Day Two

We woke up and headed straight for the airport to catch a flight to Madras to see my aunt and uncle. Madras is about an hour away from Hyderabad by plane and is where my dad’s family is originally from. For breakfast (at the airport) we had idlis, vadas, and dosas. It was fantastic, as usual. The last time I came to India was five years ago, when I didn’t really appreciate or enjoy Indian food much. Now, every meal is a feast. Once again, Will liked the food, which is good because just like five-years-ago me he really was not too keen on Indian food before he got here. We reached Madras and met our driver, Augustine. Augustine is a very nice man who really likes to call me by my name, Christopher. Will and I concluded that he forgot Will’s name because every time he spoke to us, he said, “Christopher! Christopher!” We got on the road and I immediately saw the difference between Madras and Hyderabad. To begin with, Madras has much more traffic. Madras is also has much more vegetation than Hyderabad because it sits right on the Bay of Bengal. It’s pretty cool that cities so close together can be so different. The drive to our hotel was long but interesting, and on the way we saw a bus where all of the women were in the front and all of the men were in the back. My mom told us that that is the way it is here. Buses are usually segregated between men and women, just as men and women are divided in security at airports. Augustine dropped us off at the hotel and we met my aunt Usha and uncle Kannan. My aunt and uncle are characters. They are so kind and happy, and they have been married for about 50 years. They both (especially uncle Kannan) have lots of stories to tell which makes spending time with them enjoyable. You can tell that they love each other a lot, but they can’t help bickering about little things all the time. We had a fantastic lunch, onion pakoda with roti, chicken 65, and naan. Uncle Kannan asked if Will wanted to have some Indian beer (it’s called Kingfisher), who was reluctant at first but after lots of urging on from my aunt, my mom, and I, had some (hehe peer pressure). After lunch we went out into the 90-degree air for a drive with my aunt to see all of the sights and hear all of the sounds that Madras has to offer. The beach that Madras is on is the longest in the world, and is quite long as well. It is very dangerous to swim in the Bay of Bengal, though, because the rip currents are so bad that many people who try to swim in them drown. We also saw the Church of Saint Thomas, which is one of the three churches in the world that is on top of a buried apostle. It was absolutely gorgeous. The outside is a radiant shade of white that becomes even more radiant with the sun on it, and the inside has a high, beautiful ceiling and decorations all around. Augustine got out of his car and ran over to us because was very excited to show us around and take pictures of us because he is Christian. We then went to see the house where my grandmother used to live in which is right on the beach. After that, we got Indian sweets for both my dad and me. There is one store in Madras where you can get the stuff that my dad ADORES. He gets very excited when we bring it home because you cannot get it in America. We then went home because Will was starting to become dreary and it was almost dinnertime. Before dinner, Will took a nap and I sat and talked with my mom, uncle Kannan, and aunt Usha. For hours I talked to them about all kinds of things. When speaking with my aunt and uncle, you never hear the same story twice. You don’t even really hear the same kind of story twice. We woke up Will and sat down for dinner. We had basically the same thing as yesterday. My aunt made homemade dosas and we ordered tandoori chicken, butter naan, and butter chicken to eat. I ate a TON because it was amazing. We went back to the hotel and slept well with full stomachs.

Church of St.Thomas: 

Aunt Usha:

Uncle Kannan:

Augustine: