Sorry to have not blogged in so long…we’re having a hard time getting a daily source of internet in Chennai!

I am officially M.I.A….





Missing In Arizona, that is, and beginning My Indian Adventure! Hey-o, Wordplay!




The Journey: Phoenix—>Chicago, Chicago—>London, London—>Chennai
The trip to Chicago was not too bad…I was lucky enough to be able to travel with friends. Meet Tulika and James!


Tulika, James and I traded in our assigned seats, which were none too shabby, for three seats together. These seats happened to be located in the very last row of the plane. Our efforts were rewarded with this stunning view.



Much more impressive, however, was the fact that our co-pilot’s name was John Connor!!!!!! (For all you Terminator followers out there)

In Chicago, James jetted off to catch his connecting flight while Tulika and I became acquainted with a friend the three of us had met on the plane. This is Nick…raised in Germany, currently residing in the States and now joining the Navy!



He was a pretty nice guy with ridiculously bad short-term memory, at least when it came to remembering Tulika’s and my. He made up for this by promising to buy Tulika and I whatever food we wanted. We wanted Starbucks. He threw in some additional mango Odwallas. Nick also gave us some clothes to give to some underprivileged people in India. Like I said, nice guy.



Unfortunately, we could not get the mango Odwallas past security. We left them on a food court table as potential presents for select thirsty travelers.

The rest of our time traveling was relatively uneventful: Long flights that our minds tricked us into beliving to be much long, uncomfortable seats that really were uncomfortable, some decent in-flight movies, many, MANY crying babies, a few fidgety five-year-olds, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Day ONE in Chennai

Immigration in Chennai took far too long, with the majority of people unable to understand the concept of a uniform line and instead choosing to form five or six separate lines that somehow, at various points, formed into one big blobbish, line-ish kind of thing in the front.

In any case…once we proved we didn’t have swine flu (which has now hit India!!…allegedly brought in by infected Americans) and that we were in fact the people in our passports, we were free! Unfortunately, there were some lost baggage issues for Tulika and another IAPA volunteer that had arrived on the same flight. After landing just after three, we did not leave the airport until, I believe, just after 5 in the morning.

Tulika and I were annoyingly cheerful and awake despite the late hour …and chose exploring our surroundings over the more practical sleep option. With one of our coordinators in India, Seema, we walked the area around our hostel to get our bearings.

We found a grocery store, some internet cafes sprinkled here and there, a pizza hut, and a couple beauty parlors. But the best find by far was, get this…an APPLE STORE! I had no idea the apple craze was hitting India! It warmed my heart just a lil’ bit. I still have yet to go in, but it looks amazing!

That same evening, most of the volunteers went out to a club. It was pretty small…our group by far dominated the scene and the dance floor…and IT. WAS. AWESOME. That’s all I have to say.



Much more has happened since then, but I have limited internet time! I’ll have new entries up as soon as possible!

Later Alligators,
M.I.Anjali