Back Home Again in Besant Nagar . . . Again

Just over a year ago we received notice, from AISC, of where we would be living when we moved to Chennai, and we were delighted that our new digs would be in Besant Nagar, a Lincoln-Park-esque urban neighborhood with a popular beach on the Bay of Bengal—see Back Home Again in Besant Nagar. With walking-distance coffee shops and cafes (serving Marc’s Coffees, a new favorite we sorely missed during the summer in the US); many top Chennai fashion and handicraft and home decor destinations; great international (MadrAsian) and local (best dosa in town at Ka) restaurants; the Kalakshetra Arts Centre and the Theosophical Society nearby; and only about a fifteen minute drive to school! BTW, the header photo is a kolam, a geometric design in stone or chalk powder (it used to be done in rice powder) that serves as a blessing and a welcome for the home or business. It’s washed away every morning and replaced with a new design. What’s not to love!

And while we did indeed fall in love with all those elements of Besant Nagar (okay, mixed with a few first week sniffles of Sarah missing our dogs), there were so many more subtle aspects to our location that we could only discover once we got out and walked the back lanes and explored and photographed the larger city: the friendly, open smiles of people at their daily work, heating the charcoal for the ancient iron box to press my shirts for 7 rupees each; selling fresh caught red snapper and prawns that had been swimming less than 12 hours earlier; the camaraderie of the chatting women hand-weaving colorful mats; the coconut seller chopping the tops off tender coconuts to pour out fresh coconut water; the mending man repairing clothes at his foot-treadle sewing machine; and the handsome corporation man sorting the trash and cleaning the corner bins, all reflecting the palpable sense of enterprise where nothing goes to waste and where everything can be of value; the vibrant colors and startling aromas and unexpected 3am wail of the strange Tarzan-movie birds (and the ever present crows), the clang of the snack-seller’s bell and the songs of the paper collector, the grinding man, and the regular call to prayer; the fishing villages flanking the popular tourist beach, where the families live in much the same way they have for generations; and the ease of driving north “into the city” across the Adyar River, given our northenmost outpost of faculty digs ranging down the ECR (East Coast Road) on the south side of Chennai. And of course the community of Expats and making new friends from around the world.

So, how would we feel when we went back to the US for summer break—and how would we then feel on our return to Chennai for our next school year? (BTW, I can now say “we” in relation to AISC, as I will be at least semi-officially a part of the staff serving as the world’s oldest photography intern on the schools media team, woohoo!)

Little did we realize as we deplaned back in Indiana, that our summer would shift gears from our goals of relaxation in daily workouts and walking our dogs . . .

. . . and lazing on our patio and seeing friends and family and enjoying our remembrance of restaurants past, to fighting a couple nasty infections with repeated doctor visits (where the staff continued to be amazed that our global insurance covered 100% and required absolutly zero copay!) and to deciding to sell our house sooner rather than later for a number of reasons—including our house and dog sitter, daughter Anna’s goal of buying her own home, plus potential capital gains taxes in India—and as a reflection of our enjoyment of the expat lifestyle.

So, we dived into all the trials of cleaning up and clearing out and updating and freshening a house where we had lived for 21 years and after 46 years of marriage . . .  and with only about a month to do it! WARNING, do not try this at home! Can we say “STRESS!” As Sarah noted, this endeavor meant we had to touch and consider nearly every single item in our house. Oh, and of course all this was happening after the annual family gathering in Ohio where daughter Elise joined us from Colorado and where I had a surprise reunion with a grade school pal I hadn’t seen in about 60 years—and while Sarah taught for two weeks in the Orff Levels program at Anderson University, an hour’s commute each way!

Fortunately for us, Anna will be our Realtor and project coordinator as we finish up the loose ends. Thanks, Anna! But it fell to Sarah and me to make the tough decisions about what to trash and what to sell and what keep and store (for who knows how many years) and to hire a team to pack those items and deliver them to our newly leased storage space.

And thanks to niece Amy and sister-in-law Bev who rented a truck, hired movers, and  drove from Ohio to Indy and back to “store” a good truckload of family heirloom furniture. Wow, that left only the things we needed to donate or sell or trash—or bring back home to Chennai! (Yes, several of our friends noted that we referred unconsciously to India as “back home.”)

So, with an extra suitcase filled with 50 pounds of crucial items, we have now been back home in Besant Nagar for a few days—and treated ourselves to a pre-anniversary stay at the Park Hyatt with a special dinner arranged by the staff, including a rose-petal-strewn table setting—and we both feel a sense of “aaaahhhhhhh” as we gently overcome jet lag and prepare for the beginning of the school year.

We look forward to welcoming Sarah’s “buddy,” a new art teacher from Texas who will be living in our neighborhood; and to reconnecting with faculty friends who over the break have motorcycled along the three highest roads in the world; who have scuba dived off the Maldives; who have hiked Iceland and biked San Fransisco; who have toured nearly every National park in the western US; who have studied yoga and met the Dalai Lama at Dharamshala; who have thrived and tasted Michelin Star restaurants in Paris; and who have enjoyed their own families and friends in Equador and Canada and Mexico and Croatia . . .

Back home again, indeed.