Exploring the Subcontinent: By Train and Through Monsoon

“Nothing embraces the whole of India. Nothing, nothing…” –E.M. Forster

We only have a few more days left at MCC, meaning the end of my blogging for the rest of the trip. I’ll try to update as frequently as possible since I am a bit behind!

For the record, the two posts below are academic posts required for one of our classes- hence the length and the lack of pictures.

Instead of giving detailed accounts of everything that we’ve done in the past few days, I’ll give some brief stories.

We took our first train the other day, heading into the city of Chennai to go shopping. Finally, finally we were able to travel and explore on our own terms. The train is separated into women’s and men’s compartments, convenient for night time or solo travel. Standing in the open compartment, holding on to the metal bar with the wind and rain blowing through was such a liberating and awesome experience. Adventure was in the air!

We also took a small field trip to a place on campus called the Family Life Institute, which is run and funded by MCC and is primarily a school for children. There weren’t too many children there, as it was a rain holiday due to the monsoon, so we were able to accomplish quite a lot. We separated into teams, one team organized books, another group painted windows, and the last, my group, painted murals on the walls. We created one mural of two elephants and the other was of different plants. We had to scrape the paint off of the wall first, covering us in fine, green dust, and then had to prime the wall with two coats, significantly delaying our progress in painting. After several hours, we were finally able to sketch out our ideas and start painting. Yet another drawback was the lack of paintbrushes between the four people painting. But sharing is caring and after several more hours and inhaling much paint thinner, we managed to finish what are now, in my opinion, two very beautiful murals. It was awesome to finally do something positive for other people, instead of just relying on others’ hospitality, and I hope that the kids enjoy the murals when they come back from their holiday!

Also, as mentioned earlier, we are currently experiencing the northeastern monsoon in Tamil Nadu, which has peak rainfall in the month of November. It’s been raining almost every day for the past week and a half, making it extremely difficult to dry laundry of any sort. The roads are flooded and the ants are out in mass quantities. Stories in the newspaper are always related to lack of infrastructure and difficulty in maneuvering around the city during the monsoon, and we experienced this firsthand during our second trip to Chennai, to the Pondy Bazaar, a shopping district on the street. Having to walk through monsoon water is no happy task when you’re surrounded by trash and stray dogs, but it must be done and it certainly is an experience! My chacos are due for a good washing… Today has been the first sunny day in quite some time, so we tried to enjoy it as much as possible!

We also took another small day trip into Chennai, a different day than mentioned above, to visit an academy for the arts, the International Headquarters for the Theosophical Society, and St. Thomas Basilica. The Theosophical Society wasn’t clearly explained to us, but it seems as if it’s an organization that seeks to transcend religious boundaries, exemplified by their logo, which combines symbols such as the Star of David, the Ankh, and the Ohm. There is a Buddhist temple, a Sikh temple, and a church on the campus and overall, it’s a very beautiful place. It also has the third largest Banyan tree in the world! St. Thomas’ Basilica houses some of St. Thomas’ remains, one of only three Basilicas in the world to be built over an apostle’s bones. It was pretty crazy to see a full blown Cathedral in the middle of rickshaws and street vendors.

Other such adventures have happened since then, but those will be relayed a bit later. The saddest part of leaving MCC, besides leaving the wonderful staff, food, and campus, is that it means that the trip is halfway over. I just can’t believe it! We’re flying out to Kerala on Sunday, beginning our four week travel adventure. More updates will be up before we leave!