Chennai 15-19 July 09

On Wednesday afternoon, 15 July, a taxi came to the house to take us down the mountain to the train station at Mettapalayam and the train to Chennai. Gopal has been issued an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card, so we had to pick it up in Chennai. Stomach flu had been going around the colony, and I got hit with it en route to the train. We didn't feel well while in Chennai.

We are usually not able to get good sleeper seats, nor seats together, on the train so we decided to try First Class.

Here's Gopal in our First Class room. The three bad thing about these accomodations are that you are alone, very isolated from other passengers, it's considerably more expensive ($20 pp each way), and one of us has to sleep in an upper bunk. Everything else is good about it. Clean bathrooms with western toilets and toilet paper, always unoccupied in my experience; we were able to be very private; the windows were clean and clear so we could see outside; the sheets were pretty, etc. We loved it. It was so relaxing, knowing I was returning in a FC cabin.

While in Chennai, we went to Mahalakshmi's home for lunch. She is Govindharajan's wife and Aishwarya's mother. I had never met her. She was so gracious, spoke flawless English, and served us the perfect lunch very thoughtfully made for us. Here she is in a beautiful saree Govindharajan bought her when she visited Ooty.

When we got home, Shriya came by a lot. Here she is in the new salwar kameez she and her classmates wear for dance class.