Chennai, India Awakens

It's been a bona-fide struggle getting up in the morning. This is due to a heavy schedule, malaria medication, not having a port hole and the gentle rocking of the ship. I envy those that can burn both ends and not need more than 5 hours. I'm not one of them. However, great anticipation and motivation for India programmed me to hurl my body out of bed at 5AM for an early sunrise. As in the states, it's autumn in Chennai but they call it the Monsoon Season. A cloudy gray overcast sky made for an uneventful sunrise but who cares, this is India - home of the caste system, 5 foreign films a day, Naan with Chicken Marsala, yoga, sanskrit, Indian Prince Rama and nuclear proliferation. Some good, some bad, but for God's Sake (I mean Shiva's Sake) it's India! The heavily industrial port is laden with concrete, steal towers and blue-suited workmen. There's a welcoming community of Dalit women (untouchables) sweeping water puddles and dust from the empty lot where we disembark. There are 5 Indian musicians playing a tabla set, sarod and tambura (Indian instruments). There are 15 military officials armed but with friendly happy faces. At first glance, it may be poor and grossly overpopulated but surprisingly, it's meticulously clean. There's no garbage, no filth and no unsightly refuse anywhere to be found. People are working and taking pride in whatever job they have. Unlike the townships of S. Africa, favelas of Brazil or barrios of Venezuela, Indians of all economic and social classes are working, yes working. Suddenly, I find myself a proponent of the caste system. It's not just the caste system though, Indians have a great diversion of unsanitary polluted areas, it's part of their religious and ethnic make-up. If only western society and democracy could instill this philosophy, the US could especially benefit.