Chennai, India

This morning, the MV Explorer arrived in Chennai, India. Formerly known as Madras, Chennai is the capital of one of India’s 28 states, Tamil Nadu. With a population of roughly 8 million inhabitants, which is about the same as New York City, it is India’s fourth largest city. Chennai is sometimes known as the “Detroit of India,” due to the fact that it is responsible for roughly 60% of the country’s auto exports. It is also India’s second largest exporter of software and information technology. The city is also an important cultural center. It is home to India’s second largest film industry, Kollywood, and Chennai is the site of some of India’s best dance, theater, and art festivals.

Semester at Sea Voyager’s have been privileged to have three wonderful interport lecturers with us since Chennai, who have been introducing us to Indian culture and history. Sneha and Anusha, two Indian university students have been on board the ship as well as Dr. Hamsapriya Srinivasan, an Indian professor in political science.

While this was the first voyage for Sneha and Anusha, Dr. Hamsapriya has been a part of the SAS community for the past twenty years. Her first contact with Semester at Sea was when she was invited by the U.S. Education Institute of India to give a lecture to visiting SAS students. Afterwards, she tagged along with others and visited the ship. The next day, she hosted around 30 Voyagers for lunch and showed them around Chennai. Every year since then, she has helped organize trips for Voyagers on their stops to India, briefed them when they arrived, and she has been an interport lecturer twice.

Dr. Hamsapriya is also an avid supporter of the mission of SAS, and told me that it, “scores hands down on any other education program,” when I asked her how she felt it compared to other study abroad options. India is often cited by Voyagers as the port that impacts them the most during their journey. This will be my first visit to the country but Dr. Hamsapriya conveyed to me that, “The sites, sounds, smells, and crowds hit people as soon as they’re off the ship…but for those on the trips that involve human contact, they find that people are very open, generous, friendly, and go out of their way to do things for students.”


Semester at Sea students also were very interested in talking to Sneha and Anusha to learn more about the lives of Indian university students. They learned that education is extremely important here and is compulsory beginning at age three. Schools are free until you reach the university level and even then, the government provides loans and scholarships, which make the costs extremely low. The two girls were also quick to point out that on average, females in India score much higher on the national exams than males.


Photos by SAS Photographer John Weakley