Chennai - Some Unforgettable Moments

Some wonderful memories from Chennai

Me with SURYA!!!
Yes this pic comes right ahead & on top of everything else! Come on, its SURYA! I am swooning!

Tan in Marina beach. For the first time ever, she was playing in the water all by herself - no fear nothing. How can i ever forget the way she was totally enjoying the water?

Tanvi irritated with the chennai hotel TV. Aiyoo! Amma, all cartoons are speaking only Tamil even Doroemon (the Japanese robot!!)

Watched Mankatha (Ajith's movie)

in Abhirami Mall

Watched Vedi in PVR - just Tan & me - 7.30p.m show

& from there rushed to CMBT to catch our Bangalore bus back home!! Sathya had travelled back to Bangalore Friday night. Tanvi & I stayed back for 2 more days. I wanted to see more of Chennai, experience it one last time. I wasn't satiated yet. On Saturday, we hired a taxi for Rs 700 for 5 hours of sight-seeing & went around town.

Stopped at Ashtalaxmi Temple,

Santhome Church: Only THREE churches in the whole world are built over the tomb of an apostle of Jesus Christ. This Church is one of them. The other 2 are one in Spain & one in Italy!

On Sunday, we vacated the hotel & checked into (literally -with baggage & all) Skywalk Mall & spent the WHOLE DAY there. Watched a dance performance, a movie, did some shopping & Tanvi was busy with her whiteboard - drawing pictures & writing numbers!

Yay! I finished till 60!

Tender coconut sold within Tata's Star Bazaar. There's even a guy who will cut it up & give it for you to drink it right there

I loved this sculpture tilted 'Condolence' found in the Government Museum located on Pantheon Road, Egmore.

If you've been to Salarjung Museum in Hyderabad, skip this museum. The collection is not as great as that found in Salarjung. The children’s play area is not maintained & some works are dumped. Felt sad to see the below piece dumped behind one of the buildings. Had it been any lighter, I'd have carried it all the way back to Blore! Ironic that the sculpture seems to be weeping (at its fate?)

The horse ride in Marina Beach. The sweet boy kept asking me, "Akka...Can i make him run? Pls... Just a slow.... run.... pls." And i was like, "No...no need!!"

The fish on display in Marina Beach - each piece ranging from Rs 30 to 45!

The menu display board that made me smile. Check the spellings - 3rd & last item on the menu.

The building that i thought was an apartment complex but turned out to be a hospital! Ladies & Gentlemen, i present you the Rajiv Gandhi Govt General Hospital bang opposite Central Railway Station

The thing i wished for Chennai: more greenery. A color badly needed in this city

Among the 3 malls i visited, i found Abhirami mall claustrophboic, the EA mall absolutely loved it & Skywalk was my home for a day so saw every shop & floor on it & liked being there.

The Escape Avenue Mall - totally rocks!

Two places that will make you wonder, "Am I really in Chennai?" are

One: Kalakshetra for the greenery, peace, quiet. Lots of foreign students here to learn Indian claasical dance & music

Two: Sowcarpet.

For shopping, an auto guy suggested this place next to Central (the railway station). i thought the spelling was Sahukarpet (sahukar = lord / rich man) usually used for setus / marwari traders. but the spelling is SOW CARPET !!

Here's another place you might want to see: the Gandhi Mandapam. Though the stage & the audience seating areas are not maintained well (pigeon droppings & cobwebs everywhere), the landscaping lets you take a breather from the noise & commotion outside.

Chennai made me sick. I returned home after a week’s visit to be bed-ridden for 4 days – dehydration, nausea & diarrhea. Food poisoning, climate change, travelling wreaked havoc.

So answering the questions raised in here

Did Chennai make me homesick? Yes.

Will I recommend it? Wont insist on it. Would rather recommend, "Go to Pondi, Yercaud, Kodai."

Will I go back to Chennai again? No.

Will I go back to TN again? SURE. DEFINITELY.

