Trichy 12/29 to 1/1

We took the train to Trichy. It was late, so we spent a lot of time at the station in Madras. The people-watching was excellent, of course, and I'm sure Dad and I were stars of other peoples' experience. Some things have changed a lot--even the cleaners have untattered clothing. But the old things are still in place--big country families squatting around a 10th the luggage we would require, (but that packed in sacks) eating meals they'd cooked at home. Not much western clothing. I wasn't in western dress either, though; I spent the entire trip in the 3 salwar-kameez I bought that morning, one pair of jeans, and two shirts. The journey was uneventful. Our car had a large Muslim family, and we spent the trip trying to sort relationships. The women and girl children were beautiful, and I wondered if that factored in to their marriage arrangement equations.

We got in to Trichy late and were deeply grateful for beer and food. (I got my hands dirty at the station in Madras, and didn't feel like eating anything that my hands would have to touch, even packaged snack food. It was about 7 hours. In the lost luggage: Purell)
We liked our Trichy hotel very much--The Breeze. The dining room was kind of generic northern, but breakfast of sambar and idlies every day was nice and the staff was pleasant and competent. (There was a waiter moved almost to tears by the thought of Dad's triumphant return to his homeland after his success and sacrifice (his word) in America. We let him believe it was Dad's first return--why spoil it? The next day, when we had come from Dad's house on Salai road he could barely speak.)
The next morning I think we were both thinking to ourselves, what now?, when, ta da, the phone rang, and it was Venkat! He had taken a night bus from Bangalore and was coming to the hotel to pick us up and take us to Tulasi's house.

Aside: One thing I love about India is riding around in auto rikshas. I love the view, the air, the driver's religious decorations, that you can get four people into one in a pinch, even the close calls. We had a driver at Mahabalipuram who would stop to lecture people he felt had poor traffic manners. In general the drivers were fair, and we worked out all our fares beforehand, so there was no stress about being cheated.

This is getting to be a long post, and I hope that Dad can fill in the Bleak House details. We had a wonderful time with Venkat and Tulasi. I find myself able to comfortably communicate with her, as she uses Hindi to communicate with her son-in-law, and my Hindi was warming up. It was nice to be able to pass casual comments instead of having to stick to only essential information. I always thought she was really friendly and welcoming, but now I find she is also smart and funny.

More to follow.