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>Here’s some pictures from our trip to Thanjavur and Trichy. We visited a temple and a maharajah’s palace in Thanjavur and the largest active temple in Asia in Trichy.

On the way, we stopped at a roadside roasted-cashew stand. An undergrad student back at Columbia was from this area, and his family exported cashews (which explains why he could afford Columbia!) This was a decidedly lower-scale operation. I think I had never seen a lamb before, because I was surprise how small they were. Cute, huh?

The temple elephant (again). He’s there to collect donations with his trunk.

This a view of the main temple at Thanjavur. It was built in 1010 by the chola kings. Everybody goes shoeless inside the temple, and we were able to see the shrine inside but not take pictures. The man in the foreground was our driver for the day.

I visited these sights with Dr. Bernd Speiser (left) and Dr. R. Chandrasekaran (right) They are standing at the entrance to the Thanjavur Royal Palace.

A detail of a beautiful mural at the palace.

The truck in front of us urged our driver to honk his horn. He obliged frequently.

A group of ladies at the Trichy temple. Many women wear these very colorful outfits every day.

>More pics soon but I thought I’d try a movie….

>Finally some pictures from Chennai. These are all from Wed-Fri. Yesterday I went to see some temples and I’ll post some of those pics tonight!

These are my hosts at CECRI Chennai, Dr. Sridhar and Dr. Pitchumani, and me standing next to a bank of fluorescent lights powered by their 1 kW fuel cell in the foreground. It was a cool demonstration. I wouldn’t normally wear a tshirt on a visit like this, but if you have been reading you know why.

This is airport security in Mumbai, on arrival in India. I felt right at home except that Indians stand in line differenly than Americans. They don’t seem to mind being 1 mm from each other. I had an old guy behind me breathing on my neck, and I didn’t like it.

An autorickshaw driver outside of IIT Madras

I’m standing on the “sidewalk” on Sardar Patel Road, outside of IIT Madras. This is my new shirt and pants, courtesy of Air India.

My host Dr. Pitchumani, me, and Mr. Venkatesan, who met me at the airport and ferried me all over the place by car. He made the visit to Chennai very easy.

>This morning I went with Mr. Venkatesan back to the airport to check on my bag. They had expected in, but it did not arrive. I was told the bag was in Mumbai and had missed the 3 am connection to Chennai (same flight that I had taken the day before). Now they are saying this morning for sure..

In the meantime Mr. Venkatesan assisted me in buying a smart new outfit so that I wouldn’t have to wear at tshirt and jeans on my visit to IIT Madras. I’ts a nice deep yellow shirt with a Grey tweed pair of pants. Angie, you’ll love it!

My hosts at IIT were extremely gracious. I basically had invited myself, but they spend most of the afternoon with me and took me out to dinner last night. Most of these folks have Ph.D. degrees from Canada or the US, and enjoyed talking about the US and comparing it to India. Very enlightning conversations.

We had dinner at a rooftop restaurant at a facy hotel that I could not afford to stay in. The reason is that these type of restaurants are the only places to get beer! We had a pitcher among the four of us and sampled excellent food. I had the absolute best palak paneer I ever had. And the view was spectacular. Maybe the best part is that I finally got a chance to ride the autorickshaws that I’ve been seeing so many of. That’s the local form of taxi, and is not for the faint of heart!

I was invited to stay over at one professor’s home who has internet access, which is why I can post now (Thanks Nikkit!) We’ll see when I get my next opportunity.

>I’m posting this a day after I wrote it. Internet access is super spotty!….

I made it to Chennai at 5 am on Wednesday, safe and sound. Unfortunately my suitcase did not. So here it is Thursday morning, and I’ve spend the last 48 hours in the same clothes. Luckily I had everything I really need in my backpack, and folks here dress casually, so it has not been big deal yet that I’m wandering around in a black t-shirt. I had a good day yesterday anyway, talking fuel cells and such with my hosts. They must have enjoyed it because they’ve already invited me back next January.

I’m visiting the Central Electrochemical Research Institute in Chennai, where they are growing a domestic fuel cell industry. So is the US of course, and it isn’t easy, but folks here seem to have a good idea of what they need to do, and they’re quite creative, so who knows?

Chennai is a little crazy, but very colorful. There are a million scooters and little autorickshaws which are used as taxis. Honking the horn is a popular passtime.

This morning I’m going to the airport to get an answer on my bags, and then I’ll probably get some clothes. This afternoon I go to Chemical Engineering department at IIT Madras, and tomorrow through Sunday I’m off for travel and sightseeing. I hope to have some pictures very soon.

>Click on the image above for a slide show of our trip.

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a poem by Bee and Frankie

Koompa Loompa sat on a wall
Koompa Loompa had a great fall
Koompa Loompa come and play
Koompa Loompa run in the hay
Koompa Loompa she’s a good dog
Koompa Loompa grampsed on the log!!
Koompa Loompa likes to eat food
Koompa Loompa eats all the food
Koompa Loompa find Cinderella
Koompa Loompa find her magic shoe
Koompa Loompa find Snow White
Koompa Loompa then take a bubble bath
and go to bed!

The end!

>You can’t beat these athletes, but the play-by-play guy? Meh.

Youtube doesn’t really do this movie justice. You can get the super-size version here.