Babu Chalam’s Homepage

Just got back to Chennai after visiting my mother’s family in Mumbai. It was a nice visit. We will spend two days here in Chennai before heading to some city where the final portion of our India trip will be.

I imagine some of you may be curious as to what these ceremonies look like. Unfortunately, I don’t think I am allowed to take photos of these proceedings, but the above pic demonstrates the attire I have on during these days.  I think I’ll wear these clothes the next I hang out in downtown Atlanta [...]

Today’s ceremonies were in the two homes of two priests, and I think I pretty much reached my limit.  Last night I had developed a slight fever, felt weak throughout the ceremonies, and my voice and energy were really giving out.  I was feeling really weak and dizzy at one point.   Nevertheless, I tried to [...]

Today’s ceremony was shorter than yesterday’s.  I didn’t have to pour cold water over my head, and the flies didn’t have a picnic on me like yesterday.  At one point we made a fire and chanted mantras, and smoke kept getting in my eyes, which was quite annoying.   But then again it was just a [...]

Yesterday I got a LOT of sleep, and I needed every bit of it for today’s ceremonies.  I don’t know where to begin.  For starters I started the ceremony with two priests in a cemetery at 9 a.m..  I was wearing a long white cloth around my waist and had to pour cold water over [...]

After a long two day journey, Dad and I arrived in Chennai today at approximately 10 a.m. local time.  Because of rainstorms in Atlanta, we had a three hour delay in taking off from Atlanta, which caused us to miss a connecting flight. We were eventually re-booked through New Delhi and arrived in Chennai 10 [...]

Tomorrow, my father and I will begin our two day journey to Madras, India (a city on the eastern coast of India).  Our entire trip will last approximately 18 days.  The first week I will be praying in ceremonies commemorating my mother’s death.  Afterwards, I will be doing other errands and meeting other relatives.  I [...]

Today Dad and I are going to Atlanta where we will spend some days there. Then next Tuesday we will be flying to India. I hope to post full plans of that trip soon. I do know that from August 6-9th we will be in Germany visiting family before we come back to [...]

I had a very fun and interesting four days in Atlanta. I spent a lot of time with family, went to a few baseball games, enjoyed some fireworks, and partied. I think we stayed up until 5 a.m. one night, but I can’t exactly remember. I had a lot of fun [...]

Wow!  I took the exam yesterday.  An exhausting yet interesting experience.  Dad and I went out to dinner last night, and then I crashed; I went to bed at 11 p.m. and woke up at 8 a.m. (about an hour ago).  I’ll find out the score in 4-6 weeks. Then I will know in which [...]