Day 1 Chennai - I found it!!

Wow...what a day...

Arrived at the airport at 1 am and made it to the hotel by 2:15 or so. The sites and noises are so different from what was customary, and I was glad that it was the middle of the night, where life around the city was slowed down a bit and the visual images of newness were mellowed a bit by the nighttime darkness.

My friend Bruce Kantner had been in India for a couple of weeks already, and in the city, he had everything set up perfectly so I was able to go right to the hotel and go right to bed. I slept soooo well. What a treat a good night's sleep is.

In the morning I got up and had a very tasty typical South India breakfast of itly and dosai with several side dishes...and I was ready for the day. Bruce went off to do his activities, and I took off on my journey to look for Gallitepet, what was a small village in the country 40 years ago.

I found it!! Gallitipet still exists, and the directions still worked. Go to the town of Kunrathur, ask about how to get to Gallitipet, and they will point down the road. As you go down the road, ask people you see where is Gallitipet. At some moment, the person will point to the ground, and not down the road. Then you know you have arrived.

Once there, the next challenge was trying to see if I could find anyone I knew, or who knew me. There was a group of teenage boys near the bus stop on the roadside, so I brought out my photos, and the ones from my friends who came here 20 years ago. The boys had a field day talking about all of the various people they recognized.

One boy was the nephew of a couple that I had throughly enjoyed while I was there, so he took me to their house. No one was home so we began walking through the village and eventually we ran into another family I was very close to and who were my neighbors 40 yrs back. Chinatambi had died, but his wife and many other family memebers were around. It was so much fun seeing people identify themselves and others in the old photos and then point out to me who everybody was today.

For hours, we shared some stories of births, deaths, sucesses and challenges. I shared some photos of my family (that my sister Cynthia had put together in a little book for me) and people asked many questions about my life now and since I was here.

Even though there were some people I didn't get to see, it was an absolutely successful day. I was so happy to have returned. My taxi driver Gopi even said the people there are so friendly and kind, and when he saw how happy I was he said "today you had a god-gifted day" and I think he was right.

I'll include a few specifics in another post when I can get back to a computer, so this is it for now.

Much love and thanks again to all who helped me take this journey.

Love, Sara