Well, it has been quite some time since my last blog entry and I know many people have been eagerly awaiting my next post with bated breath. LOL! I will say that a lot has happened in the last few weeks, so I have a lot of writing to catch up on. The highlights will include a good bit of traveling as I left off in Hyderabad, but since that time have been to and from Chennai, to and from the U.S. and back to Chennai again. It has been a hectic few weeks, but I have been blessed by getting to see my family and celebrating my sister’s wedding. I will begin where I left off by sharing some of the highlights (both good and bad) of my first trip to Chennai.
Apart from the beginning and ending, this part of the adventure was rather intriguing. The trip to Chennai quite nearly was not to be. My predecessor who has been so very instrumental in helping me make the difficult adjustment to life in India made the travel arrangements for us to fly to Chennai. Unfortunately, we were not able to book the same flight, but the flights were spaced rather closely together so we did not have to arrange separate transportation to the airport. That’s nice because the Hyderabad airport, which is quite modern also happens to be quite a distance from the city. It reminds me a lot of the commute to the Denver airport. The drive is more interesting as it takes you through the heart of the city and then a beautiful area of picturesque rocky hills dotted with mostly residential homes and apartment complexes. We had not made it much into the heart of the city before we ran into what I was afraid could have been quite disastrous. As we were approaching a T intersection, out driver chose to pass the line of traffic on the left, which in India is not an unconventional means of circumventing traffic. Also, in case you did not know, the Indians drive on the left side of the road (one of the consequences of having been a British colony). So as we approached the intersection, a lone rickshaw was speeding up the road leading to the “T” and clearly intending to merge into the flow of traffic with us. At this point, our driver thought we could beat him, but to do so had to pass on the left side of a truck that blocked our view. Just as we got past the truck, we were able to see why he was stopped, but by then it was too late. A swarm of turning motorcycles had managed to work their way into the intersection and the floodgates opened right as we arrived on the scene. They had not seen us any better than we had seen them and in an instant, we hit a motorcyclist. It was not as bad as you may think because we were not going very fast. It was more like we bumped into him and tipped over the motorcycle, but nonetheless, the ensuing scene was quite eye-opening. My driver got out to help up the guy up, but no sooner had he done so and the guy suddenly wanted to engage in fisticuffs with my driver. He got a few free swings in and then it was over, but before we knew what had happened the motorcyclist got in the car with us and had us drive him to the hospital. As he got out of the car limping, I noticed that he was bleeding from a large gash on his left foot. Of course it couldn’t have helped that he was wearing flip-flops not to mention the fact that he wasn’t wearing a helmet! At any rate, the subsequent hours were rather tense as a friend of the motorcyclist asked for a 30,000 rupee payment (approximately $650 U.S.) to which my buddy said “no, thanks”. We agreed to give insurance and contact information, but those requests were met with disdain. Fortunately, we had a contact at the consulate who was able to send an Indian national who could try to diffuse the situation. At this point my buddy had already missed his flight and I was about to miss mine, so I caught a taxi to the airport and let them sort the mess out. When it was all said and done, the settlement ended up being 15,000 rupees, which was still a lot considering the guys hospital bill was about 5,000 rupees. The other option was going to court, but that would mean our driver would be put in jail until the trial. His family who showed up at the police station for the negotiations (and are largely supported by his wages) were okay with that, but that would not have been a good solution so the 15K rupee fee was paid in full. Now it seems appropriate to save the rest of my Chennai story for another post…
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