You know you’re in Chennai

It’s been one years since I’ve left Bangalore, and I think I no longer miss anything from my previous pseudo-home. There is a tinge of homeliness to the city, a flavor that becomes enhanced when people you meet on the apartment corridor greet you and ask you if you’ve had your lunch or dinner. Being the smallest of the four major metropolitan hubs in India, Chennai is often set apart as the odd one out. Our cultural and political climate is, I would say, customized to our needs. We know what we want, and as much as the Hin-glish tourist might gape at us for finding contentment in what seems like an unacceptable mess, the secret is that we have what we want.
You know you’re in Chennai when you wake up to an MGR song.. (Emm these days this is replaced by some latest item number) from a nearby tea kadai, when you hear chants or devotional songs in almost every house you pass by; when you smell the fragrance of fresh filter coffee floating in from the kitchen while you are sprawled on the sofa reading Hindu; when there is a huge queue of ladies with colorful tubs in their hand at the street water pump.
when the buses come to a grinding halt a few hundred meters past the bus stop, and while you attempt to alight at the closest point to the stop while the bus is moving, the conductor oh-so-politely enquires if you’ve let everyone at home know you’re here; when the auto-drivers haggle with you for a few extra rupees while you desperately attempt to conceal the fact that you’re in a hurry; when the only respite from the oppressing heat can be a glass of fresh lime soda sold by the side of the road.
What does Chennai do?
Delhi goes to war. Mumbai is bombed. Kolkata is raided. Chennai watches.
Delhi has visitors with guns. Mumbai has visitors with guns and grenades. Kolkata has visitors with machetes. Chennai watches.
Delhi is in political turmoil. Mumbai’s government is dissolved. Kolkata wakes up to a communal strife. Chennai watches.
is watching wrong? Does a city need to be "happening" all the time..
It can’t be, for we did nothing wrong. That doesn’t mean we did everything right, either. Instead, to sum it up, we did what we could.
Chennai doesn’t have a girlfriend, not one, but many. You can see them roaming on the beaches, especially Marina, while the sundal vendors try to make their living by surreptitiously interrupting their conversations with the other boys the city has to offer. And bring your sandals along. They have a purpose. You will laugh at me now when I tell you that there’s no such feeling like dangling them from the tip of fingers when you walk on the sand, but when the time comes, you’ll know what I meant: it’s just like you’ve deliberately left life slip through your fingers - and there’s nothing more than your feet to let you know you’re on the ground. No more leather itching against your toes telling you to go home before it begins to rain.
Chennai doesn’t fall sick that often, and when it does, it simply takes a Vicks Action 500, those little yellow pills available for almost-nothings at most pharmacies. Chennai is not one of those cities that will bloat their chests up against the wind and boast that there is no sickness that can befall it. Chennai is, after all, you and me - if not more. Chennai cannot stare into the barrel of a gun with awesome bravado; what it can do, however, is have nothing to do with the gun itself.


You know what I mean, don’t you? Everyone who is away from their hometown and yet finds a place where he feels at home and there is a sense of belonging to the place will know what I mean when I tell you that when Chennai laughs or cries, when Chennai snores or yawns, when Chennai grumbles or lauds, when Chennai inhales or exhales. It is a fabric. When you enter the city from ECR (which is how I enter from my hometown Pondicherry), you see a big, blue sign across the road saying “Welcome to Chennai”. To many of us, the board means nothing, especially those who have gotten used to the city’s sights and smells. But to few of us it gives you that Billa feel "I am Back :)".