Chennai
21 January 2010, late evening
We spent the first 3 days of our trip in Chenna, formally Madras. The city is absolutely insane. There are people all over the place, and cars and motorbikes and auto-rickshaws everywhere you look. The place is pretty dirty. I guess it’s hard to keep a city like that clean without some serious infrastructure spending. The food is good: hot and mostly vegetarian. I don’t know how people don’t get ulcers here. You go for breakfast and get fried bread (poori) to eat with some hot curries. That seems like a bit much so early in the morning. Driving here is incredible. There are basically no lanes, people just drive where they can fit. Everyone uses their horn to signal they are near by. At first I thought people were being ridiculous, but it’s clear there is a method to all the madness. At around 6-7 you start hearing all the car horns, and it’s non-stop till late at night. In Kerela now. And we have to head out.