Mission Possible: Making a Difference in Karaikal, India: Tourist Day Part 2: Boats, Boys, Flags & Fatigue

With the Temple visit behind us, it was on to our next stop, which would include a boat ride through mangroves and a lunch meeting with the local Rotary Club of Chidambaram.

We arrived at the boat club and I quickly discovered that the boat ride was uncovered—that is, under the full hot sun. Having had my face recently treated for sun spots, I had been warned to stay out of the direct sun (with or without sunscreen) so I stood by and watched as my team mates boarded the boats and floated away. But, as it turns out, I was to have my own adventure.

Invited to sit inside the hotel lobby of the boat club, I took a comfortable seat directly under a fan in attempt to stay cool. I was just starting to get into the solitude (therapy for the Temple experience) when a band of young men approached and stood a few feet away and started to talk loudly in my direction. Not in the mood, I try to ignore them and avoid eye contact. But the men cannot be convinced of my disinterest.

They all then file into the seats around me and continue talking. I closed my eyes; the talking got louder, but there was nowhere else for me to go. I made a pleading look in the direction of the guy who appeared to be the leader as if to beg “please leave me alone.” He jumped up from the seat and came over to the couch where I was sitting as if invited and plopped down. Great. And then he started firing questions. What is your name? Where are you from? Where is your husband? Can I take your picture? At the last question, all five guys pulled out their cameras and turned them on to take pictures. I asked politely “no pictures please.” And then all of them repeated my words several times as if I could be convinced otherwise “no pictures?” Seriously, no pictures. The phones went away. Then more questions. Are you staying here? Are you alone? Pictures please? No, really, I’m quite sure I’m not wanting to be photographed I said about 20 more times. This courting ritual went on for about 10 more minutes and then my suitors finally lost interest in me. Happy, I saw that my team had deboarded the boats and a were headed in my direction. And, I was still single.

We then move to another building where the local Rotary Club of Chidambaram had prepared a program and presentation for us. We positioned ourselves strategically under the fans and waited. Then the Club president came to the podium and began to invite (one by one) about 10 people to the stage. Several were invited to say a few words and then we had a flag exchange ceremony.

For those of you who do not know Rotary rituals, when Rotarians travel and visit other clubs, they typically carry a flag from their club to give to the club they visit. In turn, the host club returns the favor by giving one for their club. It’s actually quite fun to take back a flag from another club/country and share it with your own club and tell them a little about the club you visited. Every club is unique. Our club has a permanent wall where all of our flags are on display and it’s pretty amazing to see where our club's membership has touched the world.

I exchanged flags with the Chidambaram club president and then we heard their national anthem. Then it was time for lunch. They had prepared a special lunch for us with a non-spicy version of sweet & sour chicken. I’ll admit that this was the first time in seven days that I went back for seconds. I’m burned out on spicy food. I may not eat Indian food for a few years after this trip.

Back on the bus pretty much everyone went to sleep -- other than the honking traffic one could have heard a pin drop on that bus. The day had been very stimulating and hot. We learned a lot and appreciated the effort the Rotarians put into sharing some of their culture and nature with us.