Semester at Sea Fall
2006 Voyage 
Contents...
- Home Page
- My bio
- Multisited Ethnography Project: Youth Culture Across the World & Their Perceptions of the United States (Japan, Egypt, Croatia)
- Shipboard Interview
- Hawaii
- Japan: Notions of Japan
- Burma: Discussion &
Interpretation with burmese Monks
- India:
Rickshaw Rides and Revelations
- Egypt: American Politics
Through Egyptian Eyes
- Turkey: You Don't Know Me At
All, Do You?
- Croatia: Coffee and Policy
Dilemmas
- Open Letter
India
By John Meade
Rickshaw Rides and Revelations
On my
first day in Chennai I was driven around
with two of my friends in a rickshaw. Our driver’s name was
Madurai and he asked to be called Madu for short. I had been told
to be careful around rickshaw drivers. I had been told that they
are only out to cheat tourists and will more than likely rip you off
given the opportunity. With all that in mind, I was skeptical at
first when Madu asked to drive us around for the entire day.
There was something about this man that seemed different though.
I agreed to let him take us around the city for the day because he
appeared quite sincere. One of the first things Madu did for us was take us to lunch. We approached the restaurant from the back alley, which made me nervous, but once we got inside it was a really nice place. Madu ordered for us, acted as our translator, showed us the proper way to combine the food, and instructed us on how to eat with our hands. He was joking around with us the entire time and it felt for a while that he was more than just our driver. He had become our newfound friend in India.
Madu drove us around for the remainder of the day while we shopped and drank tea. He turned out to be rather helpful and we had a wonderful afternoon talking with him. When it came time for us to return to the ship Madu drove us back. On the drive back he asked us if we would like to join him for dinner at his home later in the week. We said that there would be nothing that could keep us from going. He was delighted and we said our goodbyes.
On the last night in Chennai we met Madu outside the port gate and he drove us to his home. He told us how his wife was busy preparing dinner for us and that his two teenage daughters would be returning home from school shortly. It really goes without saying that southern India is extremely poor. We all knew this beforehand, but nothing really prepared us for the shock of Madu’s apartment building. To get into the neighborhood we had to jump down from a broken section of the highway. We then walked through a courtyard area that was littered with trash, food waste, and human feces. We followed Madu up the stairs to his third floor apartment. We walked in the door and were immediately welcomed by his wife and smiling daughters and proceeded to sit down with them for our meal.
