Yenoda Chennai

Disclaimer : The spelling for "yenoda" comes from a source from Tamilnadu.If it's misspelt do get back to me,i will pass on the details of that guy…

I always wanted to write about my association with Chennai,but there was something i was waiting for.It was the Tamil translation of the phrase "my Chennai".I know,could have got it on the day I came here but it was not just the borrowed meaning I was looking for,it was much more than that.All i wanted was that these 2 words coming from me should literally sumup what I felt during 4 years(5th running) of me being a Chennaite(it was this i was looking for,to be able to call myself a Chennaite).Well i got what I was looking for,that feeling of bon homie and that sense of belonging you can only experience at home.

Aug'5th,2003 always flashes right in front of me whenever I think about my association with Chennai(No prizes for guessing why though,thats the day I landed here).And ya,I wont be doing any justice to this wonderful relationship with Chennai by saying that I fell in love with the place as i landed or that my soul was prolonging with my convergence with the city.

It was actually kinda weird at first,I mean for a guy from North India whose most distant relatives stay within a radius of 500 km from jaipur(yeah I come from jaipur and distance between Chennai and jaipur is 2187 kms…courtesy Indian railways),this was completely out of the blue experience.

It was difficult,without a doubt,specially the day when dad was leaving and he didn't seem to be really sure if I would be able to manage here,The fact that I didn't eat anything for my first 2 days in here and the one ordeal in bus once didn't help the things at all.Anyways he gave me choice to come back with him.But till date i don't know why I decided against it.No it was not because of Chennai and all till now(hey,I back then I couldn't understand what this lovely city said to me ),probably I didn't had very many options or god knows what,but I stayed here.

Anyways drifting away from the mysteries of me staying back here,these 4 years have materialized into this huge album now,a huge archive with probably all the emotions of life.The initial pages were those of irritation,a bit of animosity towards the city,thoughts if I had made "a huge mistake" staying over and not accepting dad's proposal.These pages will probably be filled with memoirs of me coming out of the barber's shop with one really wacky hair style ,obviously i didn't wanted it that way,but i just didn't get words to tell anna the style I wanted or the time when i had to eat rice for breakfast,lunch and dinner,of times when I used to sit alone missing out on fun with my new friends and yeah those train journeys which used to be insanely boring(40 hours to be precise).

But as I flip through these inital pages,things changed for good(not exactly a dreamrun,but somewhat better).I nearly convinced the barber anna not to bless my hair with new side burns "Thalay vijay" donned in his latest flick,I was able to stop the bus a correct destination,or at least within the next couple of stops ,well I started eating pongal & guess what ,the journey was still insanely long(hey,told you it was not a dream run..).

The things were and are getting more and more smooth,and now at a level that i mention jaipur/Chennai as my homecity.I have met a wonderful group of people who have actually let me to believe taht I am a Chennaite & essentially responsible for bringing out this post.And that included everyone,not only my close friends but that barber anna of mine(hez my favourite till date,even though he loves to give me that vijay touch still),the people in my hostel mess who used to interpert my gestures for getting me stuff which i couldn't name,the bus conductor who made sense of what stop I wanted ticket for,and lots others who tried to explain me the routes,the deals etc. in Tanglish.

But I haven't said one thing,probably the most important of the reasons I feel this way about Chennai,This being my personal reflection about this place.It's like that kid who has been told by his parents not to talk to strangers.The kid sees the stranger and avoids interacting with him for sometime.But it's not long before the kid gives the stranger the ball and starts playing with him as if he was never a stranger.

Well I am wrapping up,I am playing with this kid,feeling content,yes I am a family….