arrived

 Rock Beach (yes, we both still have pink hair)

 Streets of Puducherry

Markets in the Heritage Town 

Jess enjoying a cup of sweetcorn kernels 

The disgusting stinky river/rubbish tip that flows through the town and out to the ocean 

(there is a reason that swimming not allowed in the ocean) 

Fish market 

The buildings are so colourful! 

Local fruit and veg markets

Botanical Gardens

Especially in the early days of arriving in Puducherry, we were obsessively obtaining as much information as we could about the coronavirus. We woke each morning to check the worldometer, watching the numbers increasing around the world. The news of the world was trickling to us. We were hearing about mass gatherings being banned in Australia, and major events and performances being cancelled. Politicians and celebrities around the world were testing positive for the virus. We read that Indonesia was suspected of not reporting cases, and had a moment of concern as we had just been there!

Then India made the decision to suspend all tourist visas from 13 March to 15 April. We arrived in India prior to this, on 6 March, so we were ok to stay. At the same time, the Indian government imposed a 14 day quarantine on anyone arriving from or having visited China, Italy, Iran, Republic of Korea, France, Spain and Germany after 15 February. Again, we were ok.

Puducherry seemed like a good place to be, as COVID-19 cases in the district were very low at only 1 case at the time.  Do we stay here or do we go back to home??

Again we were keeping a close eye on Australia, and were aware that local sports were being cancelled, ANZAC day services cancelled, uni lectures stopped, supermarket shelves stripped. We were feeling lucky to be in India and not part of the craziness.

Then on 17 March, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trading (DFAT) issued travel advice ‘…recommending all Australians abroad who wish to return home amid the COVID-19 pandemic should do so as soon as possible via commercial flight’. DFAT was warning travellers ‘…that they may not be able to return home at a later stage with more countries closing their borders due to the rapid spread of coronavirus’.

We watched as panic erupted at international airports with people scrambling to get flights home, sleeping at airports for days as they couldn’t get a ticket, and flight prices being escalated.

As we don’t need to be back in Australia until December, we made the decision to sit for a bit and not panic. We still don’t know whether it was the right thing to do, but we are safe here in Puducherry.

On 17 March, we sent an email to Australia’s DFAT via the smartraveller email address, however to date, have not received a reply.

We also contacted the Australian Consulate-General in Chennai, India to let them know we were here. Chennai is quite close to where we are staying (4 hrs drive). The staff at the consulate were amazing and responded to us quickly and efficiently. We have since communicated with them via email and phone, and we been given office and mobile numbers for three officers so we can get hold of them anytime of the day or night.

On 20 March, Indian PM Modi announced that India would be imposing a ‘Janata’ curfew for one day (22 March) to ‘.. practice self-curfew on Sunday in an effort to curb the spread of the deadly disease. The PM also requested people to come out of their respective homes at 5pm, and appreciate those working in essential services by clapping and ringing bells’. On the same day as this announcement, Bondi Beach had 20,000 people enjoying the sun on the beach, and the following day cruise ships being given permission to dock in Sydney, with 2647 passengers released without quarantine restrictions.  

We were in a dilemma. Australia is home and felt like it should be the safest place for us, but how could it be? India has closed borders and announced curfews, and Australia (as a nation) didn’t seem to be taking it seriously.

Over the coming days, our decision was ultimately made for us. The Indian govt imposed section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and issued a nationwide curfew from midnight on 24 March until 31 March. This curfew meant that anyone in India was only allowed out for one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening to buy essentials. Puducherry went one step further, and imposed a total ban on anyone leaving their home for the first four days (25-28 March), other than emergencies. Anyone violating faced up to one year imprisonment.  During this four days, the only thing open in the town would be the pharmacies. I made an early morning trip to the supermarket on 23 March to stock up on our food supplies.

That same day, one local policeman knocked on our door and politely asked to see passports and visas, and enquired about where we had been and our current health. Apparently, some of the neighbours saw me going out that morning to get supplies and contacted police about the dangerous foreigner roaming the streets. Unfortunately, many Indians believe that westerners carry the disease, and in other parts of India westerners have been evicted from their hotel. This belief isn’t necessarily untrue, as most cases have come from foreign travellers or Indians returning from overseas.

