Big Red's Service

Good Morning Chennai

Masala Dosai in the making

Masala Dosai tastes better than it looks

At 8am the power went out right on cue. Having been kept awake by noise for a couple of hours already we were ready to get up and start the day. We began as Pete suggested...Masala Dosai. Another thin pancake/crepe this time filled with potatoes, onion, tomatoes and spices, served on a banana leaf with two different spicy sauces ladled from a communal bucket. No cutlery here! We even managed to rip the Dosai apart with only our right hands. Then it was back to where a lady had yelled out at us on our way to breakfast, shoving her chai tea in our direction. While she had left, we took up the offer of our first chai in India and watched as the hot, sweet milk was mixed with the chai dripped from a giant tea strainer and mixed by pouring it, from a height, between glasses. An addiction in the making I think.

First chai in India

Today was another day of errands. For the second full day in a row we fought Chennai and attempted to get SIM cards, malaria tablets and a service on our bike. All of this was proving more difficult than ever expected.

We ran out of Malaria tablets in Sri Lanka about three weeks ago. Since then we have been trying pharmacies all over the subcontinent trying to get Mefloquine. This morning we set out with a mission and walked the streets of Triplicane for about an hour tryng probably the twentieth chemist so far and the closest we got was a "come back this evening" with reference to the Mefloquine.

We had similar problems with our hunt for a SIM card. Even shops that advertised "all SIM cards sold here" didn't sell SIM cards. Or didn't want to deal with us. We're not quite sure. We must have asked at twenty shops over the past two days. We finally found a store that was willing to explain to us that we needed copies of our passports and passport sized photos if we wanted to get a SIM. They also said it would take five days to register and activate the card. While we gained this information at about 10am they also informed us that we couldn't get photocopying done until after 2pm because that's when the power would come back on. Apparently it wasn't just the airport, the mall and our guesthouse that had this problem. It was Triplicane. Or Chennai. Or India.

With time to kill before our 11:30am appointment at A-Boss Bike Zone (where we bought Big Red) we headed back upstairs to get out of the heat. The mornings feel hotter here than the rest of the day thanks to the lack of breeze. So, when we made to our room on the fourth floor up the stairs, we were excited that the power was back on. Unfortunately it didn't last long and cut out, taking the cooling fan with it, and leaving us sticky and hot. At 10am though, right on queue, it was back. Thank gosh.

We didn't have long to enjoy the cool air though as Boss Man was expecting us. We loaded up Big Red with our bags so we could work out what sized boxes we would need and headed out. We arrived, sat down and waited. And waited. Never being told much, we tried to piece together what was happening as we listened to Boss Man answer and make multiple phone calls. This man has a way of making you do whatever he wants. So, feeling slightly bullied, we agreed that the bike should go to his friend for a service not knowing whether it'd cost 2000 or 4000 INR. The friend happened the be the owner of Jaf, the shop we first visited when we arrived in Chennai. We left, having to carry our big bags and helmets back with us, feeling confused. Upon returning to our guesthouse realised we should have agreed on a fixed price beforehand. So, after climbing to the fourth floor again to drop off our bags, back we went. Luckily things happen on India time and Big Red was still sitting there. After a slightly heated conversation, which also contained laughter, belly poking and Chris being referred to as Bubba by Boss Man more times than I could count, we compromised and agreed that the bike should be looked at before a price was given. We were to return at "2:30 sharp" to receive the price.

Back at the guesthouse we climbed the stairs again only so we could go straight back down to use the wifi in the lobby. We did some research on panniers and asked around about how much a service should cost in preparation for what was to come.

Lunch time came and we enjoyed a Veg Biriyani and Gobi Masala with lime juices. Then, realising we were cutting it close for the "2:30 sharp" meeting with Boss Man we shovelled our food in and walked to the bike shop. Big Red was still sitting there. It appears Boss Man only does things when we are sitting in front of him. We sat for a while, again not being told what was happening, while he chatted to some other customers. Finally, our bike was sent off to be serviced and we sat and waited with Boss Man for a phone call to tell us a price. A call came through to say we wouldn't know a price until 4pm. We were beginning to wonder what were lies and what was truth. How badly was this guy trying to rip us off? Our frustration was growing as there seemed little we could do to take control of the situation.

