Chennai, India

Leaving Thailand, we sailed through the Andaman Sea into the Bay of Bengal, heading for Chennai, India. After we docked, a small band playing western music stood on the dock along with women wearing saris greeting disembarking passengers. This was the Queen Elizabeth’s first visit and the largest ship to visit Chennai.

Welcoming Band

Strong winds knocked over the tourist information and vendor tents on the dock. We were sorry to see people struggling to right their tents, but at the same time, we greatly appreciated the wind since it was already over 90F mid-morning.

A number of Indian immigration officials accompanied us from Phuket on our journey to India so they could check our passports and visas before we arrived. That way we could go directly off the ship without having to go through immigration on the dockside. One afternoon, finding myself on the elevator with some of the officials, I asked if they were enjoying their time on the ship. They were all smiles. It would be interesting to know how they selected the officials who had to make the arduous trip on the Queen Elizabeth to carry out their work. Perhaps an office lottery?

The procedures for obtaining a visa to India had been quite involved and frustrating, so the onboard checks added another layer to the process. On the visa application forms they asked very personal questions such as our religion, whether we had ever served in the military, etc. John and I sent our applications in together—his visa is valid for six months, mine for ten years. I guess they liked my answers better than his.

We heard that quite a few passengers had gotten the wrong visas for India, obtaining the online visa intended for flights only. The Indian officials were not terribly sympathetic. We also heard that one couple had not obtained a visa at all and had to leave the ship in Phuket and fly to Dubai to meet up with the ship again, bypassing India.

Over 350 years ago, the Chennai area was recognized as a strategic place for trade and was colonized by the Portuguese, French, Danes, Dutch, and finally the British. Each group left an imprint on the city that can still be seen.

Chennai is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, and with seven million people, it is India’s fourth largest city. In a country with over 18 major languages, 400 minor languages, and 1000 dialects, English has been a unifying language. The signage was in both Tamil and English, which made it easier to get around the area.

Until 1996, Chennai had been known as Madras. Our tour guide said that the city council made the name change without consulting the people, and many people in Chennai still called the city Madras. The area is famous for its textiles, especially the Madras patterns popular all over the world, and still some of my favorites.

The area is a major tea producer. The East India Company, the first multinational company, started planting tea in India to avoid having to obtain it from China. Areas that previously grew rice, sugarcane, and peanuts, were tilled over and used to plant tea, resulting in major changes in agricultural practices and rice shortages—the rippling effect of things that aren’t well thought out.

Chennai is also a major producer of automobiles and leather goods. The Hindu people don’t eat beef, but they use cowhides for their leather goods. But first the cow has to die a natural death—or helped along. Most Hindus are vegetarians, and some will accept no more than something to drink when visiting the home of meat eaters, considering them to be unclean.

The East India Company and later the Scots established schools, universities, hospitals, including the School of Nursing and the Madras Medical College. Our tour guide proudly reported that they had female doctors in India long before western countries.

Hinduism is the major religion in India, with smaller numbers of Christians and Muslims. The Mylapore area of Chennai, settled by the Portuguese, has a large Roman Catholic population. Legend has it has St. Thomas the Apostle came to India in the first century and is buried in Chennai. We visited the Saint Thomas (San Thome) Cathedral in Mylapore and saw where Saint Thomas is buried. Many historians claim that it was another St. Thomas, not to be confused with the apostle, but the people in Chennai aren’t buying that.

The cathedral was very European in style, but here and there you could see Indian touches like the flowers draped over the side altars and statues. Masses at the cathedral are said in English and in Tamil, the language spoken by most of the people in Chennai.

Saint Thomas Cathedral

Draped Image of Mary

Our tour guide was excellent and we learned a lot about Chennai, India, and Hinduism. We asked her about the cast system in India. From what I could understand, it is based on the type of work people do, with young people following their families into the same type and level of work (e.g., administrators, medical, legal, teachers, cleaners, etc.). People who do the dirtiest work such as cleaning, laundry, or dealing with dead people or animals, are in the lowest cast and are considered to be the untouchables, which our guide said was a term introduced by the British to describe the cast. It also sounded like it is difficult for people to break out or to marry outside their cast.

Our tour took us to the old British Infantry Officers’ Mess at Fort George, which is now a museum. The fort, built in 1639 by the British, was completed on St. George’s Day, April 21, and named after St. George, the patron saint of England. It was built to protect them from the French, Dutch, and Portuguese. The walls of the building were several feet thick. The fort was surrounded by a wide moat, which is now empty of water.

Fort George British Infantry Officers’ Mess (now a museum)

We toured the gallery of paintings of former British officers and their wives, as well as the collection of armament, china, and military uniforms on display. We wondered how the members of the military survived in such a hot climate wearing uniforms of heavy wool.

Throughout the museum, metal plates embossed in Braille were mounted next to each display, identifying the items and providing detailed descriptions. I was impressed seeing all the Braille.

