July 22, 2008, Chennai, India. We started the day off with a tour of the city. We went to St. Thomas Basilica. St. Thomas was buried here and then reburied later in life. They left one finger bone here. St. Thomas was stoned to death. For the Catholic Church is really is one of three special places, with one being the Vatican. There is a temple in town. It the last five days I have seen so many temples. We visited an IIT college which is India's equivalent to our MIT. It is interesting that only 1.5-2.0% of the students that apply get in. Entrance is based soley on an entrance exam. Your grades and activities do not count.
As we drive through town, you see many poor street people. I have decided not to take pictures of this part of India but I thought I would descibe some of what I saw. I saw a man with elephantitist of the leg which was really weird. I see lots of legless and armless people. People with special needs and physical problems are not something you see here in schools that often. Only now are they addressing special need students. You see lots of people literally living on the street, sleeping on the streets, begging on the streets, etc.
As we tour India, we see allot of woman getting independence. Woman are starting to work and in some spots you see woman out at night (near malls). The motorcycle is the minivan of India. We have a competition among the Fulbrighters to see who can get a picture of the most family members on a motorcycle. SO far the record is five with mom and dad and three kids. I have seen woman driving alone and driving other woman which is a big deal. I saw one woman with an IPOD on, a cell phone strapped to here sari,riding her motorcycle. It was pretty unique.
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