Lots of people have written lots of things about Chennai. Still there is lot more to talk and write about my city --- Chennai. If someone says they don’t like Chennai, they just get on my nerves. I am proud to be a Chennaiite, more appropriately a Madrasi.
Chennai allows you to be yourself. Wherever I go I feel incredibly impatient to return to my home – that’s Chennai. I have had heated arguments with my man, every time he criticises this place. My in-laws are NRIs, they were in South Africa for very many years. If they felt Chennai was a stingy place to be, just asking a simple question, why did they choose to settle here. They could have settled in Kerala (they hail from there). No city is perfect, all cities have both positive and negative effects. But, Chennai is one place where you can live with Rs 50 and Rs 50 L. Different people from different spectrums can have an enjoyable living. It is trendy and traditional, it can be stinky, so what, as if we don’t stink. You can find warm people, people who really help humanity. If we have a fall on the road, we have people to give us soda. No city, am sure will help anybody this way. The very thought that this place thinks for others, makes me feel proud.
I have my friends, at least not in front of me, talk ill about this place. They are not from this place. One is from the north and the other from middle-east. Just a chat conversation but that really irked, they are exchanging conversation talking ill about Chennai, as if they are from utopia.
However, what makes this place so special is that, one can be a vibrant hip-hop girl at one moment and culturally classic demur too. Talking about smell, you can inhale nice filter coffee in the mornings and at the same time tanky cooum too. Where can you experience such a combination. More importantly, compared to major metros, Chennai is safer. I have finished my night shifts and have travelled at 2 am. Absolutely safe, knock wood, I haven’t encountered anything dangerous. I love Chennai autowallas, T Nagar, the temples, traffic jams, potholes, the cops who shamelessly ask for bribes and of course the curd rice. There are so many things to explore. One can strike a fine balance here, Chennai allows you to be a Peter and a Poriki.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Neeraja,
1. We love where we hail from
2. We love Cribbing
3. We need topics on which we can be opinionated and no one can prove us wrong absolutely.
Cribbing about chennai is onething which satisfies the above basic human needs.
Yeah and Sunday afternoons are too warm in chennai to go out, and cribbing would be the ideal time killer.
:)
Chennai means many thing to many people. Amazing city! Just thingk f if, from a fishing hamlet to a world-city, all in a space of a short time, historically speaking.
What's best about Chennai? Like other world citties, it permits criticism. It accommodates, anyone can get in there and make him/herself at home. There are some factors that are not too well recognised, in fact taken for granted. One such is the bus transport system. From one corner to another, all in one bus, it still possible.
The people, not the crafty kind all of them. They do exist, still it takes many to make a city. There is a particular sense of directness and warmth about a Madrasi. Like him or hate him, its black and white. Fight with him and then sit a get drunk with him that evening. Life goes on, and on.
Who riducules Chennai? Sadly,those who have stood to gain from it, those who migrated into the city in search of jobs, in search of livelihood. Chennai gave it to them, and gets it from them too.
What about the original Chennaivasi? The ubiquitous, but uncared for fishermen of the coast. They will live for you, die for you if they are your friend. That is what a true Chennai guy / gal is.
What's the way out? Chennai is far too accomodative to strike back at its critics. Like a confident elephant, the rolls on. Men may come and men may go, they may criticise and cry hoarse, but the city wil go on, and on, and on... accommodating, taking in, internalising and yet maintaining its own.
It is an attribute, not just of Chennai, but of all great cities. Chennai Tamil, so reviled and so deprecated, yet it has got its own taste and directness. What makes Chennai tick? Its people. Just think of it, like all great cities, Chennai is but an agglomoration of villages. Any doubts? Take a look at any government documentation, particularly regarding land. There it will be, the history of a city, that will always be.
As for its critics, they know not what they talk about!
Chennai rocks.. i had a tough time in bangalore though i was there for a short stint.. missed chennai so much.. we crib about our auto guys who charge us a bomb to take us to places but in bang the auto guys are so rude.. they hardly respond when we call them.. chennai is the best
Why the dislike? My personal take is people would not take to a city for two reasons: a) their personal acquaintances and experiences have been bitter, b) something structurally wrong with what they expect of the city. The case of a) is crazy and based on personal experiences, the case of b) requires rethinking on what one expects from what.
It could also be fashionable to crib about a city - the kind of high-horse stuff. No time for such merchants of self-delusion. Be there, take it. It is said, in rome, do as romans do. Come on critics, chennai does not expect even that of you!
hey..i have nothin against Chennai,But hear this out!!Since you all love chennai so much i believe that you need to really do something about its stink!! it really drives us out of out breath man..I m scared to come to Chennai.About people i don`t know..!! no comments.. but the language is amazing ..i really love tamil!!
And the heat is too mucb we will literally melt..!! dint even feel like dressing up properly wen i went there for a marriage.. dint even felt like lookin at the mirror.,.so suffocating and frustrated were we.. MAy be that explains why people are less fashion conscious there..
Chennai might be rocking!! but please please please do something about the stink!!!let alone climate..Almighty has to do soemthing.. we will move from Tan to Tar!!!
Keep up the good work.
Post a Comment