Arrived in Chennai

Family at the beach getting wet in their sarees.
No bikinis in India?

This thing is heavier than it looks.
The traditional dancer, balances this copper ball
on his head while kicking his legs.

This little girl dancer had gorgeously decorated hands.

Another beautiful Taj Hotel with garden courtyards and infinity swimming pools. We were greeted, again, with fresh fruit juice at the door and a huge buffet lunch. No matter how much exercise I get, the food is so rich and plentiful here, I won’t be losing weight from Delhi belly.

In the afternoon, we ventured out by ourselves to the beach and soaked our feet in the Bay of Bengal. Quite warm and relaxing and, of course, no bikinis at this beach. There were a scattering of Indian families, lots of boys in black briefs wading in the water, and a few girls in colorful sarees taking a dip. The shape of this beach was unlike I’d ever seen. From the parking lot to the edge of the water, it was about 400-500 meters (1/4 of a mile). A really large, “deep” beach and long. I couldn’t see the ends of the beach in either direction.

Our evening performance was from a dance troupe taught by a Fulbrighter alumna. She went from Chennai to San Francisco and taught performance art management at Golden Gate University. Her Indian troupe was fabulous and performed many different types of tribal and traditional dances. The hand, eye, and arm movements are so exact, rhythmic and emotional that it was easy to infer the stories that were told. We also got little lessons about what each hand gesture and movement meant and how they expressed each emotion.

Later that night, some of us went back to the beach because we heard it comes alive at night. Not really. There were a few more people at the parking lot eating vendor food and families having picnics. But, there was a full moon and there was hardly anyone at the water’s edge. There was a slight warm sea breeze. It was quiet. And we just watched and listen to the waves crash against the sand. Super peaceful night. We couldn’t hear any honking or people chattering. Just the waves. It reminded me of a Friday night at Half Moon Bay J.