January 22, 2001 - Things to do, places to go with the kids.
January 22, 2001 - Things to do, places to go with the kids. |
 |
Madras Madras is the fourth largest city in India. Bombay is the modern and progressive city. New Delhi is the home of the bureaucrats while Calcutta is the home of the poor. |
Madras is the country bumpkin city with no special attractions. Yet it contains everything if you look hard enough. Here a man is milking a bullock in the streets of Madras in the area called Triplicane. Above is the traffic you see everywhere in India. |
 |
|
Outside the student lodge where I stayed, I could look out and see the variety which is India. In the Triplicane area of Madras, you can walk a few block and see all of India from cricket stadiums to colleges to private sports grounds to prisons to temples, etc. |
Dinning Out India food, specially southern India food from Madras, it unlike anything you have ever seen. Vela likes different foods. Therefore, if you eat your meals with her, you will see a wide variety of foods. Even though I try to teach the kids to buy only as much food as they can eat, the kids always seem to end up with food on their plates. Therefore, I rarely order anything at a restaurant since I always end up eating what is left over. |
Here we are waiting for a movie to start so we went to a nearby restaurant with lots of food at very high prices... specially the fish. |
|
Swimming Pool Since bathing is such a problem for the kids, one of the best things to do with the kids is to take them swimming. The closest swimming pool is at Marina Beach. You can walk there if you want but initially you will want to take an autorickshaw. You must ask the kids how much the autorickshaw will cost. This can be by the meter (such as "meter plus 10 rupee") or a fix amount. I prefer a fixed amount because then the drive will take the shortest route. The Corporation of Madras Marina Swimming Pool is a huge swimming pool run by the city. The costs about 15 rupee for an hour but this changes based on the season. The starting times are posted so if you arrive at the wrong time, you must wait. The problem with the pool is the huge crowds with boys... inside and out. |
The Beach Right next to the Marina Beach Swimming Pool is the Marina Beach. Because of a very swift undertow, swimming is not a good idea but the kids enjoy wading. Also many vendors have stalls there. The kids love to shoot BB guns at balloons. Of the many food vendors, there is an occasional vendor which has good quality fresh fish which is cooked while you wait. Expensive but worth it. |
|
 |
MGR Children's Pool The pool here looks much bigger than it is. It is only a children's pool but it has a slide. Another option is to go to private pool next door for film stars. It costs about 100 rupees for the kids and 200 rupees for adults. Here are Vela and Prabhu at the kids pool. |
Shopping When I arrive in Madras, Vela will be dressed in rags. Any good clothes that she has will be stored in a metal box for special occasions. Therefore, the first thing I do after getting the kids breakfast is to go shopping for clothes... and a bigger metal box. |
 |
 Here is a first class ticket for a motion picture. Note the seat assignment, which is not assigned based on the best seats first. Instead, it is simply from left to right... worst seats first. |
Motion Pictures More motion pictures being made in India than in Hollywood so everyone goes to the movies. Most movies that Vela loves are very simple movies with lots of fast humor. I prefer the serious drama such as Hey!Ram which is an extremely powerful look at the history of modern India. Available in English. |
Ice Cream Parlor The one place that the kids always enjoy is the ice cream parlor. You can buy ice cream at almost any street corner at small ice cream shops. However, here is a very fancy place were I take Vela and Mari for ice cream so they can show off their new dresses. The waiter has relatives in California in the central valley. This particular parlor is for the very rich of India and so has excellent air conditioning. Poor Vela freezes if the temperature is lower than 75 Fahrenheit because she has absolutely no fat on her body. |
Vela and Mumtaz showing off their new dresses. The waiter has relatives in California. |
|
 |
Spencer Plaza Spencer Plaza is the first place to go to exchange money and go grocery shopping. American Express has an office for exchanging travelers checks and this is where the kids can pick up Money Grams that I send them. Spencer Plaza is a good place to go window shopping but it is too expensive for the average tourist. Also, if the kids are not well dressed, they will not be allowed in the building. Nilgris is better for food shopping. However, the milk is brought from Bangalore in hot trucks so milk is not as good at Nilgris as local milk. |
Go To The Dentist I found a good dentist for the kids. She is Doctor. Hema.N. She works at Dr. (Mrs.) Geetha Shreekar, B.D.S Consultant Dental Surgeon & Inplantologist 4424517 |
Picture coming soon. |
|
|
You can travel with the kids. However, they really don't like to travel. They just want the clean clothes I buy them for the trip and to put on makeup. We went to Thirunomalai which is a town westerners like to visit because of the Ashrams. This is about 3.5 hours from Madras. On the bus, things start out good but soon the buss is dreadfully crowded and Vela falls asleep. The expensive room that we rented had a TV and the kids stayed rooted to the spot. (See picture right.) For the kid's return trip, I rented a private car to take the kids home while I stayed a few days. The bus going to Madras is horribly crowded. That is Vela's brother in the driver seat... just for the photo. |
|
|
"Outside Rounding Going" As I said, Madras has no great sites to see. Most people stay only one day in Madras. Yet there is a lot to see if you look for it. It is a good place to see how people live. Note: when the kids want to go off by themselves to visit people they know (usually people who own TV sets), the kids use the expression "Outside Rounding Going". When you think about it, that is a very good description. |
|
Amusement Parks
