The Blunder of Returning to India

I never like leaving Lebanon. Even though I feel slightly caged there because I don't drive (until this trip) and even when I get the chance to drive I don't know where to go, it's still comfortable to me. I have problems with the culture of course. My American cynicism meets up with appearance hysteria in the wake of a war the racked an entire nations morale. I don't understand what it was like to live through a war. I certainly don't know what it's like to live through a war being fought by foreigners on my own soil. So even with all of those considerations and the mild culture clash (mind you, it's not culture shock) I still like being in Lebanon.

When I arrived in Chennai for the first time nearly two months ago I was giddy with excitement. I hadn't ever been to India and had no idea what awaited me upon my first arrival. I came here not as a tourist, but as a (short term) resident. Coming back I knew some things to expect. Just getting seated on the plane was a terrible experience. I was thrown immediately back into a state of culture shock from the Bahrain airport as I saw two grown men holding pinky fingers together walking up and down the duty free shopping corridor. When the bus came to taxi us to the plane, all the passengers immediately stood up and started pushing and shoving each other out of the way, just to be the first on the bus that goes TO the plane. Stupid! When the bus stopped, everyone crowded the doors to get to the stairs that lead to the plane. Stupid! When I got on the plane, the guy behind me was pushing my back just to get to his seat. I tried to give about 6 inches to the guy in front of me, but not afforded the same courtesy on the other end.

During the flight, I remembered several others things about India that I'd dreaded...
As I sat down I noticed a dearth of women. Oh yes, Chennai... I was on a plane with 25 rows of 6 seats. Every seat occupied. When I stood to go to the lavatory mid flight I decided I'd count the women on the plane. Mind you, including crew and passengers there are 157 people on the plane (to my best count) I counted 18 female passengers (excluding infants). Indeed, including infants and flight attendants, the ratio was still more than 6 to 1 in favor of men. Also on my toilet break, the flight attendant collecting trash in the cabin came back toward the toilets as that is where the serving station is. There were two men behind me waiting for the bathrooms as well and neither giving me an inch of space. I stepped out of the way for the flight attendant and the two men nearly skipped me in line for the bathroom. I was not happy.

Finally, we landed safely to chennai (after a couple of bounces on the landing) and the heat hit me hard. Lebanon has been so beautiful recently. It's been mild in the day (warm in Beirut) and cold at night. I got back to 85 degrees and staggering humidity in the middle of the damn night. I could barely breathe. Then I had to go through customs and immigration, everyone knows how fun that can be. This time it went off without a hitch except for having to fight the "lines" wherein anyone tries to get one spot ahead of you at any time you're not looking. Then baggage claim, my bag was third from last off the plane, then getting a taxi. I found two prepaid taxi services, both "flat rate." UGH! It's 4 in the morning I just wanted to sleep and get out of the heat.

I only had Rs 300 with me, so I couldn't hire the Rs 400 taxi. I said no and walked out to find another taxi. The very next stall said, he could give me the same ride for Rs 290. Also "flat rate" to the exact same spot in town.

DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT A FLAT RATE IS NOT A FLEXIBLE THING?! I was tired and aggravated and upset to be in India again amidst this culture SHOCK again having to fight tooth and nail for every rupee.

Not to my surprise at all, the cab driver didn't speak a word of english and didn't know where I wanted to go. I tried giving directions in Arabic, and then realized he doesn't understand that either. So I had to switch back to my awful Tamil to direct him. I gave him the right directions and he said no and kept driving. I thought he was taking a shortcut or something. Finally, he stops at the wrong place, I tell him so and he gets out to ask directions (back to where I'd pointed him originally). I finally get home and give the guy my last Rs 10. He looked disappointed with the tip, but hey, the service was shit! Then I get to my apartment. I thought I'd lost my keys! I put them in an unusual place and essentially had to unpack everything thing in the dark to find them. Thank goodness there they are! I get to the apartment and the door is locked from the INSIDE! I spent 30 minutes banging like hell to wake up my roommate. I felt bad for doing so, but I wanted to sleep, it was nearly 5:30 AM at that point. Also, close by someone was blairing music so loudly I could hear it over my fan in my room with the doors shut and all.

I made it. Back to India. My temporary residence (not a home, don't think I can call it that yet, don't think I ever will).