A Bit of Local Color in Chennai

Overseas Adventure Travel limits the size of its groups to fifteen which allows us numerous opportunities denied others but also can "overfill" itineraries, too. OAT's "Soul of India" tour is in its first year and still feeling its way. There's so much to see, anyway, that the winnowing process would under the best of circumstances take some time to accomplish.

Our first day being "out and about" took us to an Armenian Catholic Church, a drive through Chennai passing by important relics of the British Raj and the extremely wide beach bordering the eastern edge of the city plus a stop at St. Thomas Basilica. We didn't get out of our bus to visit Fort George or the city's best known Hindu temple because we'll see better examples later on in the trip. The standard guide books tell us that there's not much to see in Chennai (although the shopping - for silks and cotton fabric, particularly -- is topnotch), and we would have to agree, especially if other stops are on the traveler's agenda.

The Armenian church WAS interesting, if only because of its age and ethnic association: it was begun in 1712 by members of a merchant community which had recently immigrated to India from Iran. The recently renovated church building itself dates to 1772 and reminds us that the story of India contains many, many distinct historical threads involving migrations, invasions, conquering Greeks and Mughals, colonies established by the British and the French and the Portuguese and the independent development of hundreds of local traditions, languages, habits and customs.

Our luxury bus coach (each of us has our own window seat) then headed off for Pondicherry, a former French colony further south along the coast of the Bay of Bengal. We stopped for lunch at Dakshina Chitra, an independent effort by the Madras Craft Foundation to preserve examples of traditional domestic architecture found in the South.

The complex includes examples of homes, workshops and retail buildings from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Lee would have loved to have had a couple hours more here to explore the many buildings available had to make due with a rapid photographic survey.

In Pondicherry at the Atithi Hotel that evening, we gathered poolside for our Welcome Dinner under a full moon reflected in the nearby Bay of Bengal with wedding fireworks sparkling away on the horizon, a full first day behind us with much more to come in the days ahead.

Our group is made up of VERY seasoned OAT travelers. One couple has twenty OAT tours under their belt! This being our third actually puts at the bottom of the list. The group's makeup is unusual in that we are six couples with only three single women among us, a ratio uncommon is Lee's experience leading groups for the Smithsonian to Japan.

One couple arrived for the tour at 7:00 AM following a delayed flight. Six folks came from the pre-tour trip to Sri Lanka. One of them went off to have her knee x-rayed after injuring it the day before. Others arrived early as did we, but our's was clearly the best pre-departure story! Our guide, Srinivasa Lakshmanan, is first rate; with twenty years experience, he knows EXACTLY how to handle groups like ours and has already demonstrated his mastery of the craft involved in keeping us informed and focused.

Not that this seems all that difficult. Yesterday we were given the chance to descend into St, Thomas' tomb beneath the church bearing his name. We would have to remove our shoes to do so - which, in many cases, would have brought groans and a general unwillingness to take advantage of this (once in a lifetime) opportunity. Nobody even hesitated! We all chose to make the effort - that's what real travelers are like, and we all seem to fit that profile.

We're off to a great beginning!