Our next stop on the tour took us to the Government Museum, where we saw a display of ancient Hindu bronze figures depicting some of the many Hindu gods. One information board listed over 32 gods, which may not have been a complete list. Apparently, the bronzes had been collected from temples all over the area to protect them from raiding armies during the Trail of Destruction. The armies had been stealing the bronzes from the Hindu temples and melting them down for armament. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take any photos.

Chennai is a beautiful place but somewhat spoiled by the trash that is seen everywhere. In case we hadn’t noticed it, our tour guide said that trash is a real problem in India and the government was trying to deal with it by educating the children about cleanliness and recycling. She hoped that it would help. When we passed the beautiful buildings of the University of Madras, we were surprised to see the lawns around the building totally covered in trash. Sadly, it was everywhere. Trashcans in the form of rabbits, baboons, fish, and other animals were positioned all around one of the museums but mostly ignored.

Before monsoon season the rivers and drains must be cleared of trash to prevent them from backing up and flooding the city. Chennai is subject to flooding even without trash backup. Last year following heavy rains, the city was badly flooded. A search on Google for Chennai floods showed pictures taken during the flood, which was quite severe.

The city’s large railway station resembled many of the train stations in London. The railway in India serves 12 million people each day and is one of the largest employers in the world. The city is currently constructing a subway system, which apparently is playing havoc with traffic.

Our tour bus took us past Chennai’s Marina Beach, which is the second longest urban beach in the world; Copacabana being the longest. We saw thousands of people enjoying many activities on the beach—all except swimming, which is prohibited because of the strong currents. The day was extremely hot and humid, and the water looked very inviting. I was thankful for the fan the Philippine Tourist Board gave us when we arrived in Manila. It had become quite useful.

The people of Chennai were preparing for the Hindu New Year on April 16. Our tour guide said that the people celebrate by wearing new clothes and new jewelry, so people were out shopping in mass. She also said that they buy lots of clothes because they are very cheap in Chennai. Jewelry shops abound in India, primarily because the people consider gold jewelry an investment and wear it to keep it safe.

Most of the women wore stunning saris in various colors and patterns. We were told that the pattern in Indian fabric is woven; fabrics that are embroidered are usually from elsewhere. The men wore shirts and long trousers (no Bermuda shorts here). Our guide told us how her mother, who only had one sari, would unwrap one end of it and wash it, letting it dry quickly on the line while she stood there. When it was dry, she would wrap it around herself and then unwrap and wash the other end. That gives a whole new meaning to someone being hung out to dry.

We stopped briefly at a sari store. Our guide showed us very expensive wedding saris that were woven with gold thread. She described the techniques used to make the threads that incorporate gold and to make different colors and patterns. She said her mother, years after her wedding, had her sari burned to melt down the gold and got a surprising amount of gold and silver from it. Even the wedding garments are an investment—bought for the bride by the groom’s family.

It is estimated that India has over 150,000 temples. Our final stop on the tour took us to the Kapaleeshwar Temple, which is dedicated to Shiva—the god of good luck and good fortune. The temple was located down a narrow street filled with vendors making and selling strings of flowers, fruits, and other items the Hindus offer as sacrifice in the temple. It was a special feast day so thousands of people were coming and going to the temple. Many of them arrived in small three-wheel taxis or auto-rickshaws.

Lane Leading to the Kapaleeshwar Temple

Flower Vendor Near Temple

Photo by Fellow Passenger Keith Larby (used with permission)

Auto-rickshaw

Carved and brightly painted figures of people and animals covered the top of the temple gateway. The photos we took don’t do justice to the colors, which were bright and varied.

Kapaleeshwar Temple Gateway

To enter the temple, our group had to remove our shoes. Once through the gateway, we found ourselves in a stone courtyard filled with people visiting various altars or shrines in the courtyard. We had heard that only Hindus could actually go into the temple itself, but I never got that far to discover whether that was true. The sun had heated the stones in the courtyard to the point where it burned my feet. I quickly dashed into a shady spot, only to find myself standing in water that thousands of people had already tromped through.

Afterwards, faced with putting my dirty, wet feet back into my shoes, I asked John, who had been standing outside holding my shoes, for his nicely pressed handkerchief to wipe off my feet. Kind husband that he is, he gave it to me—but not without grumbling a bit about it being one of his best.

A family standing nearby the gateway smiled at me and told me that their little boy was fascinated by me, since he wasn’t accustomed to seeing Westerners—or perhaps it was my big straw hat. I had a hard time understanding what they were saying. But their warm friendly smiles were easily understood.

Before we arrived in India, I didn’t know how I would find it. I’m happy to report that we had a thoroughly enjoyable day in Chennai and I was glad that we had come. The people were warm and friendly and the sights exotic and fascinating. Chennai was worth a much longer stay.