As I was beginning to fear that my visit to Chennai was going to be a fruitless affair, lady luck decided to smile down on me. While the encounter was not typical or with a pro, I thought I’d post with the intent of the importance of keeping a positive attitude and never saying never. As the person concerned is a definite civilian, I am not at liberty to divulge any contact information – sorry guys.
I literally bumped into Mena (not her real name) by chance. I was backing away from a shelf not realizing she was seated on a short stool behind me and ended up tripping over her. She was very gracious in accepting my profuse apologies for my clumsiness. At this point I realized that her command of English was pretty good. I returned with a box of chocolates as I felt kind of bad – I fell fairly hard on her and it must have hurt; plus I thought she was kind of cute and very sweet about the whole thing.
Mena seemed really pleased with the gesture and we had brief exchange of names etc. At this point I asked if she could recommend a place close by for lunch and what she thought would be a reasonable tuk tuk fare – damn tuk tuk drivers jack up the price as soon as they know you are not from around here. She said that she’d be on her lunch break in about 15 minutes and she could show me a place close by.
So I hung around until she was on her break and we ended up getting some western style pastries at a bakery and standing outside eating out lunches. I offered to treat her to lunch but she was very insistent she pay for her share. During the course of our conversation I divulged that I was here for work and was looking for something fun to do on an afternoon off. Mena asked if I’d been to see the stone carvings at Mahabalipuram and I said no. She said she had the day off the following day and was game to go if I wanted. Thinking that I’d at least get some sightseeing done in decent company, I happily agreed.
The following day, we took rented a vehicle and headed off to see the stone carvings. I tell you those stone carvings are magnificent – I was so impressed. I think the govt. could do a better job of preserving them and keeping the area surrounding them clean. What the hell is with people taking a leak wherever they please!
There were a lot of young couples making cozy at these rock carvings. I teased Mena if she also used to come here with her boyfriend. She blushed and said no, and that she did not currently have a boyfriend.
To be continued.



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