Chennai. Not A Hole
Chennai street, Buddhist center in background.
Chennai Central smells like pee for about a kilometer around. I get off at Egmore. It’s another world. I’m not saying it’s fragrant, but Chennai is more green than Hyderabad or Bangalore. It’s actually kinda happening. I walk towards the Buddhist stupa at a Sri Lankan center. They tell me I can’t meditate there, they’re just showing dubbed cartoons in Sinhala. I keep going, find some breakfast. I’m really trying to avoid bathrooms in Tamil Nadu but I’m so hungry and thirsty all the time. I drink every juice I can get my hands on, from every street corner. It’s hot. Meet a friend for lunch. She has a car and we’re in the AC lane of life. Eat some designer paneer and go sari shopping. Chennai is not so bad at all.
The main complaint with Indian cities is that they’ve urbanized too fast, too dirty. The cities are full of concrete walls. If there’s a wall in India somebody’s probably peed on it. Chennai, by contrast, feels a bit older. There’s some ban on excessive billboards and you actually see a lot of trees. In the center of town the Ramakrishna Temple is open, you can wander into the serene leafy grounds and just meditate.
I’m not saying I could live there. It’s still too hot and too familiar. But I was wrong to badmouth Chennai before. It’s actually alright.
Today on the 
Janith has updated 
This is highly dubious. Miss Travel is a travel/social networking site that connects ‘Generous’ and ‘Attractive’ travelers. To, like, travel together, I guess. It all seems a bit like arranged prostitution and trafficking. This is part of a broader online trend to connect rich men to younger, attractive women. Sites like 
Sri Lankan domestics never say anything, they just stop coming. My maid just stopped coming and when I finally pressed her she said I needed to get a washing machine. I was hoping to ride this one out, but I’ve run out of underwear and I have no choice. I finally caved and bought a washing machine, from 
One thing I remember about India is pee smell ! :) But as you go north and away from cities, it seems to dissipate.