In Chennai

Well, a busride to Ahmedabad and a waaaay too early flight from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport put me in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu on the morning of the 15th.

Jean Marc's colleague Radhika has been kind enough to let us stay at her apartment while we are in Chennai. I took a prepaid cab to a theater where she said she'd pick me up - much more hospitality than someone she's never met deserves, I think. We spent the first few hours filling in the gaps that Jean Marc had left - and she even cooked me food! Talk about royal treatment! Her apartment is really nice, too. It's furnished all modern-like - a bit like I would imagine a hip 20-something's apartment in the USA to look like, actually.

A few well-placed phone calls and a lot of luck (or divine intervention) has scored us a VVVIP visit to the famous Tirupati Balaji temple. Too bad it means that Jean Marc won't get a chance to rest - we'll leave right from the airport (at like midnight) to drive all night to Tirumala so we can be there for darshan of Lord Venkateshwar at 6 AM.

More on our visit to Tirupati later.