Christmas in India

Hello everyone!

Well, I made it to India. I arrived on Sunday the 17th of December late at night. I took a taxi from the airport to Hotel Sadha Siva in the suburb of Nangallanur, in the southwestern part of Chennai. I realized quickly that I had caught some kind of cold right before leaving Bali, and I've spent the last week recovering in isolation. Originally, I had booked the small hotel in an effort to save money. The plan was to spend a week alone to look for a job online so that by the time I moved out I would have some extra spending money to explore the city. Surely, a week straight of job searching would yield some kind of result.

I've learned that things rarely go as planned. Sick, culture shocked, and jobless, I was hit hard by reality last week. I'm such a social creature that the time alone was hard on my motivation, and I really only left the hotel room to gather food and water before sulking back in to my cave. When I couldn't be bothered to leave the room, I would deliver food through Zomato. Until yesterday, I felt demoralized and without direction. All I knew to do was spend every day scouring the internet for online jobs, binging Shameless on Netflix and filling my time with as much Duolingo and indoor calisthenics/yoga as I could stomach. I tried to be productive, but I was really just wasting my time.

However, another thing big on my mind has been finding the right place to study carnatic music for a good price. After all, the music was the sole reason I decided to come to India and stay for nearly 3 months. Part of this search prompted my only outing during my time at the hotel: a dinner with Kv. I was put in contact with my new friend Kv through Rohan, someone I met at the Generator in Miami who happened to be from India. When he found out I was going to Chennai, he gave me the number of his best friend who he said would be in Chennai around the same time. Sure enough, we sent some texts and before I knew it she was teaching me how to properly eat south Indian food in a nice restaurant in the city. Over dinner, we discussed how her aunt and cousin are both learned in Carnatic music. Her aunt has been one of my most auspicious contacts for music classes; I was delighted to hear that she would be willing to instruct me on the basics. Aside from that, Kv has been so incredibly helpful in making me feel welcome here. She's given me travel advice, recommended local music events and even sent me some online job opportunities. My dinner with Kv effectively got me out of my funk, and after a couple more days at the hostel I made the obvious decision to move locations.

Using the Hostelworld app I found Hostel Gandhi, a much more central location that costs just about the same as the hotel before. Why I hadn't discovered it first I don't know. Regardless, I checked out of Sadha Siva, took a Rapido auto (like Uber) to the hostel and checked right in here. Instantly, I was in a brand new place despite having travelled no more than 8 kilometers. One of the many lessons I've learned is just how amazing hostels are. For an extroverted backpacker traveling alone, it should be a no brainer to stay at hostels 100% of the time. Even though I still have no job, the move was undoubtedly worth it. Right away I made some great friends and explored the city with them. Yesterday, 7 of us went out for lunch and ate some delicious Dosa, then a smaller group of us went to see a traditional dance performance. I was delighted to see that the dance was accompanied by a group of 5 musicians. Seeing a real carnatic music performance only a few meters in front of me made the experience of coming to India to learn their music so much more real. The performance went on for multiple hours and im slightly embarassed to admit I paid little to no attention to the dancer.

The universe knew that a few good Indian friends is just what I needed. In a country as big as India, most of the travelers in hostels are themselves Indian, coming from here and there to explore or work abroad. This has effectively broken the wall I encountered (or more likely created myself) between the culture here and my own. It seems I got distracted from the "global citizen" spirit of travel and formed assumptions about the place and people before experiencing it for myself. 10 minutes of light conversation with my new besties was enough to remind me I have absolutely nothing to worry about. My new friends and I have infinitely more in common than not. Additionally, they've already started to teach me Tamil and Hindi and explain to me the various traditions and customs that I should know while living here. I've already grown so fond of Chennai and all its idiosyncrasies, and realized just how beautiful the city and its culture is. I had such a good day yesterday and went to sleep with a smile on my face.

Now I'm sitting in a comfy chair in the lobby of the hostel, and most of my friends are out exploring. I'm dedicating the next few days to a few pressing things: finding a job, choosing my music school and starting classes, and getting to know what will be my home for the next few months. I'm fairly confident this is where I'll stay for the forseeable future, until I feel like making an excursion elsewhere.

Most importantly, today is Christmas! It feels so strange to be away from home for Christmas, especially in a place where it's only lightly acknowledged. However, there are Christmas lights sprinkled around the city and advertisers in Santa costumes standing outside of a few big stores. I was pleasantly surprised to hear most of my hostel friends want to celebrate today, and we have plans to visit a nearby church later this evening for a Christmas service. I'm glad to have a small taste of the holidays, even if I am secretly relieved to step away from the incessant buzz of Christmas hype back home. Nothing changes the fact that I miss my family dearly and get a emotional seeing pictures of the tree and the decorations. Nevertheless, I can cross a tanning session in the beating sun on the morning of December 25th off my bucket list. I hope everyone reading this who celebrates Christmas feels the holiday spirit in a meaningful way.

Peace and love to everyone celebrating today!
Jonah