Chennai: Dress, Language, Humidity

Dress: In Chennai, women are in salwar/saree. The other place I can think of where everyone is dressed alike is Kandy (Sri Lanka). There, everyone from teens to grannies, is dressed in a skirt but the colors/patterns break the monotony. Chennai disappoints in that count. We need visual stimuli! I missed handsome hunks waltzing past me & Sathya sorely missed lovely girls, who could make heads turn, walking past him. In Kannada we say “kannu thampu” or “aankhon ka sukoon”in Hindi: the cooling effect of watching drop-dead gorgeous faces. It was a dry spell – “Who Saat Din” in Chennai/ECR. Once, when I spotted a guy in shades, outside Express Avenue Mall, I gaped at him. He looked like a ‘celebrity’ in that barren land!

The influx of strikingly good-looking people from all over the country/world has worked in Bangalore’s favor. Here we’ve far more “sightings.” The city is pleasing to the eye (except areas like Peenya, Jalahalli & a few more!!). In Bombay, the girls are casually dressed but the variety has to be seen to be believed. Just watching their accessories & perkiness is a treat. The unusual collection, whether footwear, jewelry, outfits, bags, it’s a joy. Delhi rocks when it comes to stepping out of the house beautifully turned out –their clothes (mostly branded), shades & lovely hair - kya kehna. Hyderabad is great in places – you get to see some really stunning women/men; wander around the 2 famous Hills or Punjagutta/Somajigudda/Begumpet areas.

States in the South esp Kerala are known for their women with lustrous hair & attractive eyes & I expected (wrongly?) the same from Chennai. I was scanning every face but the numbers were too few to be encouraging. Maybe in this case, it really is the villainous weather & the harsh sun. The only colorful chicks I’d spot were these:

And some more in Express Avenue (EA) Mall who would’ve minded had I clicked them :)

Language: We value the thing that is rare. Something that is common, you take it for granted. In Bangalore, people are VERY friendly & go out of their way to help/guide you, speak to you in YOUR language & try to make you feel comfortable & you begin to think it is your birthright. But go to a city like Chennai, whenever someone helps you, you instantly feel blessed, & believe it’s your past life’s “punya” or good karma.

In Kerala, the general public doesn’t like being spoken to in English, more so if you're one of those tourist types in a sleeveless top, high heels & your fancy sunglass perched atop your head/nose. They might be a PhD in English but they’ll respond in Mal or gestures. In Chennai, you get the feeling that they don’t like being spoken to in Hindi. And Kannada. And Gujarati. And Punjabi. And Bengali. And ….

Humidity: The heat & humidity is a huge turn off in Chennai, for sure. But then Hyderabad too has the same problem- it is so hot there, it BURNS your skin. And you tan so bad, you look funny! Just imagine the covered parts of your body in 1 color & the exposed parts (face, neck, arms, back, & feet) 5 shades darker. But the people themselves are nice, & friendly. Having lived there for a year NEVER ONCE did I feel like an outsider.

In Chennai, you feel alienated, within hours, like someone’s telling you, “What are you doing here you pagan? This holy land is only for us”. You can almost hear your mind saying, “I don’t want to stay here because they don’t want me to.” And you can’t help wondering, “Dear Chennai, is it possible, no pressure absolutely, but just… can you make your city a little more likeable? Livable? If I am not wrong, aren’t you part of a larger nation? Or are you a separate country?”

I am no ardent fan of either KFC or McDonalds. I stay within 5-10 minutes’ walk of each of these outlets on New BEL Road in Bangalore. I go there to pick the Happy Meals burger only because Tan loves the toys that come with it! But I must confess: seeing McDonald outlet in Skywalk Mall in Arumbakkam made me feel at home! Like I was in familiar surroundings, in ‘my place’, a place I know & like! Tanvi & I spent more than an hour there, which is so rare I surprised myself. And that’s when I understood why some of my foreign students would always say a KFC/McDonalds/Pizza Hut in a new country makes them feel so much at ease that they can practically live there.

