Shown around Madras by my Couchsurfing friend (Sunday, 9/28)

So I got in touch with another one of my new friends from Couchsurfing. He offered to show me around Madras, so I happily accepted his offer. He shows up at the hospital on a scooter. Per my request, he brought an extra helmet for me to use, which I was quite thankful for given the way most people drive in Chennai. There are several traffic related deaths in this city every day, most of them being pedestrians or collisions at intersections. There are rarely any stop signs, yield signs, or traffic signals at most intersections and few people pay any attention to the ones that are there, so the helmet on the scooter was crucial. So we start riding around while he shows me some of his favorite spots. He shows me a theology center, a few markets, some posh neighborhoods, and then we head to the beach.
After a quick stop for bubble tea, we jump back on the scooter and start driving away from the tourist beach and more towards the poor fishing villages. The contrast is pretty extreme… you are on paved roads lined with high end stores, turn the corner and you are on a dirt road lined with thatch huts. We drive through this village, dodging cows, goats, chickens, dogs, and people. On the other side of the village and another 1 Km down the road is an old footbridge that was washed out some years back by a powerful tsunami. The bridge still extends about half way across the river, making it a great place to view the city. On one side of the river is the theology compound, and on the other side the richest part of the city. You can see multi-million dollar condos and a royal palace overlooking the river, and just down stream there is a poor fishing village of thatch huts. Did I mention that India is a land of extremes? I also use the term “downstream” loosely, since there is no discernable flow within the river and it does not appear to even reach the ocean. It is highly polluted, there is trash littering every shore, and where there should be golden sands on the bank of the river, there is a crusty black sludge, most likely raw sewage.
So my friend gets a call from his parents saying that they have returned the car, so we head back to his place to get rid of the scooter. We head back to his house, snack on some Indian sweets, and have a couple sips of Korean rice liquor. We head out in his car and I discover that he drives just as crazily as everyone else in India. We go for some lunch at a fusion restaurant, where my friend orders me the most bizarre burger I have ever had. It was supposedly a beef patty, but it did not taste like any beef I have ever had. It was piled high with veggies, which was cool, but then it also had a couple slices of chicken salami and some Indian sauces to complete the bizarre package. After lunch he had to go take care of some business, so he dropped me back at the hospital, which was good because I was ready for a nap after that meal.