Chennai doesn't stink!

When I lived in Santa Clara, California, we wrinkled our noses on a brisk morning when the air was heavy with the smell of garlic, and Silicon Valley breezes brought us the aroma from Gilroy as thousands of white cloves were being crushed, pressed, and processed. There is a similar susceptibility to the unknown in Chennai: any time of day or night, there is little chance of predicting the palette of air-borne particles that might find their way to my olfactory nerves--warm greasy wada and samosas being fried at a mobile roadside cart, copious amounts of incense accompanying the marching band of zealous temple drummers at 5am, the flowering trees at our house. Unfortunately, most of the year these smells are forced out by the smoky fires from small piles of leaves or trash, exhaust fumes of Chennai's growing traffic malaise, the garbage that rots quickly in this heat and humidity, or the sludge in the de facto open sewer that was once known as the Buckingham Canal (above photo).

Although the monsoon rains flood lower-lying areas and bring opportunities for mosquito larvae, they mercifully also offer an aromatic reprieve as diluvian amounts of water entrain pollution from the air, dilute the canal, and let me open my windows without wondering how long that not-so-fresh odor will linger in my living room.

So, this weekend, I put down my to-do lists and acted about as artsy-geeky as I could without using a computer: I worked on learning a Brahms Rhapsody on my looks-like-Vienna-but-sounds-like-Branson piano. While I'm not claiming success, in the end I think I contributed positively to the general din of cars' horns, ox-drivers' shouts, and put-put motors on my road.


To compensate for my lack of regular list-making this weekend, here's a list I wrote when I came back from the U.S., March 2007 (if you're so school-marmy inclined, you might interpret this as a "What I'm Thankful For", Thanksgiving homework assignment):

10 Reasons Chennai Doesn't Stink

1. You can eat Indian food _every_day_, but you don't have to if you (or your innards) don't want to.

2. Surveys show that Indians like Americans. Though I don't put much stock in surveys, lines at the U.S. Consulate are legendary and speak for themselves.

3. Even if many locals don't know that you can't drive to America, they are a pretty laid-back, friendly, wave-and-smile crowd, especially when they're staring at you for being foreign.

4. The work is hard, but the coworkers are great.

5. Low crime, quiet side streets for weekend walks.

6. The biggest safety risk is traffic incidents (Sound Horn OK Please), but skilled drivers are plentiful (see #9).

7. Absolutely amazing sites in India that I'd never heard of before--backwaters of Kerala, ruins of Hampi, temples of Patadakkal, Mahabalipuram, Kanchipuram--are easily reached by plane, train, and automobile.

8. I can live a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget.

9. Luxuries that would be unthinkable in the U.S.--housekeeper, cook, driver, gardener, tailored clothes, specialized framing or publishing--are all available and cost less than the average weekly shopping trip to the mall.

10. I can go see the ocean every day. (Hey, I'm still Nebraskan)