Chennai Men and Food

First the men: The buses in Chennai don’t have separate sections for men & women. You can get in, sit, & get out from wherever you want. Surprising! The AC Volvo buses are like that everywhere, understandable but ordinary buses too? In Bangalore, the first 4-5 rows are reserved for women. A man cannot enter from the front door (not referring to Volvo/pushpak buses) unless he wants to be scolded by the driver/the ladies. And in spite of that, in the 9 years that I’ve lived here, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been brushed against or seen someone else being touched/thrust upon or coming too close for comfort cases. Even if you’re sitting, you’re not spared. They’ll stare right into your blouse/top & stand facing you so that some part of their body manages to come in contact with your skin. And so I was eager to see the distances people maintained in Chennai buses. In 5 days, I didn’t see anyone brushing (or trying to) himself against me or anyone else. If there’s 1 thing that I hate about Bangalore, & 1 thing that I liked about Chennai, it’d be this: not being someone’s shag machine.

But tell me, is this the way it generally is in Chennai? If it is, I’m surprised & relieved. So we do have at least 1 place in the world where a woman can travel without worrying who is going to touch/peep/stare/fall on her. If it isn’t, & in Chennai too, the situation is same as anywhere else, then well…what can I say? I’m glad, at least in those 5 days, I didn’t go through/see it.

The other thing I couldn’t understand about Chennai was I didn’t face too many situations of men ogling; the dirty stares, the come-hither glances, the lecherous lip gestures. The situation is not good in Bangalore or in Hyderabad or Bombay or Delhi. But the state that takes the cake in this matter is Kerala. You face 2 problems there: finding vegetarian food & vegetarian men. They are famous for their non-veg stares. They can scan & strip you with their eyes even if you were draped in a burqa or a steel jacket. That is the reason I wouldn’t ever want to work/stay/settle/live there. A malayali man who doesn’t scan you naked is a rare species. He must be a yugapurusham (man of the century)/devapurusham (godly man). So I wonder, is Chennai really different in this aspect – men leering at you? Do you really have lesser number of lechers? It’s hard to believe.

Food: As soon as we got off the train, we went straight to the famous Saravana Bhavan for breakfast & after paying Rs 230, we wanted to go to another hotel for “real” “filling” breakfast & thought if breakfast is going to cost us a bomb, what about lunch/dinner? But, luckily, the other hotels are fair– both with quantity, price & quality.

Don’t eat in Saravana Bhavan. Those guys take orders in their electronic machines (not pen/paper or mentally) & then rip you royally in the name of quality which is not earth shattering anyways. A vada, which is really small in size compared to what you get here, will cost you twice!

In the name of Pongal you get a blob the size of a big idly & costs like Rs 35.

I had a problem when I visited other parts of TN. Dinner is usually breakfast!! You only get parota, kuttu, dosa at night! But luckily, that wasn’t a problem in Chennai. They eat breakfast in the morning & dinner at night.

Juice: I’ve to mention the Chennai juice. It’s usually more ice than juice. It made me want to tell the juice man, “If we want, we’ll ask for ice water.” Make it a separate item. But the strange thing is, he happily gives you the balance juice from the jar!! So what exactly do they do in Bangalore? Throw the extra quantity away? Fill it up for someone else? Drink it themselves when no one is looking or when the mood caches them? No idea. I’ve seen it stays in the jar, but never hung around long enough to see what actually happens to the excess.

Chennai: My First Impressions - Part 2

Now onto the Transport, the Roads, the Subway & the Garbage!

I was surprised when the first conductor issued 3 tickets. He hadn’t even asked for my daughter’s age (5 yrs). I learnt later they charge full rates for children above 3 years (even movie tickets). How strange! Here in Bangalore, its half ticket for age 6 to 12 & full ticket only from 12. But considering it is just Rs 5 for a 15km travel (Central to CMBT) the public transportation in Chennai is damn cheap. With a pass of just Rs 30, you can travel the whole day in Chennai buses – not only within the city but also 40km away to Mahabalipuram!

The Conductor's Seat(at the back door) which caught my attention

The conductors here don’t come asking for ticket or bother to check your pass. If some do, that’s the happy exception rather than the norm. Passengers pass around the money & the tickets to & fro to the conductor who sits peacefully on his seat at the back. Here in Bangalore, the conductors CHASE you. He never sits; he will squeeze himself & wade through a sea of men & women & maybe ask the same person twice for the tickets but demand the ticket he definitely will. Imagine doing the routine of “pass the money, pass the ticket” in our buses where people generally tend to avoid making eye-contact with each other! The very thought brought a smile to my face as I sat there watching the people in Chennai do it without as much as a crease on their faces.

