Returning to the Western World for a minute

Saturday night: Always filled with excitement, unless you're new to chennai, in which case you'll find yourself hopelessly lost in a huge city with no friends.

Chennai, however, is famous for a couple of things. First off, it is said to have the longest city owned beach in the world. I can neither confirm nor deny the validity of this claim. I do know, however, that the beach here is a little bit lame in comparison to beaches in America. Talk shit about the Jersey shore all you want, but I'd take it in the summer over the chennai beach all year round! I think the loads of garbage and rotting food seem to detract from my enjoyment of it. It could just be that I'm an uptight american asshole trying impose his own values on India, I'm not sure. Either way, give me jersey, give me florida, give me north carolina, india can have chennai.

The second thing for which Chennai is famous is the burial place of St. Thomas (doubting Thomas) the apostle of Jesus. Again, I can neither confirm nor deny the validity of this claim. I figured that I might as well spend Saturday night kind of like a tourist and trek on up to see the tomb. According to the Basilica of St. Thomas, there are only three churches in the world built at the tombs of Christ's apostles. St. Thomas here, St. Peter in Rome and St. James in Spain. (I'm not sure which James because there were two.)


St. Thomas Basilica Chennai

Realizing that Indians are terribly good at prayer and starvation, I decided that starvation wasn't my thing and so I'd give the prayer thing a shot. Well, at least a visit to a prayer type place. I arrived about 5:30 P.M. and high mass takes place at 6. I was almost going to stay for mass, but being the good episcopalian I am I decided to not infringe on the catholics for High Mass. I did however go into the church to see it. Not surprisingly it looks extremely catholic in the most western sense of the word. The real differences were the inscriptions in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi in addition to English, French, and German. As well as a congregation full of south Indians, and finally the same flower offerings to Mother Mary as one would see at any shrine to a god or goddess within the hinduism pantheon. All in all it was a nice escape from Indian for a few minutes. I would provide more pictures, but how is the church supposed to make money if tourists publish their own pictures?

After leaving I had more revelations about India. The dichotomy between those who have and those who don't is extreme. The Catholic Church probably LOVES this basilica, because churches in Europe and the Americas are expensive to keep up. Coupled with the dropping attendance and declining tithing the Catholic church in Europe is having a hard time. Here, the same amount of money, although very low, can go a long way toward upkeep of the building, and the extreme amount of charity the church provides. Allow me to give credit where credit is due.

Side note: This is not an advertisement for the Catholic Church.

The Catholic church, however, is wonderful about its charities and educations. And here in South India appears to be wildly liberal in the face of orthodox hinduism. I will however give credit again to the catholic church worldwide for being ardently consistent. Their charities and education are taken just as seriously here as they are back home in the states.

While leaving the grounds of the Basilica I was approached by a beggar girl. She tried to take my umbrella from my hand while I was walking. I almost didn't see her, because she was literally shorter than four feet tall. Sitting next to her when I looked down was a woman I can only assume to have been a leper, as she was missing all the toes on her right foot. It is at times like these that I have the strongest sense of moral dilemma. How does one reconcile the ideas that here on my left is one of the world's most beautiful buildings and by many considered to be amongst the holiest sites in Christendom; and on my right a woman without money, without proper food, clothing, or medical attention, and a small girl destined for the same fate?
I didn't give any money or my umbrella to the beggar girl, because I've seen what happens (in Damascus, Syria for example) when an American looking person gives money to a beggar. The hordes of children hiding in fear swarm you. (This happened to my mom in 1994 when she bought gum from a little beggar boy).

So I left with a sense of moral dilemma. I had returned home for a moment, well almost home. The particular take on the religion is slightly different, and the specifics were quite strange, but still close enough. After leaving the western world, I had no more than 5 seconds of peace when India shoved its way back into my immediate consciousness. What did I do? Well, I went for a Dosa at a fast food stand for a whopping Rs. 12, then bought a little cake snack at a bakery for another huge Rs. 10. Then got my hair cut, then went and drank beer.

I should briefly metion to strangeness of the bar scene again. The only woman present was clearly the girlfriend of the DJ. I was served by an 18 year old Muslim boy. THAT was awkward. Anyway, I impressed everyone at the bar with my knowledge of Tamil and cricket. The TV was showing lifetime highlights of Sachin Tendulkar who is one of India's greatest players of all time. Think Babe Ruth plus Joe Dimaggio plus like 6 other guys. That's how popular "Sachin the Great" (as they call him here) is. After garnering disdain from the bar waitrons and having a good chat with them in the meantime I left to return home at a very late 9 PM.

CHENNAI PARTY TOWN!