8 December 2005
Out to lunch
First, let me apologise for my ridiculous page numbering/day numbering scheme - do not panic, it has been removed, and now just links to the pages themselves. Also apparently I didnt close a link and this whole page was showing as a link, I cant see that now, so if its still broken, sorry!
Today was a full day of work, and i did not finish until about 7pm, so I am not venturing out tonight, additionally I believe something special is planned for tomorrow night, although I have no idea what, perhaps I have to address a joint sitting of the Indian Parliament with Bill Gates (who incidentally is in Chennai but his agenda is a highly guarded secret).
For lunch we went to a nearby hotel which is all vegetarian, and one of the most popular spots in Chennai, the menu is very large, I receive 2 dishes, paneer in a pepper lentil sort of soup, which is very nice, and really not peppery, despite everyones assurances that it would be too spicey for me. The main dish is masala dosa, which is what Chennai is really known for, it is a pancake made with rice flower, so it is very thin and crispy, rolled up with spiced potatoes inside.
Sounds good, and I have had it before in Adelaide, where I was assured the ones in Chennai are much better, and indeed they are, they are also 3 feet long! And it comes with no less than 10 accomponiments. I do my best to eat it all, but eventually I wave a white flag.
Some girls from one of the teams have joined us for lunch, and they are amazed that I went in an auto rickshaw by myself, commedning me on my bravery. After lunch the 3 of them proceeded to get on the one motorcycle, 2 of them side saddle, wearing sarees, and ride back up the road to work in amongst trucks, ox pulling carts, broken down busses and former parts of road which are now tests of courage in the form of boulders.
The best I can manage is to snap some photos out of the car window on the ride back to the hotel.
One thing you notice when driving around, is that oil companies have money no matter where you are, every single gas station is an impressive monument to shiny bright plastic and flood lights.
Another gas station.
The cake shop on the right is very popular, but everything is made from ghee, which is butter that is fried, and condensed and made more buttery, the photos are poor quality because theres lots of dust which the flash seems to light up.
There are billboards everywhere, this one is for clothes I suspect, but I have also seen a motorola razr billboard with an ox tied up to it, which I found quite amusing.
At first site you might think this bus isnt so bad, and you are right, theres no running boards with people hanging off the outside, but now consider that this is an interstate bus, it is probably making a 4 hour journey with people crammed in it like that.
Apparently their is another cyclone due to hit, with effects starting to be felt tonight, so far there has been no rain, and cyclones here do not have high winds, just lots and lots of rain. This threatens to put a stop to any weekend plans, so I am hoping nothing happens.
Should I be stuck in the hotel all weekend, star movies is showing 'robomania weekend' which has robocop1, 2 and 3, followed by I Robot, and the ad has the robot saying 'what could possibly go wrong?' - so thats where it comes from!
Right now however...the movie is death wish 4.