One of my favorite parts of the movie Garden State (other than the part where Natalie Portman’s African step-brother or whatever is dusting the living room for fingerprints) is when NP has that conversation with that other dude about wanting to do something that no one else has ever done and then he makes that funny finger movement and noise. Even before the Garden State soundtrack took angsty teenagers by storm to a whole new level of angstmania, I have kind of been obsessed with the thought that I could be doing something that no one else has ever done (in an ESPN-stats-this-is-the-only-time-this-has-ever-happened-in-Tennessee-on-a-Wednesday-during-a-snowstorm way). I mostly only think of this when I am listening to Randy Travis, though. Or George Strait. For example, when I am sitting on a plane in business class from Hong Kong to Chennai, India listening to Randy Travis. I wonder if anyone has ever done that before? Anyway it’d be really cool if no one ever had.
I am in India on business this week (that probably falls into the top ten category of things I never thought I’d say, slightly behind “order me a Coors light” which is the kind of desperate measure you have to resort to when you live outside of the Midwest). Specifically I am in Chennai (formerly known as Madras), which is on the SE coast of India on the Bay of Bengal and the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu. It has 7.5 million people and according to Wikipedia the second longest seashore in the world (for a city? I dunno…these are the kind of statistics you get if you rely on a “dictionary” written by your “peers”). Madras was founded in 1639 when the British East India set up a trading post here – one of their first of many. According to legend (aka Wikipedia) St. Thomas the Apostle visited Chennai, died and was buried under what is now known as the Basilica of St. Thomas (so it’s NOT just a clever name) in the district of Mylapore. The main language is Tamil. Have you ever seen it? Just draw a bunch of curlie-qs on a piece of paper in a horizontal line – that is what Tamil looks like. I’m told (by Wikipedia) that “Hindi is not widely understood and is instead met with varying degrees of hostility from most locals.” Another fun fact – the city also has a thriving Tamil movie industry known as Kollywood.
Actually I think Chennai will always hold a very special place in my heart. Today was the first day EVER that anyone picked me up at the airport with a sign with my name on it. BOOYAH! Now if only the Vikes could win the Superbowl, my life would finally be complete!
*Alternate Title for Lucy/Matt/Carrie/Alan: "Welcome...to...CHENNAI"
1 comment:
Show us a picture of what Tamil looks like, pls. Also, maybe a tiger?
Kthx.
(Btw, my money is on that there are at least fewer than five people that have flown business class from hk to chennai listening to randy travis.)
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