Yelläks /ˈyæl•eks/

The air flow in the train could not satisfy the demand for a cooling breeze. In fact holding the hand out of the windows of the traveling train feels like holding the hand into the airflow of an hair dryer. Only the film of dust and exhaust laying on the skin of arm and hand makes the difference.

On 1^st of May a friend of mine (His name is Swami) and I went to Chennai to visit all my friends from my previous stay, but the heat after arrival was really hard to bear with. I do not know, how I got used to it 2 years ago. Shortly before we reached Chennai Central, we left the train to visit my friend’s uncle who came to pick us up with his 2-wheeler. My bag was very heavy and needed a lot of balancing on the bike because of the 2 square meters of unripe Mangos inside, which had to be brought to Chennai on the Swami’s behalf. At Uncle’s place the first thing we did was taking a shower. This is the only way, how to fight the heat, which does not cool down at night. Although the shower is very relaxing, it does not take more than 10 minutes to have the same sticky skin than before.

Next day we went to my friend’s place which served somehow as a headquarter: Here all our trips originated from. He and his family lives in a rural area in the northern part of Chennai. Rural area means no running water and no luxury. Water comes from a well. Nearby are a lot of industries recycling and producing steel components. Without any protection the workers direct the hot and red-glowing steel out of the oven to the rollers to form it into the right shape. Sometimes accidents happen and most of the times the injuries are very severe. My friend’s dad has a little hut next to the industries selling tea and cookies.

Next day we went to the south of Chennai and visited Mahabalipuram and its famous stones. On our way was his college, so he visited all his teachers. In Mahabalipuram we rested and took a little nap. While we slept some monkeys came by and stole the water bottle which was just laying beside my face. They also opened the zipper of our bags to search for something eatable.
One day we went to the shore and had a boat trip with some fishermen. At the beginning the people were very reserved and watched me from the distance. But after a while and especially after taking bath in the Bay of Bengal, the ice broke and the people turned into open minded and very cheerful ones. We had a lot of fun although I did not understand a single word.

During our stay in Chennai we got used to the typical heat and humidity there. So coming back to Bangalore was a very freezing experience accompanied with fever and cold.

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