Our visiting masked policeman was a nice fellow who took photos of our passports and visas and then left, seemingly satisfied. Then that afternoon, seven medical officers turned up on our doorstep! We each filled in a form answering official questions including where we had been in the past 28 days, and they asked if we were well. They didn’t physically examine us (nor even get close enough to look at us) or take temps, but they seem happy with our answers and went on their way.

 The visiting medical team

As the curfew date approached, the Indian PM Modi announced that the total nationwide lockdown had been extended. It was now 21 days, from 25 March until 14 April. Indian PM Modi issued a statement on the evening of 24 March saying:

‘From midnight 12, across the country, there will be countrywide lockdown in India. There will be complete restriction of leaving out from the residence. All districts, village will be locked down. This a curfew only – a stricter curfew than Janata curfew. We have to bear economic consequences because of this. But to save every Indian’s life at this time is my and the government’s responsibility. I appeal to you with folded hands that wherever you are in the nation now, stay there only. Looking at the present situation, lockdown will be for 21 days – 3 weeks. Coming 21 days, is very crucial for families and citizens. As per experts, 21 days is needed minimum for breaking the cycle. If 21 days are not handled, then country and your family will go back to 21 years behind’.

Of course, this has caused all sorts of pandemonium across India on a completely different level for the people. How can people work; if they don’t work there is no money; and they cannot eat. Unfortunately the Indian government doesn’t step in to assist as generously as they do in Australia, but there are organisations that are distributing packages of food to the homeless.

We have a lovely landlord (Benny) where we are staying, and although he has received a bit of grief from the neighbours about us, he has been wonderful, even providing food and water to us when we started to get low. We are hopeful that the shops open as planned on 29 March to get more supplies. We also have our fingers crossed that the food delivery service starts up again soon. We are looking forward to more delicious curry!

So it looks like we will sit tight for another couple of weeks, and wait to see what the government decides as 14 April approaches. We are pretty happy that the cases in Puducherry have not increased. There is still only one in the state, and the testing is getting rigourous. The lockdown should also flush out anyone with symptoms. We are all still very fit and healthy, and showing no signs of any issues. 

In the meantime, we will continue to do our daily chores, run up and down the stairs and do our Les Mills on Demand classes for exercise, catch up on some reading and schoolwork, and teach the children how to play poker.

The favourite spot for reading - the egg chair 

 Jess mopping

Joe sweeping

Our exercise stairs 

The roof of the building - perfect for a couple of jogging laps!

Stay safe, stay inside.

 ******************************************************************************

Chennai, India – 6 March to 12 March 2020

Waking up on our last morning in Bali, we cautiously look forward to the long day ahead. We fill up on the scrumptious brekky at Grandma’s in Legian, take a wander around the streets for the last time, then pack our bags again and head to the Denpasar airport. Our flight to India departs at 4pm, so we check in and look for a spot to have lunch.

Denpasar (Ngurah Rai) International Airport departure terminal is not what we expected. It is full of shops like Gucci, Swarovski, Victoria’s Secret, Oakey, Guess, Ripcurl, and after a wander around the food court, we wished we had lunch before we left! We spend AUD $50 on the cheapest lunch available (and the most expensive lunch we have had in two months!), and settle in to do some schoolwork while we wait.

The flight is on time and uneventful, which is always good. Arriving in Chennai very late in the evening, we cleared immigration, breathed a sigh of relief when our pre-arranged visas were given the nod by the humourless immigration officer, and we were ready for our two month Indian adventure!

Watching the sun set on our flight to India 

CHENNAI

Chennai is a major city with a population of over 7 million people, which is more people than the whole Queensland population! We chose to fly into Chennai as we intend to focus on the south of the country, staying as far away from the craziness of Delhi as we can. To get our bearings in India and also recover from our jetlag, we booked a week in Chennai.

From the Chennai airport, we arranged a government taxi to our accommodation for about AUD $10, then we sleep. zzzzzz

ACCOMMODATION 

We stayed at a little airbnb house named Babu’s Nest for the next week. A simple accommodation with two bedrooms, kitchen, washing machine for AUD $60 per night. It was in a great area, and directly across the road from an awesome fruit and vegie shop. There was even a man on our footpath selling watermelons!                     

