i can change the title to "Monsoon Chronicles" infact...because, from the moment Go(which means my landing time)- it has been drizzling and raining in chennai. Something fantastic preceded my landing in chennai.I woke up in the train, just before landing in chennai, only to find that my shoes are missing. Some bastard might have stealthily picked them up overnight.adidas shoes..just 1 and half year old...now, after going back to hyderabad, i need to digest my Dad's helpless look (now! i need to buy u one more pair of shoes!!!!)
It is like Yuccckkkk to walk barefoot..that too in a railway station. isnt it? for a moment, i said "Swamiye Saranam ayyappa" to myself and continued. Reached my couisn's flat(@ Nungambakam) in an auto rick.the very first look of his 2-bedroom flat, as soon as i opened the door, is omething i can never forget.newspapers thrown here and there...empty covers..dust..it looked like a typical bachelor's room...at its shabbiest-best.
Finishing usual morning-do's we headed for a food-outlet to have Andhra Bhojanam. had to clear so many one-ways, that i got confused. The food was decent enough, after which he dropped back at his flat. Spent the whole day at his flat. In the evening, we went to this place called "Kabul". what a name isnt it? I thought it will definitely have some pakistani cuisine.but it had indian cuisine only..then the name??? never mind..My cousin had a birthday treat to dispose and had my hunger to kill. His invitees were his colleagues. Each of them stays alone in chennai, enjoying bachelorhood...with a nice salary to spend away. must admit, i was really jealous.
The food was good. if you are wondering how could manage without footwear, i leased my cousin's shoes.
The next day, tuesday that was, was an adventurous one. i dropped my cousin at his office and went on to explore the city( as if it is some antarctica..)..my cousin gave me one golden mantra for the day ,"Nungambakam Eppadi Ponnu?"...that should be my question to go back home, after i get tired with chennai roads. i just drove along the straight road from his office(which is at nandanam) and crossed the Mount road. To the left i came across the famous Spencer's Plaza, the fame of which i wanted to check out.its a huge Mall with too many directions to follow..i mean, phase-1, phase-2, phase-3 and then again ground floor, first floor and all...i checked the most important outlets like Landmark(books and music etc.,.) and Planet-M etc.,. This is the 1st time that i visisted a book/music shoppe and got out without buying anything. i didnt have the patience to check out the other outlets spencer plaza, and within no time(which means after 2 hrs), i was drving in the same direction...STRAIGHT. after crossing a certain traffic point, suddenly there was no life around me. i mean, i noticed that there was not a single soul around me and i was driving all alone on that road which looked like a Run-way of an airport. i drove further down and landed at a place called chennai port. Took a U-turn and was driving slowly. all along the footpath, there were some chota-mota shops like we find Koti and all. Electronic goods, Cds etc were sold. Thanks to my curiousity, i just checked out. there were tonns and tonns of English movie cds, hindi mp3s and all. every guy, from each stall, asked me " BF vendaa??original..super clarity irukku". ok! so this the market place for ahem...desi stuff...i said "illa..vendaa vendaa"..and just drove back to the flat..using my mantra "Nungambakam eppadi ponnu". On the way, i had Idly & Uthappam at a place called Murugan Idly shoppe, sugested by my cousin.it was good.
The evening was quite good. i picked up my cousin(now i understood the map well..with one-ways and all..). we headed for Beasant Road,across adyar...which is a long drive..we cancelled my return ticket, as my journey got postponed by 1 day.next destination was "Adayar Beach". The time was 7:45pm. Sitting there in dark and watching the sea..or rather those few white-foamy waves hitting the beach..the gushh sound...an ambience good enough to think...introspect..retrospect..and even meditate..
To be continued...