We found a shop to get photocopying done for our SIM card applications. Unfortunately, this shop, that is dedicated to photocopying, only had three sheets of paper while we needed six. The owner jumped on his motorbike, sped off and returned with a fresh ream on his lap. By this time we had yet another appointment with Boss Man.

We were getting really good at waiting by this stage. Really good at turning up, sitting down, not asking questions and waiting until something constructive finally transpired. Thankfully once we returned Boss Man got a call after not too long to say Big Red's oil was ok so the service should cost less than 1500 INR. He was also kind enough to give us a list of what things should cost us on the road in attempt to limit mechanics charging us ridiculous foreigner prices. Unfortunately we lost the list later in the day.

By 5pm we were finally at a shop that sold SIM cards and had all of the relevant documents. As we don't have a spare five days to wait for activation of the card we went with "Idea" as our carrier. Not much choice really as many of them only work in particular states. We handed over our passport photos much to the owner's amusement. He took my photo, had a grand giggle and then passed it around between the huddle of customers so they could all share the joke. Those of you who have seen this photo (the one on my Working With Children Check card) I'm sure will understand the hilarity of this situation.

Next job...getting our old SIM cards out of our phones. We needed a paper clip to jab into the hole which would eject the SIM card. We didn't have one. Chris tried using the owner's pen. He broke it. So a very helpful gentlemen asked a lady who was sitting in the street something. The next thing we knew she had removed a pin from her sari and passed it over for us. Worked like a charm! We officially have Indian phone numbers! Surely that's some kind of milestone.

By this time it was time to pick up Big Red. After arriving we again waited patiently making small talk with Boss Man for half an hour. We watched his johnnies siphon petrol with their mouths out of one bike, into a plastic water bottle and then, a while later, back into the same bike. We watched as rusty chain guards were painted silver and when we couldn't take waiting anymore we killed time by going to check if our malaria tablets had arrived. We went back eagerly as the mosquitoes here are nasty. No luck. No stock. Our seemingly endless search continues.

Back at A-Boss Bike Zone we waiting some more and just as I agreed to have some tea, Big Red arrived, refreshed after his service. So, instead of being able to finally just leave (by this time it was after 7pm) we had to wait for the darn tea I'd ordered. The chai was delicious and Boss Man seemed to appreciate that we hung around. Apparently that's the done thing here. People hang. It was too late now to do anything about getting panniers as the power goes out at a lot of places at 6:30pm. That would have to wait until tomorrow.

Dinner with meat!

After dropping Big Red home after a bloody huge day we went back upstairs only to come back downstairs to go find some dinner. Leaving our guesthouse we ran into, wait for it, a Russian en route to Sri Lanka. Of course. He was staying next door and guided us to his favourite local restaurant. It was fancy and definitely not the kind of place that we were expecting to have dinner. However, we enjoyed the novelty of being able to order meat despite being aware that they probably buy their meat off the street like everybody else. We chowed down on rogan josh and kurma mutton curries, rice, Kashmiri and garlic naan and the best mango lassis we'd ever had. And in the end the total price was only 100 Rupees more than last night's dinner of KFC.

We realised how well we have got to know Triplicane (the suburb of Chennai where we are staying and bought Big Red) and how well it has got to know us when a man we were talking to about panniers today told us he recognised us from yesterday and asked if we'd ended up buying the Enfield. And the amount of times we have walked up and down the street that connects our guesthouse with A-Boss Bike Zone has resulted in people smiling and waving to us now as we walk past.

The streets of Triplicane

Our errands were made more time consuming today by the fact that walking anywhere takes much longer than it would take elsewhere in the world, for a number of reasons. Firstly, the footpath does not appear to be for walking. It is a mish mash of broken concrete blocks, dirt and rubble and rather than being used for walking is for drying coconut pieces, sleeping, bathing, working, de-fleaing each other, cooking, begging and anything else you could possibly think of. This means you must walk on the road as to not walk through what appears to be people's homes on the footpath. On the road though you must dodge motorbikes, Tuk Tuks, cars, trucks, buses, bicycle rickshaws, cows, dogs, wooden carts pulled by bikes or humans, horses and a billion people all while trying not to step in anything gross, turning down the endless offers for Tuk Tuks, waving at smiling locals, shaking children's hands, chasing cricket balls, explaining to beggars why you can't give them all money and navigating your way through the maze of streets.

With any luck tomorrow will be our final day of running around like crazy people trying to do big business with Boss Man.