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Friday, July 15, 2011

A Bajji to Burger Kahaani

I had spent a small amount of my childhood in Avadi, Tambaram etc places near to erstwhile Madras now Chennai. When my company allocated me to Chennai after my initial training it was more like 'I expected this' in back of my mind. 18-20 months of my bachelorhood in Chennai was simply amazing. Vrooming in bike and exploring all the bylanes and road one could find out. Chennai is a beutiful city filled with everhelping magnificient people. No city else where in the world one could find a bunch of people so helping as Chennai-Makkal. You stop around asking way or you get lost somewhere people help you out proactively and even suggest you the cheaper modes of transports. And if you can speak a bit of Tamil you are their long lost son/brother.

Last 2 days me and my wife visited Chennai. A visit after a few years has been a revelation to say the least. The city has quietly transformed into a Monster. I loved the way roads, pavements, saalais have transformed into. Most of the small tea-kadai's have turned into restaurants. "Bajji eating Thamizhmakan has turned into a burger munching Tamil 'YO' Dude". Its literally like that with malls and Plaza's blooming in every nook and corner of the city. Traffic has increased and its filled with pricey imported cars and bikes. I couldn't find a TVS-50 or a luna as they call which once was a trademark of Chennai traffic. Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi on most of the walls bearing brunt of the recent elections otherwise city has uplifted into a new look altogether. The quarter cutting shop is still near Central Railway Station with plastic glasses stacked as always, thank god liquor is still available aplenty and cheap for common man. Otherwise price of everything has shot up. Anjappar, Adyar Ananda Bhavan and Saravana Bhavan have a global image altogether and prices are as good as they are quoted in dollars and pounds.

On one hand am delighted to see how the face of the city has changed. But then if a middle class aam aadmi will struggle to cope with this inflated style of living. Its a tale true to most of the cities in India where in big corporates have eaten up the soul of a city. Aah for one small moment i love the politicians in my state for not bringing those good roads, uncontrolled development and the so called 'multi nationals'.