chennai

As you may be aware, I'm heading to India to conduct field research for my master's thesis. I'll be working with two other students from my program, M and E (they probably wouldn't mind me using their full names, especially since there are probably like three people reading this, but using just first initials is very J.D. Salinger, don't you think?). We'll be located in and around Chennai, which is a large city (population 7.6 million) on the southeast coast off the Bay of Bengal (see map). Most Chennaiites (yes, that is really what they're called) speak Tamil, but as is common in other parts of India, English is widely spoken as well. (Tamil, for those who are keeping track, is also the language/ethnic identity of the separatists in northeast Sri Lanka, known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam or LTTE, who are at war with the Sri Lankan government.)

We will be arriving in Chennai at more or less the hottest time of the year. Temperatures will average around 100 degrees Fahrenheit with very high humidity. It will be sort of like being in a sauna with 7.6 million other people and a bunch of mosquitos.

Tune in tomorrow, when I'll explain what E, M, and I are actually going to be doing all summer.