From Riches to Rags

I haven't had internet access in what feels like a near eternity (actually only 4 days), so I will fill you in on EVERYTHING I have experienced during this time, beginning with the decription of the title of this entry. On Thursday night, a friend of a friend of a friend who happens to live in Chennai took me out to dinner with her family. She is related to someone who works with a family friend, or something like that. Anyway, I called her up and that night at 7 she had her two daughters pick me up in their white Ambassador car. Now, I am not totally sure of the difference between taxis and government cars because they are both the Hummer versions of a sedan. Think those big cars from the twenties. Yeah, that's what they are like and no, I don't mean the Model T. Anyway, she works for the government (passport agent- how tedious), so this white behemoth was a government car. We went on a driving tour of the city and while things outside of the air-conditioned, bullet-proof windows were noisy, dirty, and hectic, I felt perfectly content driving through the buzzing streets with the knowledge that our vehicle could (and would) take down any rickshaw, bicyclist, cart-pusher, or cow that came in our way. It was definitely the first time I felt so confident on the streets of chennai.
Ok, enough about the car. We drove through the most commercial part of town. We saw the fancy department stores, bright lights of flashy restaurants and clubs, and hilarious billboards of almost-suggestive cologne ads. They took me to their country club for dinner- a mostly outdoor, white marble club complete with lit tennis courts, a green swimming pool (yes, green- is this normal?), and- my favorite part- an air-conditioned restaurant serving up your usual Chinese and Indian dishes. An odd mix of ethnicities, I will say, but nothing to complain about. I enjoyed an appetizer of hot and sour soup, followed by a hearty dinner of paneer tikka masala, several chicken stews, and naan, roti, and whole wheat chapati. After this, I felt like I just stepped away from the dinner table at Thanksgiving (Indian food is suprisingly filling- much more so than American), but the family insisted on taking me to the best ice cream place in town, which happened to be right next door. Milky Way is the Serendipity of Chennai- all the Bollywood stars come for a quick treat after a day of filming and supposedly on weekend nights, you can't even get in the door. It is mostly what we call soft serve, with hilarious toppings- Jello, canned fruit, nut toffee, nothing too absurd, but not what I would expect. I managed to down half of my Butter-nut-scotch concotion while staring at the crowds of barely post-pubescent boys wearing designer jeans and rather tight shirts with some sort of marbelized pattern covering the polyester. If I had any more time in Chennai, I would be back to Milky Way in an instant. The lure of Euro-wannabes and delicious dessert is just too much for any Westerner to take.
Now to the part of the "rags:" The next day (Friday) was my last in Chennai before I boarded the 5:30 PM overnight train to Nagercoil (more on this in a bit). I went with one of the other volunteers I was staying with to the orphanage where she is working. Before I say anything further, I must declare that I am extremely glad I am not at this assignment. I actually do not know what I would do if I had to be there every day. Ok, we arrive at this place, which is definitely in the farm country outside the city- goats, cows, chickens everywhere. I know that doesn't actually distinguish farm country from the inner city, but I am just setting the mood here. So we step out of the car (no tough Ambassador mobile here) and Sarah, the other volunteer, immediately warns me to stay away from "Brownie." This white dog looks like your average street canine, but is actually an attack dog, tightly chained up near some shack by the road. His name is neither an indication of his color nor his kindness. We walk up to the orphanage and are greeted by three adorable dark-skinned, white-toothed kids saying, "hello sister!" They treat everyone there as family. We were "sister," while the owner is "father" and the like. As you can imagine, the place reeks of stale urine and poo. Hanging in one thatched roof building are 10-15 pieces of fabric draped over the rafters. In each lies a singing, screaming, or snoring baby (pardon my bad spelling- I am not used to a keyboard where I must slam down the letters). If the babies have to go, which they do often, they just go and the older ones are left with a pile of something on the floor to wipe up with a 4-inch rag. This is the reason for the smell.
I spent the day laughing and talking with the kids- who are all amazing, in great spirits, and just plain kid-like- while trying to avoid touching anything. I came out of the day with my pants covered in cat pee, human pee, some poo, dust, possibly lice (all of them are infested), and a shirt covered with the same, and then some.
This was my experience from Riches (literally) to Rags (literally). It was quite definitive of India.