One night, when we were returning to Vada Nemmeli & boarded a bus to Kovalam (oh yes, forgot to mention: TN has a Kovalam too. Not just Kerala, though its malayali counterpart is the more famous & haunted of the 2), the conductor sat rooted to his seat & as I stood there in the middle of the crowd & Sathya way ahead, he called out for tickets & Sathya passed it to someone, someone passed it to me, I passed it to someone (#2), he passed it to someone # 3 & it finally reached the conductor’s lazy hands. He tore out the ticket, & passed it back to someone # 3 calling out, “Kovalam, Kovalam” like how in court hearings the guy calls out for the accused. Someone # 3 promptly forgot whom the tickets belonged to & repeated the call for Kovalam. Someone # 2 was alert, picked them & passed it to me. A few seconds later, heard another call, “Change – Kovalam” & the entire procedure repeated itself. I can’t imagine this happening in Bangalore. Though we are, by & large, a peaceful race, this SOP (standard operating procedure) would definitely get on our nerves!

The conductor loves his seat & doesnt part with it easy. One late evening, we boarded a bus from Anna Salai & it was so crowded that we couldn’t even stand & Tanvi was extremely tired & sleepy, so I requested the conductor to let her be seated there or at least stand closer to his seat but the wretched guy ignored me completely & behaved like he couldn’t grasp human language & continued to sit on his raja seat. I struggled the whole time to find some foothold for her & me & even though he noticed that the little child was falling off unable to stand/sleep, he didn’t have the heart to make her sit on his lap or at least, give ½ an inch of his seat. I have never cursed anyone (ok, well I have! My maternal grandmother!) in my life as much as I have cursed him in that one hour journey.

One of the best roads: Beach Road has the beach (Bay of Bengal) on one side & beautiful government offices, police headquarters & other well-maintained structures on the other. It reminds you of the Tank Bund road in Hyderabad which runs along a beautiful lake but thankfully minus the mosquito attack!

I sorely missed having a vehicle when I saw the seemingly endless stretch of this road. The thought of a long drive on this beautiful road was killing me. And given Chennai going to bed by 9, I presume the road would be deserted with only a very thin traffic, unlike Bangalore where you really have to wait longer to go on a peaceful drive on some of its roads. Btw, where are the traffic jams & the endless waiting at signals? We didn’t feel the pain of either in Chennai.

The Subway system seems to be functioning really well in the city unlike Bangalore where some of them, believe it or not, are under lock & key! The reason: tube lights were being stolen from some of the subways, so reported a local newspaper! I once saw one subway with one side open & the other locked!! The logic? Don’t ask me.

Strangely, didn’t see too much garbage on the roads/streets/shop corners unlike Bangalore. Our BBMP garbage disposal system is bad & so is our people’s civic sense. Garbage being thrown all around has lately become a common sight in namma Bengaluru

I saw so many engineering college buses plying on the road. Think of a surname, the rarer the better, & you could see there was an engineering college in that name. How many more engineers dear Chennai? Aren’t you done with giving us enough & more engineers sufficient to meet the demands of an entire nation? It reminded me of Mangalore (coastal town in Karnataka) which has equally crazy numbers of medical & dental colleges.

And finally the Signboards

This is at CMBT (Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus - supposed to be South Asia's largest where anywhere between 1000-2000 buses ply everyday)

WHY? WHY?WHY? WHY? WHY?
Need I say anything more?

Chennai: My First Impressions

Let’s start with the infamous Chennai autos.

When we exited from Central (which is Chennai railway station), Sathya asked the guard for directions to ECR & then “How much for auto to CMBT?”

The guard asked,” Why auto? Take Bus - 15G. Auto BIGGG money.”

It amused us to notice how he said “big” He was being considerate & kind to us by forewarning us. Thank you - Guard at Central.

