"This post is a part of an initiative by Chennai Bloggers’ Club; a Facebook community for like-minded bloggers. Around 30+ bloggers are writing about, What Chennai Means to Them. This tag was before taken up by Vinod Velayudhan, who writes at on constructive criticism for chennai."
What chennai means to me?
This is a question which i never asked myself before but now that it's before me, let me think. Chennai
had been part of me for the past 6 years.
6 years ago, What it meant to me?
Being brought up in a small town near kanyakumari and living half my life in interior south where we were used to knowing almost everyone in the city by their first name, my dad took the descision of moving to singara chennai for the benefits of higher education. I left all the things which defined me to create a new living in a new city,like a spy who gave up his former life for the greater good. My perceptions then was chennai was the city of the road side romeos and waterless pipes which i grasped from the 80's movies and a few 90's too :P
I was scared like hell that day when we made the transition. And the day i joined my college near kelambakkam, it just got confirmed. I was standing in a desert. I thought Tamilnadu doesn't have a desert but it did and that was called as Egattur. Concentrated Sun light flared at me and i shied away from it. We stayed in a house(bungalow - you get a lot for 5k in the outskirts) nearby my college and that made my habitat a desert. And later, after a week, i found out, i was living in kancheepuram and not in chennai. Most of my friends were from coming from chennai proper so they compelled me to move inside the city. At that moment, I found chennai to be the green beyond the waters.
Important places:
Kelambakkam Lending library
Kamal Stores, Adyar
Sathyam & Devi Theater
4 years ago, What Chennai meant to me?
Malls, Cinemas and Bike rides. That was Chennai was for me. It was the place i found to spread my wings. College Gang fights and Gang hugs, that didn't sound so anarchy at that time because we knew anything and everything would mend in this wonderful city. City forgot enemies quickly and remembered friends forever.
Fast moving yet so slow in pushing you to its pace. It allowed geeks to be geeks and machos to be one and for some people like me, it was a perfect mix of fun and pain. Had my first crush here and had my first love in here. Chennai saw what it was meant to be me and likewise from my side.
Important places:
Mayajaal was getting popular with us at that time... don't remember why :)
2 years ago, What Chennai meant to me?
Became a chennaite by both blood with the attitude and skin with tanning. Streets were measured with my walks and my bike's skids. Loved the way the police reacted and later received their bribe. Chennai was nothing different from any other city but the beach, temples(which i rarely visited), museum, library and Mahabhalipuram(its near chennai :P that's what they told me, when they admitted me in my college), and don't forget we got the Anna University and IIT Madras made it stand unique. Never missed a Saarang before this year.
Important places:
Dindugal Thalapakati biriyani shops :P
Now, What Chennai means to me?
Chennai was a city which mixed the good and bad and instilled a mix which tasted better than the sweetest jigar thanda :)
Matured enough to call it a city (it was a town for us :P ) but it still was measured by me with my friends during my college like a village. Proximity never mattered in this city. Here you might be near and far and you could be far but closer than the pillow next to you.
Its close to my heart, wherever i go or stay, no other place would see the real me. With all the emotions it created in my heart, this is and will be the city i ll spend my last breath for.
I wrote what Chennai means to me. Now i am handing over the post to Ramaa Iyer - a displaced Chennaite blogging from Bangalore
