So much to be said, and yet where do we begin. It all starts with one heartbreaking statement, “we are moving. You will have to complete your schooling in a city you never thought you’d end back in, considering you were born there, and we moved out 14 years back”.
Surprise, surprise! You soon realise it’s not so bad. Sure there isn’t EVERYTHING your parents promised would be there, just so you’d feel better about it, but there’s so much more, too. You make friends, you fall in love, you learn to eat different stuff than from the largely vegetarian environment you’d been in for just a little bit too long. Non vegetarian food mixed with South Indian cuisine is fascinating.
Yeah, keema dosa is an actual thing!
Everybody is so cultured. It’s a wonderful panorama of art, dance, drama all over the place. You learn so much, so soon, you almost forget you didn’t know it all a year back. People are intelligent, and fun, all at the same time.
And there’s so many places to be! There’s beaches all over the place, and living close to one was a dream come true. You while away hours, right there, with absolutely no thoughts of anywhere else you’d rather be.
Heaven is a place on Earth…!
Another thing which fascinated me almost as soon as I reached Chennai was the rich history that surrounded the entire atmosphere around the place. Right from the buildings to the shops to the roads, they’d all been around for so long, that there’s barely anybody alive who can remember what they were like. They are rather wondrously preserved, though. Chennai Central Station still makes me catch my breath, every single time.
Chennai Central Station
Chennaites are free, peaceful people. They live their lives and expect you to do the same, the way you want to.
The weather is awful, though. It has been rightly said that Chennai weather only ranges from “hot, hotter, hottest!”. But then there is always hope for pleasant weather, because after all, how much hotter can it even get!
Chennai street shopping is amazing. Not knowing the language can be a hindrance at times, but haggling over the prices and outwitting the shopkeeper is a universal feeling that transcends all language.
Street’s the way to go!
Now, after declaring Chennai a land of all that is good, true and beautiful, I bid thee, reader, goodbye.
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