That’s your first intro! That’s how the impression builds up about the autos being bad. Even the locals don’t prefer them & after 4 days of being in Chennai, I am wondering aren’t they the ones adding to the negative publicity around the poor auto guy? I have noticed when the people in Chennai direct you to the nearest bus stop, they always say, “walk. Here only. No auto. Why auto?”Once we walked all the way from Sowcarpet junction to almost near Rippon building because someone said, “here only – 5 min”! And this was at 7 in the evening! You get a feeling that, more than the aversion to highly overcharging autos, it’s their thought of why waste money when you can walk over?

We didn’t face any major problems with the autos. Swear. Except that one time when returning from the Royal Plaza hotel near Koyembedu, an auto said, Rs 100 to the bus stand which is on the other side! Sathya refused, offered to pay the actual price & was walking away when the auto guy shouted, “Poda” (Go). Not one to be cowed down or to let an abuse go to waste, Sathya shouted back, equally rowdy like, “Hogo” in Kannada. One word more & there would have been a real showdown.

But that was a one-off case. Most of our other encounters were amusing, to say the least. We would enquire, before hand, with a person standing nearby as to the actual fare to a given place & when the auto guy would quote 3-4 times more, Sathya would say in his trademark Tamil mixed Kannada mixed English mixed Hindi, “yennna saar? Nimma auto beda. Just drop bas.” Then he would offer to pay the exact fare & the auto guy would hesitate & when we’d walk away, he’d say, “vara saar” & we’d hop on & then Sathya would talk to them about Mankatha the movie we just watched or about the nearest beer shop, or about the scores in the then ongoing Champions league or generally about Bangalore. Almost all of them would engage in friendly banter, in return & when we’d get off, they’d accept the money with a smile.

Once after shopping in Sowcarpet, we came near Central & Sathya was looking for restaurants to booze. There were NONE around! There were bars. There were hotels. There were no restaurants that served liquor or where families could go. One auto guy explained the rationale behind it, “Drink in bar, eat in hotel. Separate, separate. No family” Sathya asked almost 10 autos “thanni yevla karikarda?”, accompanied by the hand gesture of course!

We even called up Just Dial & found a pub & the pub guy spoke to the auto guy about the address & everything was ok but then one hitch. No children allowed. Sathya made a puppy face & said to the auto, ”Yella ok. My daughter – chinna problem!!” The auto had waited for us for more than 10 min but when he went off, he was laughing at the whole situation. He must be thinking this huge, crazy man from Bangalore dying for beer! Once, Sathya stopped an auto just to ask him for match-stick to light his cigarette & when the auto asked, "Yevla pova", Sathya said, “Bus” pointing to the bus coming behind. He shook his head & laughed.

They do have a sense of humor.

Sathya with his hard earned mug of beer in Royal Plaza Hotel - Koyembedu - FIIIINALLY :)

Why Chennai? I say, Why Not Chennai

This is not my first visit to Tamil Nadu. I have been to Pondicherry, Ooty, Yercaud, Trichy, Hoganekkal, Kodaikanal, Salem, and Kanyakumari. (That’s a lot of places covered in a single state, isn’t it?) I love the state.

This is my first visit to Chennai. In 34 years. And I am pretty sure my last.

Why did I choose to go to Chennai? Why would anyone in their sane mind want to go there for a week-long family vacation? Don’t people go there out of compulsion, usually work? That was the response we got from family & friends. Sathya’s colleague (a Northie) was flabbergasted & asked, “But kyun? Koi aur jagah nai mila? Itne saare achche places hai?” It is a city for forced transfer, not holiday or sightseeing.

I don’t know about that. How could I form an opinion about a place/people I never saw or met? I have a long list of places I want to see in India (no money to go see ‘countries’). Among the Indian metros, I was yet to visit Calcutta & Chennai. Both these places are known for their cultural & literary heritage. Both are still largely dominated by their own kind; the population is still very much local & hence, in that sense, the experience authentic. Both these cities were once the seat of power – political, economic & social – thanks to the British Raj & the kings who ruled before them.

I have a fascination for things connected with our colonial history. On the 2 occasions I visited Delhi, I fell in love with it. Every road, every pillar, every stone in Delhi seemed to tell a story of a martyr/freedom fighter, of political struggles or some event from the pages of history. I loved that about Delhi. I was like a wide-eyed schoolgirl in a Barbie shop. I had travelled & explored Delhi ALONE – both times - & was so mesmerized by it; I cared two hoots for its “most unsafe Indian city for women” tag.

