Bottles of Hot Garbage

Greetings and Welcome - you are looking at the nearly famous creek that runs below the train tracks. I say nearly famous because to me I am completely awestruck at the variety of life that surround this polluted body of water, but to local Chennai - ians it is a simple bump in the road.

The first time I went out for a walk in India I crossed this bridge close to our street and looked over my shoulder at this sewage stand; a water world filled with garbage, bugs, sludge, and I would bet on bodies. A creek that supplies the small shanty villagers with water to wash their animals and boil for cooking their dinners - I would love to test their stomachs to find out what viruses and worms reside. I have spotted chickens, goats, cats, dogs, a boar or pig, and many birds taking a drink in the hot afternoon - not too far from a butcher where you can have 'fresh chicken' slaughtered, cleaned and packed up right before your eyes. I think this is where the term street meat comes from.

Take a close look at the pics, you will see there are really people living along side this! And when the garbage on the sides grows a little too high, you will find small fires burning to shrink the hills.


Everytime we take a walk you must cross this bridge, it is on the way out of our area. We have nicknamed it the stinky river. Go figure!!

Gage likes to look, but not for too long. Gage's keen sense of smell grabs the pungent fumes in a very short time and if we don't move on the gag reflex kicks in.

Emerson likes to look too, she takes a little longer to squirm to move on but she has taken great pride in yelling 'there's that stinky river!!' everytime we pass in a car, tuk-tuk or by foot.


This shot is just along side the bridge, where the bulk of the garbage is dumped and the fires are usually burning at night. Where there is fire there are bulls, last night when walking home from the noodle restaurant the fire was high and hot and two bulls were chewing their cud close beside just like it was a camping trip!!


If you look closely you can see the effluent mixing into the sludge; this is runoff from the streets and from the sewers. All of this slowly flows into the sea, and you won't be surprised but it goes into the 'local' beach called Marina beach where Ex Patriots like myself are advised to avoid.

As you can tell this is all very interesting to me, a stinky river under the tracks. I will do my best to bottle some of the surrounding air for all of you to sniff when I get back at Christmas!! Although how would you know the difference if I just bottled the air from a pile of hot garbage back home? You will have to take a whiff and decide for yourself.....


Love Dave and the OMatthes River Dwellers