The front door at Babu's Nest 

We awoke on 7 March, said a heavenly happy birthday to beautiful Bon, and went exploring the city of Chennai. We were keen to see what Indian food tasted like in India, so we checked the Trip Advisor reviews and walked to a restaurant called Vrindavan for lunch. The restaurant was part of New Woodlands Hotel, with dark timber interior features, dim lighting, and well dressed, attentive staff. It made you feel like you were in an old fancy establishment that could have been anywhere in the world. We felt a little out of place in our shorts and t-shirts, but the food was good and we had a ‘thali’ feast for AUD$20. No curry yet though.

Chennai is a real mix of upper class urban and poverty. There were gleaming shopping malls on the busy main roads, and just a street back there were people living in squalor. 

Filthy conditions under the railway bridge

Whatever country we are in, we enjoy checking out the supermarkets, wandering around the store looking at the different products, and of course people watching. The kids love checking out the sweets section, and they are often allocated an amount to spend (sometimes the sweets taste great, sometimes not so great). And here in India, there are whole shelves full of incense!

At the local Nilgiri's supermarket

Shelves full of incense

Shoppers at a shopping mall

Having a kitchen at our accommodation, we stocked up on eggs, snacks and other essential items (yep, plenty of toilet paper here!!). One thing I miss having is a toaster. In both Indonesia and India, we haven’t seen a toaster and any toast is made by frying the bread. Poached eggs just don’t taste as good with fried bread. We also haven’t stayed anywhere that has an oven – just a couple of burners on the counter, so we are missing a good ol’ roast meal!

Cooking facilities in our kitchen

SIM

We consider a SIM to be pretty important. Most places we stay have wi-fi, but we are fairly reliant on websites and mapping while we are out and about exploring. Getting a SIM card in India was tricky. It seems that we need to have a permanent address, apply through a company, wait a few days, etc etc. However a local rickshaw driver soon had us whisked away to the right place to get a card. We got a Vodafone SIM card for AUD $30 which gave us 3GB per day for 30 days. It has worked for a couple of weeks now, so seems to be ok.

The hole-in the-wall SIM office

Chennai is on the eastern coast of southern India, along the Bay of Bengal. Marina Beach stretches 6km along this coastline. It is not a clean beach, and water was pretty filthy for swimming, but there is a 5km path along the coast that is an excellent spot to go for an early morning walk. So many people are out walking from sunrise, and it is certainly a different experience sharing the path not just with the local people, but also cows, dogs and policemen on horses.

Cow on Marina Beach at sunrise 

The 5km path along Marina Beach 

Marina Beach's wide beach with the ocean in the distance 

An early morning walker 

Police patrol 

Southern India has plenty of temples and cathedrals. We sat in on a very holy Catholic service at the impressive St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica.

We discovered that the colourful Kapaleeswarer Temple was quite close to where we stayed, so took a stroll to check out this Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.

The Kapaleeswarer Temple is huge and very busy. There are shrines surrounding the temples, and it even has a ‘goshala’ with cows, calves and a bull, and people are encouraged to donate a cow if they wish. Each morning, one calf is sent for the ‘gopoojai’ (cow worship) at the temple. These sacred cows have a good life. There is a long tradition in India of promoting cow urine and dung as traditional remedies for various diseases, and I see that there are suggestions that these may be useful against coronavirus. What?? No, I don’t think so.

 She doesn't look too impressed with Joe!

 Some fun ladies at the temple entrance

HOLI FESTIVAL (COLOUR FESTIVAL)

Many months ago while planning the trip, we decided to coincide our arrival in India with the annual Holi Festival which takes place in March. Holi is an ancient Hindu festival that heralds the arrival of spring after winter. It gives thanks for good harvest, signifies the victory of good over evil, and is a day of spreading happiness and love! The ‘colour’ part of the festival seems to stem from a legend involving the blue skinned Krishna. We bought tickets for the celebration at YMCA park in Chennai  for AUD$70 for the four of us. We knew that any clothing we wore would be ruined, so we invested in some cheap white clothing for the event, and set off to experience the festival of colour!

