End of Day One: An Exploration of Indian Culture

Men wearing “skirts” – Dr. Subbiah slept in until about 10:30am, and then came to see how we were doing and what we wanted to do during the day. We were a bit surprised to see him in what essentially looks like a bed sheet turned into a skirt. But it is a common garment of the men here (I don’t know what they are called) and we’ve seen many guys wearing them. However, it still prompted the response from Jen: “Dr. Subbiah! Put some pants on!”
Shoulders are revealing, but the midriff is not – We decided to go to the big department store downtown to look at clothing and to buy some little necessities we had forgotten to bring. While our van weaved in and out of the chaos of traffic we had some time to people watch. One of the most common outfits seen on the women here is a sari, which consists of a shirt with sleeves that ends below the bustline, a long skirt, and a wide ‘scarf’. While almost all the women here cover up their shoulders (the only bare shoulders I have seen are on billboard advertisements) many of them have their midriff and mid-back exposed. There is definitely a different attitude towards what is risqué here. And I must mention that (contrary to all rules of physics and gravity) many of these women were riding side-saddle on the back of motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic.
3 steps to buying an item – We made it to the department store that was teeming with people on all six levels. It was quite overwhelming and made it physically difficult to shop. Ruby showed us the women’s clothing section, and then took us to buy sheets for our bed. I picked out an Indian top to buy and held on to it, assuming we would eventually make it to a counter to pay. Ruby notices I am still holding the shirt, takes it from me, and hands it to one of the many employees walking around. Then, the same employee comes back without my top, but with a receipt that is handed to me. That receipt has to be taken to the cash counter, where you pay, and get yet another receipt. This second receipt is taken to the deliveries counter where you trade the receipt (to prove you paid) for your item, which is already wrapped up for you. It seems like a completely bizarre system, but apparently the reasoning is that if there was only one place to do everything it would get incredibly crowded. Just seeing how busy the store was on a non-festival day made me believe it.
No swimming at the beach – By the time we got out of the department store it was almost dark, but we went to go see the beach in Chennai for a few minutes. The sand to get to the water went on for about ¼ mile and was filled with various vendors and carnival rides for small children. We had already been told you could not swim in this water, but it is still shocking to me since I am so used to swimming being an integral part of going to the beach. It is the Bay of Bengal, but is so polluted by sewage and has such strong rip tides that it is dangerous to go in above your knees. Ruby, Ana, Wallace, Val, and I put our feet in the water at the shore. The water was very warm; warmer than the Gulf of Mexico (and perhaps now just as polluted). We held hands and screamed as the bigger waves got our clothes wet (minus Wallace - hand holding and screaming is not a very manly activity). From a vendor we bought an ear of corn that was roasted and then covered in lemon juice and pepper. It was an odd combination of flavors. By the time we got back to our rooms we were all pretty tired, so after a small dinner sleep came swiftly.