Highlights:

* Jike in lady's car - We arrived Chennai by SpiceJet early in the morning, tired, hungry, and running out of cash, so we decided to take the train from the airport to downtown that Cathy had read about. The packed train barely stopped for three seconds before it started moving again, at which time Jike quickly got on... into the lady's car :)

* A trick for a trick - We had read about people at the train station "introduce" tourists to particular hotels, or certain taxi services while jacking up the price. So far we had been able to ignore or wave those off. One old man at the Egmore station was particularly aggressive, and followed us everywhere we went. Finally, the two of us agreed to have Jike keep walking, "leading" the old man, while Cathy followed in the back, and checkin in the hotel we selected. This almost worked, until the guy figured it out, and ran back in record speed to ask for a commission. We ended up having to threaten to leave in order to get the self-booking rate.

* AVM studio - lights, camera, and fire? This was the highlight of our trip so far. To get in, we needed the manager's approval, which we obtained by going to his office and asking if we can visit. After getting his signature on a piece of paper torn from a newspaper corner, we had access to all the studios. One studio was in the process of filming a reality TV show, and the process consisted of all the regular filming procedures: checking for white balance, sound, fog machine, lighting, but then the director brought out a half-cut coconut, lit it on fire, and waved it in front of the camera. Now what is this for? We immediately found out as everyone waved the flames to themselves that religion is also part of the procedure. We had just witnessed one of the unique characteristics of India.