Thiruvalangadu and Racist Dogs

Last Sunday I decided to head back to Thiruvalangadu, but this time to see my friends Shanthi and Devi.

I left about 9am to head to Chennai Central train station to catch the train to Thiruvallur. I love riding the trains here in India; it feels pleasant to stand by the big open doors and hang out to catch the breeze and get some great views of the rural areas and towns against the backdrop of natural scenery. And when I tire of standing, I can just sit and dangle my legs; as long as the trains are not crammed full of people - which often they are! It can be quite dangerous to hang out too far though, as your head may get swiftly removed by an oncoming post or other obstacle - it makes quite the game of chicken sometimes!

So after about an hour and half train journey, I arrive in Thiruvallur to be swamped by auto drivers. I swear these guys can smell a foreigner from a mile off. Of course I took one as I didn't want to miss the bus and, of course, I got overcharged. Oh how they must rub their hands with glee when a foreigner jumps in their vehicle.

I did not have to wait at the bus stand too long before the 105c bus came. And let me tell you now: Buses are a nightmare here compared to England; they arrive and depart at whatever time, so sometimes you may only have to wait 5 minutes and other times you could be waiting over an hour. Oh, and they're often crammed too so one needs to push and shove to get a seat a lot of the times. So next time your bus is a few minutes late, consider the poor folks here in India and be grateful.

Fortunately, the 105c was not initially packed so I got a seat. I always enjoyed the 40 minute (only 11 rupees too!) bus journey to Thiruvalangadu when I worked at the YRC there last year and it felt nostalgic to take the same route again. It was good to see that the roads have improved a lot now too! Although it hasn't deterred drivers from driving erratically; the traffic is still as chaotic as ever and probably always will be unless they finally bother to enforce the road laws - although I am unsure whether there are any!
Anyway, once I arrived at Thiruvalangadu, I headed to the new location of the YRC (A lot more space and better than the old one. It's on the roof of where the ICS volunteers now live.) where Shanthi and Devi waited for me. One of my national volunteers (who was only with us for a week), Dani, was there too. It was great to see him and the girls! Dani left after a short time and I hung out with the girls for the duration of the day. We chatted, played my ukulele, had some Biriyani and took photos. It was a pleasant day and I was glad to see and spend time with them again. 

There was market going on there too, so once we said our goodbyes I decided to check it out before heading to the train station.
I got a lift on a tuk tuk which already had about 10 people in it (Technically only enough for for 4 people to seat) so I had a comfortable journey to the station, practiclly clinging on to the damn vehicle! All part of the Indian experience! Once I got to Thiruvalangadu station, I got invited in to the railway police station and had some coffee with the officers and played them a song on my uke. The miserable bastards in England wouldn't do that! You'll be lucky to even get a smile from them.

That was my day pretty much. So now I just want to mention stray dogs as they're fucking everywhere in India. For the most part, they don't seem to be bothered by my appearence. In the city anyway. During the day. But in rural villages, late at night and early morning, they get all aggro on me. They're not bothered by the Indian people, but when they get a whiff of 'ol whitey here, they go fucking mental. They don't go for me but they all soon bark, growl and sometimes follow me. They're blatantly racist.

Arrival in Chennai and Visiting Chittoor

So, after a long plane journey and stopping off at Colombo in Sri Lanka on a connecting flight, i finally made it to Chennai. At least the food on the plane was nice. I was a bit nervous at first when I left the airport and got a taxi to take me to my hotel as he didn't have a clue where to go! But after asking directions from tuk tuk drivers, he finally managed to get me there. It only took about 45 minutes. And he had the cheek to ask for a tip.

Raj Residency - the name of my hotel - does not have cleanliness on its priority list it seems. But at least I got a relatively comfortable king size bed, a cold shower, air conditioning and a smoking balcony, so it's not all bad. You get what you pay for so to speak. I didn't obviously do much on my first day as I was tired from the long journey, so i just spent time getting myself an Indian sim card sorted out and since there's a bar opposite my hotel, I also had a Kingfisher beer which was quite tasty. Since I now had credit, I decided to message my Tamil friends to let them know that I had arrived.

The following day, I decided to get the train to Thiruvallur and then head to Thiruvalangadu - the town the YRC is at where I worked as a Restless Development volunteer. I had messaged my friend Arun to let him know I was on my way and met him when I got there.I spent the whole day with him, Raj, Mani and Ajith as well as meeting the new national and English volunteer. It was a great day and I reminisced the time I worked there. It was a shame, though, to hear that they are moving the YRC up the road and that most of the people I knew and befriended no longer work there. Things change though.

The next day, I finally managed to get hold of Aruna and Kalai, I arranged to meet Kalai in Katpadi. It was great to see her again and she took me to her brother's office where I got some sweet bread and a cool drink. I didn't stay long though as Kalai took me to the bus stand so I could get to Chittoor. Aruna told me that a friend of hers, Suman, would come and pick me up from the bus station and he soon found me. I guess I must stick out like a sore thumb, haha! He took me on the back of his bike to the clothes shop he works at where i relaxed and waited for Aruna to come.

Aruna looked beautiful as always and I was glad to finally see her again. We spent a little time in the town of Chittoor and in the evening she took me to her village, Mala Kunta. I met her family and Aruna cooked me some potato curry which was delicious! In the morning she made me some tea (milk straight from her cow) and breakfast and let me used her bath, which was certainly different from an English bath. She also showed me around her village and introduced me to more family members and friends. She took me to the nearby farms where I had some coconut straight from the tree and coconut milk. I had never tried it before and it was lovely! I also tried some sugar cane too. Very nice!

Samun came and picked us up and we visited a temple. Didn't stay too long though as there were a lot of monkeys around that were agitated by us and Aruna got scared. I did a little too as one started hissing at me. I think it wanted my camera! Afterwards, we went to Samun's village and I met his family and friends. Becuase i was so tired, i ended up staying there the night rather than go back to Chennai. But not before meeting and hanging out with more of his friends and having a small bottle of whisky at some stall/shop. Was a pretty good, spontaneous evening!

The following day, I met up with Aruna again at Chtittoor. I taught her some chords on my ukulele; she's a quick learner! She then took me to her friends place in a more rural area of the town. It was a lovely relaxing day; her friend cooked us some rice and chicken curry and I also had some fruit which tasted a lot like a lemon which Aruna put some chilli powder slat on which made them even nicer! We just sat outside and chatted with her friend and her mother. I could get used to such a life.

Late in the afternoon, I got the coach back to Chennai. Aruna seemed upset that I was leaving but hopefully we'll meet again real soon. I really enjoy her company and most certainly would love to see her again, for sure.

So, that's what my first days here consisted of and I hope my time spent here will continue to be awesome. So far, the people here have been very pleasant and hospitable and friendly. I love it here.