Chennai, India

When we docked in the very industrial port of Chennai it was raining and the dock area was caked with dirt and mud as well as tar or coal dust. The local dock workers tried to clean it up but it was a lost cause. There was a small military band on the dock to welcome us but even they got wet and covered in the muck. We ultimately got off the ship after lots of customs and passport checks. As we boarded our bus it quickly got covered inside with the mud and soot as well and I felt sorry for our beautiful Indian lady guide who was dressed in a gorgeous sari and sandals. Her feet and the bottom of her sari were already dirty with the mud!! She seemed unconcerned and we didn’t let it stop us from touring the city. One of the things I’ve liked about the Asian ports we’ve visited has been learning about their religions. In India, Hinduism is the primary religion. We were taken to a beautiful temple with colorful figures decorating a tall pointed roof. When we arrived there was a procession going on so we got to watch the people with highly decorated carts with statues of the Gods being pulled up a busy street. There were colorful floral leis hanging from several vendor stands for use during the ceremony. There was chanting and singing. It was quite extraordinary. We couldn’t stay as long as I’d have liked because we had several stops to make and negotiating the traffic was worse than Vietnam. There were cars, trucks, motorcycles, buses and small 3 wheeled vehicles called tuk tuks wherever you looked. There were also many pedestrians walking in all directions, crossing in front of traffic. It was pretty chaotic but we were glad the bus driver was doing the driving. We visited a cathedral and the bronze museum. I liked the bronze museum the best. The bronze statues depicted the various Gods of the Hindu religion. My favorite was Ganesh, who is part elephant and part man with a round belly. (I want to learn more about him and Hinduism when I can spend more time researching on the internet when it doesn’t cost so much! ) As we drove around the city from area to the next, we got a small glimpse into the people of Chennai. We saw some beautiful houses on a narrow side street where the more affluent people resided. We drove by the downtown shopping area where gigantic posters of the Indian motion picture stars were on billboards and pasted on walls. The colorful saris of the women really stood out as they walked along the gray buildings and dusty, dirty streets. We drove by the fishing village near Marina Beach. There we saw some whose living conditions are pitiful and it was especially hard to see the little children like that. I thought of our wonderful grandchildren and was thankful. Visiting different parts of the world definitely gives you a new perspective. I wish more people could travel. Maybe we’d all get along better if we had a greater understanding of each other.