Another quiet day...

#ibmcsc India 14

Not too sure what to make out of this. I heard some commotion with bells ringing down below and so quickly had a look. It's a man pulling a donkey (or cow?), going from door to door, approaching everyone nearby and apparently is intimidating enough to get money out of people. One lady had to get out of her car and fumbled through her purse (away from the man though), to get some cash for him.

Friday was a nice day. Sunny and a bit warm again. I stayed at the apartment to work, enjoying the view outside the balcony -- green leafy trees, with the occasional honking horns. Funny how we are "immune" to the horn now. I also noticed less of the wiggling head. We were fascinated in the first few days of how the Indians would wiggle their head from side to side. I started to even do that as well.

Later in the evening, Susan and I went shopping at the Pondi Bazaar - a huge marketplace with lots of shops. It's a combination of swapmeet stalls with buildings with several levels of shops. Too bad that I forgot my camera and thus did not have a chance to capture the liveliness of that place. We had dinner at a restaurant specialized in Chettinad cuisine. Being non-adventurous, I chose the most familiar dish -- mutton (lamb) biryani (I thought it was bryani!!). There are 4 servers for the two of us! The waiter was very attentive, making sure that our plate is always filled with food -- so naturally I ate too much! The porotta bread is very good -- I have another one to add to my Indian comfort food now.

Susanna and I are good match. We both like going to the local markets! I bought a number of food items including peanut butter! This is for the guys in the team who may want some PB & J sandwiches... I need to resupply my fruit basket. There are fruit cart vendors around any corners. We still have communication problems. A majority of Chennai people do not speak English; so we have to point and use hand gesture a lot. We had fun and will return to this shopping bazaar again for sure.