India Trip 2009_Recollections_Part II Chennai

January 7th: Took the 5:30 flight to Chennai. Unfortunately, the security folks took the dry spice powders that some students had bought in Mumbai at Crawford market. I would have expected our guide to have known that spices were not allowed in carry-on luggage. The Jet Airways flight was good, and this airline serves decent food on all flights. Landed in Chennai at around 7 PM. Drs. Kingsley and Crosby from MCC were there to receive us. I received my first look at the cell phone culture in India while waiting outside the airport for our tour bus. Our host's cell phone would ring with a movie song ringtone and he would answer it while being in the middle of another conversation. This was hard to get used to. The traffic at the airport was a nightmare. Took us nearly half an hour to get inside the bus. Eventually we made it to MCC's IGH. Had a quick dinner and went to our spartan bedrooms. These rooms were indeed spartan.
January 8th: Went for Yoga class and then showered and went to MCC's classroom. Dr. Philip and others welcomed the students, then we had lectures in the morning. In the afternoon we went to 3i Infotech, a software product and services company. It was in a Special Export Zone. It was interesting to hear Madan Mohan, one of its Directors, speak about the firm, its offerings, and get his views on the currrent economic situation. This was one of the highlights of the trip. The students got to see and hear about a high tech Indian firm. We returned and had dinner at the house of Dr. Philip, the Principal. He is a sharp, learned man.
January 9th: After Yoga in the morning, we went for lectures. One of the speakers was Dr. Prema Kasturi, who talked about women and the problems faced by them. During the break I mentioned to her that I loved South Indian Dances,especially Bharatanatyam. Lo behold, she had two tickets to an evening performance at the Music Academy, and she offered them to me. Per our schedule, we were to go to Kancheepuram to watch silk weaving and visit a few temples nearby. I opted to go to the dance performance instead. One of our students also went with me. We arrived at 3PM at the Academy but the performance was at 6PM. Both of us took a walk in the streets, went into a mall, then stopped at Mysore Woodlands for a coffee. While in there, I helped a couple of people select a dessert (gulab jamun) from the menu. We then returned to Music Academy, went to the cafeteria for some food. The student ordered an onion uttapam while I ordered a dosa and coffee. We then went inside and watched a fine performance by Rama Vaidyanathan and a little bit of Kurmavatara by Kalakshetra. MCC had sent a car for us and we returned to IGH. It was a wonderful evening, and we had a great experience.