India Wins Again!

3/13/08

Today is our free day, and we planned to take an auto rickshaw into the city and go to the market to shop for souvenirs. We were cautioned on the ship that many things that should be simple are difficult in India, and that it is best to not set your expectations very high. The saying here when things go wrong is, "India Wins Again!" Well, that's the kind of day we had today.

We had no trouble hiring an auto rickshaw, but we were absolutely unable to convince the driver to take us where we wanted to go (the market).

It was too far and cost too much money, he said, but he would take us to a better place! Luckily, we passed by the Basilica of St. Thomas the Apostle, so asked the driver to let us off there instead. "Okay," he said, "you flay". (We thought he wanted pay, but evidently he was encouraging us to PRAY.) He followed us into the tomb, helpfully pointing out all the relics, statues and other things he thought we might find interesting (in addition to a piece of Thomas and the arrowhead that did him in, there are relics of four or five other saints – pieces of saint that look just like dried apple slices…) As with all living temples in India, we had to take off our shoes before entering the sanctuary.

Even though I go to St. Thomas Church in Chesapeake, I hadn't known that Doubting Thomas had ended his ministry in Chennai (52 AD) preaching the Good News to the Indians until a native took his life with a spear. There is a lifesized diorama of this event in the tomb, also a lifesize image of Thomas reposing peacefully under a glass altar in the chapel. I'm glad we got to see it.

Back in the auto rickshaw, we tried again for the market, but instead were delivered to a high priced government shop that sold oriental rugs and diamonds (a little out of our price range). We found put aferward that the rickshaw drivers receive a commission for every tourist they deliver to one of these shops. By this time we were grimy, short-tempered and more than ready for lunch, so we asked to be taken to a restaurant. At this, the driver said we were costing him too much gas, and he couldn't hang around anymore. He tried to get us to pay 400 rupees (we had originally agreed to 200 for the whole day), but he went away for 100. ($1 = 40 rupees) A relief!

After a lovely curry lunch, we walked back onto the street and were immediately assailed by several new rickshaw drivers, and we thought we'd have better luck. After choosing a promising one and agreeing on a price, we were taken to ANOTHER rug and diamond shop! At this point we gave up trying to get to the market, and asked to be taken back to the ship. At this, the driver pulled over and said he was out of gas! We flagged down another driver and tried again to get home. This guy took us to where we could see the ship several busy streets over, but would not take us any closer, and wanted full pay. We got out and started to walk on the grimy road, with him driving alongside demanding money. Eventually he got tired and tootled off as we marched grimly on.

We had more than 3 miles to get back to the port (not a long distance for the hiking Franza McClenons, but not in this environment) so we got into a fourth rickshaw and repeated our request. We got as far as the railroad tracks, but a train was coming so the driver said we could go no further. Luckily the train was a short one, so as we were arguing the gate lifted and he agreed to take us to our dock. Finally! Big Blue never looked so good!

As we trudged up the five flights to the gangway, the sky turned an ominous gray, and within minutes after we boarded ship the skies opened in a pelting rain. India Wins Again!