The colour festival was from 9am to 5pm, and we arrived around lunchtime with the intention of just having a quick look and going home, which is pretty much what we did. The park was set up as if they expected a much bigger crowd. There was probably only a couple of hundred people there, mostly young Indian men and women running around crazily. Entry included a couple of packets of coloured powder, which we soon learnt was to pour into our hands and smear onto the face and head of another person, or simply to dump some of the powder contents directly onto them. There was a big stage with a DJ and people dancing in the mosh pit, and areas with water and foam to allow the coloured powder to mix and create a kaleidoscope of colour over your face, hair and clothes. I must add that the exuberent festival goers were on a natural high, as this was an alcohol-free event.

Everyone looked like they were having a great time, but I am clearly too old. It was definitely an interesting experience, but I also found it annoying having people touching my face and head, and when the huge amount of powder dumped in my hair combined with the water, it just ran down my face and my eyes were stinging! It is now over a week later, and my hair is still pink.

TRANSPORT

Rickshaws were our primary method of transport around the city of Chennai, as they will be for the entire time in India. A rickshaw is a three-wheeled vehicle with a small motorcycle motor, and often referred to as an ‘auto’. It can sometimes be a terrifying experience being a passenger in these! The four of us cram into a narrow back seat, with Jessie sitting on my knee, and there seem to be no road rules! The driver seemingly can go in any direction on the roads, not worry too much about the road lines, cross into oncoming traffic, and drive at full speed while swerving to miss the cow, dog or another vehicle. At an intersection you just close your eyes and brace for impact! That hasn’t happened yet, but it has been close! And this is all to the sound of endless, constant, loud beeping from every vehicle on the road. However it is cheap, beats walking in the heat, and is certainly not dull! Initially quoted prices are obviously much higher for us foreigners, so we quickly learnt to halve the first price.

KOLAM

Every morning we awoke to a different drawing on the ground out the front of our house, and we saw similar drawings adorning the entrance to many buildings, homes, shops etc.

We discovered that these Kolams (meaning 'beauty') are drawn on the threshold with rice flour (which also provides food to ants, insects and small birds). On special occasions, the Kolams are coloured. Every morning the previous drawing is washed away and redone in a different design. Southern Indian women believe the ritual of drawing the Kolam each morning will help them improve their concentration and patience, key components needed to run a household! 

Another interpretation of the Kolam, which I love, is recorded in Lance Nelson’s study of Kolam:

'Bhumi Devi (earth goddess) is our mother. She is everyone’s source of existence. Nothing exists without her. The entire world depends on her for sustenance and life. So, we draw the kolam first to remind ourselves of her. All day we walk on Bhumi Devi. At night we sleep on her. We spit on her. We poke her. We burden her. We do everything on her. We expect her to bear us and all the activities we do on her with endless patience. That is why we do the kolam’.

After six nights in Chennai, we headed south. We were keen to stop at a few places along the way, so decided to get a driver and car, rather than the cheap train ride. We ended up paying AUD$130 for a driver for 12 hours. He picked us up at our accommodation and was basically at our disposal for the day. We spent a couple of hours at the DakshinaChitra cultural centre, learning about South Indian heritage, culture and architecture, and chatting to the artisans doing their traditional crafts.

Next stop on our road trip was Mahabalipuram, a laid back beach village about 50km south of Chennai, famous for temples, caves, stone carvings and the beach. This town is an historic city and UNESCO World Heritage site. We were just passing through and realised we needed at least a couple of days to do it justice, so rather than rushing to see as much as we could, we settled for a drive by the amazing sights of the Shore Temple, Arjuna’s Penance, Pancha Rathas, Group of Monuments, temples etc etc.

The street leading to the beach at Mahabalipuram 

Mahabalipuram Beach

Dipping our toes in the Bay of Bengal at Mahabalipuram

 Pancha Rathas

Chilled locals

The beach looks great from a distance but when you get closer, it has a lot of rubbish and is stinky. Not somewhere I’d want to swim. But the town itself has a relaxed hippy vibe, and I wouldn't mind  spending some time here later.

We arrived in Pondicherry late in the afternoon, after getting our driver to stop for supplies at a supermarket. 

As the sun set on our first night in our new apartment, we were excited to start exploring Pondicherry over the next 4 days. We had no idea that this might be our home for a little longer than expected…