Tuesday 12th June

So Penri went to Immigration on Friday to pick up his residence permit. On the receipt we were given, it had both of our names and the guy behind the counter couldn't understand why he couldn't find mine. Penri kept trying to explain that I had already picked it up.

He called me when he left and told me that he had to wait for the signature. I asked him 'What signature?' and he told me once you get your permit stamped, you need to go to another office to get it signed off. I was never told that, so yesterday (Monday), I made the trek over to Immigration again.

I arrived at 2 and went to the office to get my paper signed. There was no-one there, so I asked someone behind the main counter where he/she was. I was told he had gone to lunch and would be back in 10 minutes. I must say, I had my doubts, but 10 minutes later he appeared.

I got the permit signed, which took seconds and then left. From there, I went to a really nice shop called Auroville to buy a snack. I bought Penri some savoury biscuits and myself some sweet ones.

As I was reversing out of the car park I saw a young calf tied to a post. His neck was so close to the pillar that he could hardly move. It was baking hot and the poor creature was covered with flies and he couldn't move. I stopped the car and opened the window and threw him a biscuit. He ate it really quickly and then looked at me, so I threw him another one. This time my aim wasn't as good and it was just out of his reach. So, I got out of the car and pushed the biscuit with my foot nearer to the calf. Again he ate it and looked at me.

I went back to the car and got the whole packet of biscuits and tipped them out right next to the calf. He sat there happy and ate the biscuits. I wish I could have done more for him, but he obviously belonged to someone and from the stares I was getting from drivers and autorick drivers, I felt I had to leave.

I drove back to Penri's work. Just as I approached the turn for his road I saw a dog stuck on the central reservation. He was trying to cross the road, but everytime he put a paw on the road he had to pull back because the traffic was crazy. I slowed right down so that he could cross in front of me, which he did but then he couldn't get across the other two lanes. He went back onto the central reservation and started walking along it again. I had to move on as the traffic behind me was getting heavy and agitated.

I got to Penri's work after another crazy battle with the traffic in Chennai.