I wanted to see Chennai from a long time. Just 6 hours away, it is the nearest metro to Bangalore & that was a logistically compelling reason too. Moreover, it is the city with the longest recorded history. I wanted to feel and experience the ethos of the place.

So off we packed our bags & set off on a trip. From 27^th Sept to 2^nd Oct.

Did I like what I saw? Did Chennai make me crave for more? Will I refer it to other first time travelers? Did I bid a tearful goodbye when I left its land to return home? Do I miss it now as I think about it?

In the next post! :)

A Visit to Mahabalipuram

I had been away for a week on a trip to Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu). This post (and presumably, the others that will follow in the month of October) is on my experiences during the vacation.

Our resort was on ECR Road, Vadanemmeli Village, Chengalpat Thaluk in Kancheepuram District. This is 12 km from Mahabalipuram. And 40 kms from Chennai. And 0.5 Km from Crocodile Bank. So obviously our first stop was the Crocodile Bank.
The Crocodile Bank is a crocodile research & breeding centre.

Can you spot the two baby crocodiles in the tank below?

You can see many species of African & Indian alligators & crocodiles bred in custody here.

The next day morning we set off to Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram as named after the king Mamalla.

We took the share van. Rs 10 each for a one way ride.

As soon as we got down from the van, and started looking around as to where to start from, taxi guys came offering rides. Rs 350/- auto guy said for seeing 7 things in the town. We ignored & walked on. And on. Towards the temple. The street leading to the temple reminds you of the one in Belur (Karnataka).

As usual, Kashmiri shops with their beaded necklaces on display from their glass doors were there here too. A taxi guy told us to hire a bike for Rs 150-200/- & see the places & directed us where you’d find one. We walked back. All the way back! We asked a small shop guy. He was tinkering on one of his mopeds, didn’t look up & said gruffly, "Only moped. Rs 250”. What!? I immediately thought of Goa! Oh Goa! Go learn a lesson or two from the Goans, i muttered under my breath to the rude fella.

The guy in the shop opposite, with his leg one atop another, said, "No bike, only moped. Rs 350". "Where can we find another shop?" No answer. Just an expression of “Am I sitting here to help you?” We moved to a tourist agency. He had cars/bikes everything. Rs 500 for car for 2 hours, will show 7 things. By then the auto guy started circling us again. And since we'd realized that we couldn’t possibly see around the town on our two feet plus with our 5 year old daughter with us, we bargained & from Rs 350 he came down to Rs 250.

The first stop was the Five Rathas. They are full-size models of different styles of temples known to Dravidian builders of the 7th century A.D. They are unfinished & not used for worship.

Each wall is cut from a SINGLE ROCK & contain images from Hindu scriptures, alongside clowns & dancers. AMAZING!

Then he showed us Arjuna's Penance. It is said to the world's largest bas-relief. The carved scene depicts Arjuna, doing penance to Lord Shiva. Around him are various images, including snakes coiled in battle, jesters with drums, & elephants in procession.

This is my fav snap - the monkeys picking on each other

The Krishna’s Butter Ball - gravity defying. It has stood like this for ages now.

Next he showed us the beautiful Shore Temple.

The Five Rathas, the Shore Temple, & Arjuna's Penance are all works of the Pallava dynasty.

The idol of the sleeping Vishnu inside the Shore Temple. It is so breezy and cool inside here.

The stone temple has survived the sea's fury for 12 centuries, outlasting other temples along the shore. So this beach site is believed to be a lucky one.

Next was the Lighthouse & the Cave Temple

Mahabalipuram is famous for monuments built during the Pallava Dynasty & the temples are in the form of rock cut caves.

On the way back from the Lighthouse,

we found a group of goats. I tiptoed towards one, thinking it might be startled & run away.It didn't! So i held on to it :) Sathya felt hungry just looking at it! Such tender meat!

Just 2 hours drive from Chennai, Mamallapuram, on the Bay of Bengal, stands apart from the city's jostle & is quite unhurried. Did we like it? Oh yes! Worth a visit? Definitely.