stares, stores and more

friday, i spent the morning trying to get my laptop fixed and then spent the rest of the day with family friends. i just spent the afternoon with them talking and catching up. i got back late and then spent the evening until i went to sleep back in the computer lab.

saturday was my first real day as a chennai explorer. i woke up and joined family friends on a visit to "globus" a fairly nice department store somewhere in central chennai. i ended up purchasing a few salvar kameeze separates that im hoping combined with my random kurthi tops will be enough indian clothes to get me through the summer. afterwards i went home, had lunch and then walked to the local spencer's grocery store in search of ice cream with shreeja, who is 8 years old. we couldn't find ice cream, but i was happy that i was able to find garnier fructis conditioner and other products that i had feared would not be available in chennai.

Later, I regressed back to my hostel, where my temporary roommates were planning on going on a shopping trip. So, of course, I skipped the reading and work I had to do and jumped in an auto with them. We stepped outside of the IFMR gates and walked down the street until we were able to flag down an auto. After bargaining for a few minutes, we got the price of 50 rupees, which was still over priced but better than other prices.

We sped past one very foul smelling river and traffic-packed intersections to our final destination: spencer mall.

We jumped out of the auto and into a multilevel shopping mall. I will say that I was impressed, because I didn't realize that Chennai had such a large mall. I know this is an ignorant assessment because the last time I spent more than 2 days in this city was almost 15 years ago. In any case, I walked by tons of retail stores including a bunch of American retailers like Guess, Florsheim and Giordano. The only reason i point them out was that the window displays in these stores were somewhat risque' as compared to the clothing styles of most people in Chennai, from what I have observed.

We stopped at regal shoes where I purchased a pair of over priced chapals (Hindi word for sandals). What struck me was the number of people available to help me find a shoe, select a shoe and try on a pair. Once i had purchased my chapals, we walked up to the food court. On our way we walked by an Australian bakery that was being manned by young men probably around the age of twenty. They gave us each a free cookie, hot from the oven; chocolate chip with sort of a coconut twist. Then we stopped by Sree's Sweet / Snack Shop. This is the kind of place you see in Edison, NJ, serving chat items and a range of home made sweets, the difference being that the food quality was really good. The counter service was also friendly and quick, which I really liked. (The woman manning the sweets counter allowed us to try two different kinds of sweets for free.) This is a good place for an unhealthy and tasty snack if you are in the neighborhood.

As we made our way to the door, I realized I had made a mistake and did not like my slippers. So, I went back to Regal Shoes to return the shoes. When I approached the manager he told me in no uncertain terms that I could not return items. His words were "I'm sorry madam, we do not return items only exchange." I was polite and let him know that I would be back when I had more time. (For you shoppers out there, just be warned that while stores can do refunds, they tell everyone that only exchanges are available.)
When I stepped back out into the central mall area, my roommates were gone. I looked around, walked through the door and asked one of the many store security guards milling around, but no one had seen them. I thought I would try to call them, when I realized that I didn't have my book of phone numbers. So, I roamed about trying to find them. As I traversed through the mall, I began to notice the overwhelming stares coming from families, groups of young teenage boys and less commonly from girls. Some of the groups of boys would not only stare but follow me around for a bit. I noticed that I was not the only person receiving such attention. Every Western tourist was being stared at in sheer fascination. I had not realized to the extent to which this cultural trait would be in existence. However, I will say that it did bother me because as a New Yorker, I am used to everyone minding their own business. What bothered me more was the sly under the breath comments that were uttered at everyone "different."

Later, after finding my roommates, we tried to catch a taxi outside of Spencer Mall at the main entrance at Mount Road. If you are ever in this area, it is heavily saturated with tourists which also means it is heavily overpriced. Every auto-karan (auto-guy) will charge exorbitant prices, so it is best to walk away from spencer's and catch an auto down the street. its frustrating and at times insulting the way you have to argue for a good price, especially when you get a mean guy who laughs and drives away. of course, its not really that bad if you compare the amount we would pay an nyc taxi cab driver. however, i think now i simply get a thrill out of arguing and yelling numbers out in tamil.

at this point, i am sort of weary of being a woman in chennai. i do not feel as free or confident as i would in new york. i will explore this in future posts.