So I start this day, sitting in a comfortable motor coach, in my wide, air conditioned seat high above the level of the street. I'm staring out the window. Staring at color - saturated color everywhere. Staring at people - generally the source of all that color. Staring at the thrum and bustle of activity - so early in the day, and yet already moving, teeming. I am staring at India.
My perch is so very different from anything outside my window. My world, this world - not even remotely the same. But I love this - and I'm eager to get down from this high roost and be out amongst it all. Today is only Day Two of my Indian adventure, and Oh. My. God. What an experience it has already been.
To back up: I arrived in Chennai in the wee hours of the morning after more than 24 hours of exhausting travel (kicking children directly behind me on all legs of my travels - how is it that these imps don't sleep?). That was a mere 48 hours ago, and yet Napa Valley and home seem eons away.
After meeting our guide, settling into our hotel, and attempting to catch a few hours of shut eye, our group set out to see what we could see. Indeed, as expected, India reached out and found us right away. Within ten minutes of leaving our hotel, we came upon an Indian Sikh wedding, with all of the full-blown pageantry associated with it: bridegroom on horseback; marching band processional; stunning sari-clad women of all ages, their hands ornately adorned with Henna tattoos. Bollywood-style dancing by all. There was a mass of people accompanying the wedding party, and onlookers and gawkers lining the pathways and stairways leading to the temple. It was loud, it was festive, it was a fitting welcome to this indescribable place. It was also a reality check. As I attempted to frame the festivities in my lens, it became obvious that there is going to be absolutely no way in hell that I'll be able to capture the true spirit of India in my images. There's just too much going on in every direction.
From there, the day proceeded apace. We packed as much into the daylight hours as humanly possible - starting with the barely contained chaos of the George Town Market, and ending the day in a mad dash for light on Marina Beach and its associated fish market on the Bay of Bengal. (It is the second longest beach in the world - it went on for miles, and it seemed all of Chennai had turned out to play in its sands. I will never use the word "throng" again without thinking of what I saw there. Photos, again, will not even remotely do it justice.) There were Hindu temples and failed attempts to find cold beer in between, and lots of wonderful walking.
Sights aside, hands-down the most memorable thing of my first day in India was interacting with the people. In all my travels to Southeast Asia, I was certain I had already encountered some of the most welcoming and happy people in all of the world. I was wrong - dead wrong. The sheer joy that exudes from the people I've met thus far in India is beyond contagious. A fellow traveler rightfully said that her cheeks hurt at the end of the day from smiling so much. People are approachable, open, eager to be photographed - in fact, more often that not, requesting to be photographed. Proud parents thrust their children in your direction for portraits - street vendors break into a grin and answer with an affirmative Indian head bobble when asked to be photographed - rambunctious children eagerly clown around and vie for your attention. There is a happiness here, and it's a delight to behold. I'll take with me always the memory of a motley crew of boys playing cricket in the sand at the beach, but amidst the rubble and stench of the fish market, located mere steps away from the slum they call home. Those boys couldn't have been any more exuberant. Granted, it was a moment in time, but to see them with not a care in the world but to run and laugh and play… it felt pretty darn good. I need more of that in my life, please.
So that was Day One. Today, Day Two, took our group away from Chennai (alas, with so much left unexplored!). We traveled south along India's eastern coast to Mahabalipuram, a port city founded in the 7th century and home to some of the oldest and most important temple forms in all of India. Perhaps my biggest weakness as a photographer is shooting architecture - I love to learn about architecture, especially in places stepped in history - but I can't seem to ever make it interesting in my images. So temple after temple on our agenda today was met with limited enthusiasm on my part, and yet, thanks again to the Indian people, I've had a marvelous day.
And on that note, here's just some parting thoughts on the things I've experienced so far;
- Emirates Airlines is amazing. Even in the lowly economy class where I was stuffed, the service and amenities on the two jumbo jets that got me here were the best I've ever experienced.
- Southern Indian food makes me very happy. Dosa and sambar for breakfast - biryani of all sorts at any meal. Naan. Jasmine rice. Raita and chutneys are the condiments of choice, which I slather on everything. Cold Kingfisher beer - safer by far to drink than the water. Everything can be had or dressed up to have plenty of spice, making the cold beer all the more welcome. (Indeed, traveling to this part of the world is really the only time I ever even drink beer, but damn - it just hits the spot and complements the food perfectly.)
- Yes it's dirty and yes there are slums. The slums seem to crop up along areas where there is water - canals, rivers, the sea - and said water becomes the de facto toilet and garbage receptacle. Not pleasant, but the reality. The slum dwellings are made of many forms: corrugated aluminum lean-tos; thatch roof, dirt floor rooms; abandoned concrete apartment towers. How some of these structures survive the monsoon season is beyond me.
- I think it's safe to say that begging in the streets is prevalent in India. However, I have to say that I have encountered very little of it thus far. Far, far less that what I was expecting, and in fact, the people and children who have approached me are no different than what I've experienced elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Mostly they are attempting to sell trinkets, and their sales tactics are quite emphatic. But the hardcore begging - not so much. I expect this will change as we go along.
- Some good advice from our guide, re: meditation: "Don't chant from your mouth, chant from your heart." Ohm, indeed.
- To see videos of various and sundry moving images from this journey, visit my YouTube channel.
- To see all of the fun iPhone photos I'm snapping, find me on Instagram (morryanne), or click through to my Flickr account.
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