Arrival

After a mammoth 24 hours of travelling from London, I finally arrived in Chennai (Madras) in the evening where I was met by the oven heat and a true Indian welcome as I peered from the cab to see the hectic, noisy city and remembered how overwhelming they really are. 

Following much debate with the driver over the location of my destination, I thankfully found myself at the right hostel down a dark and dusty road lined with street dwellers which seemed to be predominantly women and lethargic children. So at Broadlands Lodge I met Harriet, my colleague to be for the next 6 months who I had asked to wait for me in view of the flight cancellation and it was great to see a friendly face. After a catch up and realisation that I had arrived in India when I saw our bathroom across the way, finally after all the build up and frustration backed by a long journey I relaxed and slept deeply under the whirring fan...

8am rise to catch the bus for Pondicherry where we would be planning and conducting the volunteer orientation training week. The process of getting from the hostel to the station and beyond seemed to flow remarkably smoothly, despite a bit of haggling with the auto-rickshaw and getting stuck inside it with my oversized backpack. 3.5 hours and more sleep later we jumped out at the bus station in Pondi and called our landlord to signal our arrival. Outside the Handmade Paper Factory was our meeting point and where we were greeted by Mr P, a lovely man on a moped who to my surprise took us one by one on his vehicle showing the route to the flat along the way. The flat itself is more then I could have asked for really, nice living space comprising of two beds, kitchen and table (our office) and a bedroom including another 2 beds with access to balcony overlooking the neighbourhood and bathroom. Perfect, a place to call home!