Rail testing

A fun part of where I intern/job shadow is field trips to the rail yard in Tirumalpur. It is an hour and a half west of Chennai in a more rural area.  I really enjoy the change of scenery and the open skies. We go to this section of rail because it is not heavily used, which gives us time to run the equipment we are testing the rails with.

The one train that reaches the station.

The trolley with the railway engineers posing for a shot

The ultrasonic sensors that check rails for standard features and potential flaws (the water is sprayed on the rail)

The whole set up. The testing for the day was blessed (not sure if that is the right way of putting it)

close up of the burning 

incense

more playing around

I had woken up extra early to play cricket (at six in the morning we were to meet) but my friend never showed up with his cricket gang.  All in all it ended up being a long 12 hour day, but it was fun to experience the rail testing.  Right when I got back we left for Pondicherry.

Sometimes you really just need a vacation...

     After driving home from the rail testing excursion in a full car, I really needed some personal space and room to stretch.  Instead I hopped directly into a van with ten people.  This was because the Michigan State kids had decided to accompany Stephen, Autumn, Rachel and I on a weekend trip to Pondicherry.  The drive was fun and filled with music, which made the squished drive more than bearable. 

 We arrived in Pondi at around 11pm.  Our driver didn't know the city but the place he gave up on driving happened to be a short walk to the youth hostel.  There, the manager was extremely helpful.  Apart from letting us check in after they were closed down, he sent a car to get us dinner.  That night we sat on the rocky beach to talk, ate our midnight dinner, and ended up sleeping on the roof to avoid the heat of the hostel.

wrong lighthouse

Early the next morning we left for the heart of the city.  Instead, we ended up on the opposite outskirt of the city.  We had asked to go to the old lighthouse, but all our driver heard was lighthouse.  We ended up getting a little exercise, and stumbling upon the best place you could hope to stay.

Le E'scale (or something French) is a hotel an Englishman owns in the French Colony of the city.  He referred to each of his guests by their nationality, which got quite hilarious as he explained to us how he would rearrange his guests to serve us best.  He moved the Americans in room 5 to room 2, and once the French couple got back from lunch he would move them from room 6 to 3, and that French in room 3 had to checkout first.  With his pace of speaking on an accent, a confusing jumbling of guests, and several qualifiers on his sentences, we all had something to laugh about later on.

Each floor had two rooms and a common area. Nicholas (the owner) was able to give us the fourth floor, and he put 4 additional beds between the rooms.  The facilities were absolutely amazing, and amongst 10 people, very affordable.

The town was extremely lush and the buildings all very well maintained.

We did some walking on Saturday.  Right next to our hotel was a very old Cathedral.  The sign hinted that it might of been the third attempt to build one that wasn't destroyed shortly after completion back in the 18th century. That day we also got some amazing bread, coffee, and sweets.

Gandhi memorial on the beach

yupp.

awesome roof of our hotel to relax

maybe hard to tell, but every roof is optimized for relaxing

moooo
For daytime fun we went to the beach.  We passed some really pretty places on our way to swim.

palm trees

We took a trip to Auroville on Sunday.  It is an experimental community that represents a hundred different countries (a hundred different countries' hippies that is).  They focus on different types of housing, architecture, food sources, spirituality, learning and cultural research.  I was less interested in all of things and more interested in climbing the weird buildings though.  Maybe next time.

All in all, it was a great trip. Thumbs up for Pondi.

Small Little Indian Wedding

   
     For the last couple days (when I wrote this a week ago) I had been losing sleep over attending an Indian wedding.  All twelve of us were invited impulsively by a professor we met with on the first day.  He seemed to have invited us to be polite, but we jumped on the invitation to attend the reception.  Everyone got super excited to attend; the girls got sarees and the guys bought kurtas.  These items are traditional ethnic clothes.  I was hesitant to buy one because for the most part everyone in Chennai wears very modern western clothes.  Ten minutes before we left for the reception I jokingly mentioned to my roommate Stephen that everyone there would be wearing western clothes and we would look like overanxious tourists decked out in ethnic garb.  Turned out I was predicting the future and not joking.

     The wedding reception was held in a beautifully decorated tent behind a hotel in a different part of the city.  However, the first thing I noticed was not the tent, but rather the reception men wearing button-downs smiling at us.  Our friend from work Rajasenkar looked like he was holding a laugh in as he offered us incense and flowers.  The women attending the wedding were wearing more traditional clothes (this is the case day to day too), yet all but three other men at the reception were wearing suits and standard western business-casual.  Lucky for us, the social awkwardness of our dress was self imposed.  After ten minutes we relaxed and it seemed as if most people appreciated that we dressed up.

     The most unfortunate part of the wedding is that I felt like we took a little of the night from the newlyweds.  The wedding filmer and photoman definitely took enough film of our group, not to mention the photos that were taken by the group of the group.  In the end though, it was just a reception to give gifts, make small talk, and eat food.  The people at the wedding were friendly and the couple was very grateful of our presence and gift.

Newlyweds and Bride's Father

Hamp is a boss

We had the most awesome van

Bird's eye view

A wonderful part of India is that there are not too many locked doors.  Stephen and I found out the roof of our hotel offers amazing views of the city.

To the North^

Some construction (there is so much construction) near our hotel.

below: more pretty Chennai

Walkin'

 I got access to a new gate at IIT that is much closer to where I go for work.  The coolest part is that it takes me through a part of campus that I have spotted an albino Blackbuck deer a couple times.  It has long curled horns and is pure white.  Other highlights include a really green swamp, a nice paved road, and an interesting view of the hotel.

lil baby deer

view of the hotel from the walk back

swamp!

cool rickshaw

Adventure to Velachery

     On Thursday we decided to take the train South, something we had never done.  The southern part of the city compared to our area is much different.  Although still very much a city, it has a more suburban feel.  Our walk took us through one of the most crowded areas of the city we had experienced.  Masses of people were shopping at markets, waiting for buses, and eating street food.  Unfortunately I got somewhat distracted and forgot to take pictures once we arrived.

The curvy section is the train- the rest is walking.

See? no tall buildings

Right outside the Velachery station (It's the end of the line)

After walking for awhile we got quite hungry.  In India, people eat later in the evening than in America.  So, when we showed up to a restaurant at seven, we were the only people there.  The hotel was off the beaten path but was extremely nice; they opened early to accommodate us.  A funny thing that happens in India is overly friendly/helpful waiters.  At this restaurant and some others, waiters will get frustrated watching you eat and they will show up to mix your curry and rice for you, or manipulate your food in some way, in an attempt to help you enjoy it more.  Luckily, they stop just short of putting it in your mouth for you.  And, always, they enjoy watching you eat (especially if they helped you mix it).  It is always a very friendly gesture and is always extremely hilarious.

Two of the six waiters are seen here watching us eat- the other four are watching too but didn't make the frame.

We ran into Ronald on the way home

Mall Fun

We've gone to the mall a few times to try and watch a movie.  Unfortunately,  the movies have bewen sold out each time.  The mall is really really expensive and nice.  

The KFC marketing here is a little bit different than in America.  Still really hilarious and awesome though.

 My personal favorite part of the mall is the Do's and Dont's list.  Some are hilariously random, others really unimportant.  Enjoy reading them.

Do not Panic and cause pandominum, confusion or chaos.

Do not push or trip the person in front of you, creating a stampede, which may cause the loss of your life...

Do not talk in loud voices....

Do not attempt to use the elevators, they will not work.
...however Precious as nothing can be more precious                  than LIFE.

Do not do anything that is wrong do only that which is right.

If engulfed in heavy smoke, hit the desk...