Hi all. As you already would have read from my november itinerary blog earlier this weekend i have been to Chennai. A lot of people asked me why are you going/coming to Chennai and most of them giggling and a majority of them laughing out loud. "Chennai aaah..!!! he hee (heahahehaheaheha)..!!" something like this.
The little stunt was in my return journey and those who don't care what i did for the rest of my weekend may scroll down till you find some bold text.
Now, back to the post and a little history.
A few years back when i was in my third year, Kiran, a medico from Warangal and a friend of mine suddenly came to my hostel and asked me to pack things so that i can join them for a trip to Chennai as one of their friends dropped in the last minute and the train was to depart in another hour. I hurriedly packed a few things and i regretted getting on the train for the next few months.
I was born and brought up in Bhadrachalam, a place in Andhra Pradesh where the mercury rises above 50 degrees celcius every summer and stays that way for most of May. We used to play cricket on granite surface for hours in the afternoon in that sun and always felt normal. I always thought high temparatures and hot sun will never be a problem for me till i put my foot in chennai.
I have a loads of reasons to hate that place:
1. we could get only one bucket of normal water a day
2. i only felt for 5 minutes that i had a bath
3. food wasn't good at all
4. a very small minority are willing to understand what you want to say in english or hindi
5. they speak to you in tamil and they curse if you didn't understand and so on...
If i start writing my experience during those 4 days, i will have to change the title of this blog and create a new one for what i actually wanted to write about. Anyways, now you have an idea of what my previous experience in chennai was.
Saturday morning, i was trying to lock my eyes and sleep till i felt the train has stopped and i start sweating like my surface pores have become holes and the noise will wake me up.
But, i was surprised when a person woke me up telling, "babu! Chennai aa gaya" and i felt a cold breeze as i stepped out of the train.
I was quickly getting wet in the rain and after some confusion in taking a bus to Adayar and some suggestions in Tamil in which i could understand the bus numbers and area names though i couldn't guess what meaningful sentence they would all make, I took an auto to Swaroop's home. I called him and handed over the phone to the driver who got further directions from him. An hour or two before lunch time i was at his house. We chatted for sometime over a nice cup of tea (thanks Neeraja) and after i freshened up we had our lunch and a very lazy afternoon.
It was raining a bit heavily outside and open windows allowed the cool fresh air onto us making it a perfect rainy day with a cup of tea i my hand. That evening I had a little party with Manohar and Srikanth (engg friends) who stayed quite nearby.
It was raining on Sunday too. Swaroop brought a huge variety of vegetables and the lovely couple started making a big string of items for lunch. I too was bored and struck a deal to cook Baigan and Rasam. Swaroop made dondakayi fry, bendakayi fry and mulankada pulusu with boiled eggs in it.
I completed vankayi kothimeera kharam and tomato rasam. Neeraja set the table and added dal, raitha, salad, fruits and icecream to the menu. Manohar and Srikanth were invited and we had a sumptuous lunch while discussiong an array of topics ranging from Sachin's godly knock, a very bad match going on that day, the vegetables, future trips and many more.
We had a nice evening walk in the beach nearby as it stopped raining and the weather couldn't have been more pleasant. This time the stay was perfect and my opinion about the last two points is still the same though the circumstances have reversed the first three points i hated about chennai.
Now the small stunt,
I felt the train wasn't moving too fast and i could see a few lights outside. I was optimistic that it was a small station near WL and the train would slow down a bit more for me to get down. I went to a nearby door and was on the foot board to see my chances of getting down. I could see a flyover nearby and the train slowed down to a speed i was confident i can get down running and go to the flyover easily.
I jumped and landed slowly and safely. I walked for a minute to reach the flyover and found steps to go above. At the end of the steps a couple were talking and were a little surprised to see me there. I thought "its 5AM! come on give me a break." to myself and asked the guy "Kazipet.." with a question mark in my face. He pointed to my right side.
I crossed the road and waved at an auto. Again i said "Kazipet.." with the question will you take me there on my face. If you are wondering last time it was which way is it face.
He said yes and i got into it. Aroung 100 yeards down the flyover the auto guy stopped and said "idey anna" pointing towards an arch. I was surprised, happy and the first thought that crossed my mind was "ooho so the train slowed down because it was close to KZP junction and i was lucky that i didn't get down at WL".
Anyways, it was around half past five and my train scheduled for departure a few minutes before seven was an hour late. That way, my nice weekend ended with a little excitement and lots of waiting before i am back in office and sharing this with you all.
Luckily, luck was on my side. I mean what are the chances for these two occurrences:
1. Chennai is cool and pleasant
2. You jump from a train and land a few yards away from the station you need to go to and the train that you boarded doesn't go to.
Now tell me, whats the moral of this story...!!
The little stunt was in my return journey and those who don't care what i did for the rest of my weekend may scroll down till you find some bold text.
Now, back to the post and a little history.
A few years back when i was in my third year, Kiran, a medico from Warangal and a friend of mine suddenly came to my hostel and asked me to pack things so that i can join them for a trip to Chennai as one of their friends dropped in the last minute and the train was to depart in another hour. I hurriedly packed a few things and i regretted getting on the train for the next few months.
I was born and brought up in Bhadrachalam, a place in Andhra Pradesh where the mercury rises above 50 degrees celcius every summer and stays that way for most of May. We used to play cricket on granite surface for hours in the afternoon in that sun and always felt normal. I always thought high temparatures and hot sun will never be a problem for me till i put my foot in chennai.
I have a loads of reasons to hate that place:
1. we could get only one bucket of normal water a day
2. i only felt for 5 minutes that i had a bath
3. food wasn't good at all
4. a very small minority are willing to understand what you want to say in english or hindi
5. they speak to you in tamil and they curse if you didn't understand and so on...
If i start writing my experience during those 4 days, i will have to change the title of this blog and create a new one for what i actually wanted to write about. Anyways, now you have an idea of what my previous experience in chennai was.
Saturday morning, i was trying to lock my eyes and sleep till i felt the train has stopped and i start sweating like my surface pores have become holes and the noise will wake me up.
But, i was surprised when a person woke me up telling, "babu! Chennai aa gaya" and i felt a cold breeze as i stepped out of the train.
I was quickly getting wet in the rain and after some confusion in taking a bus to Adayar and some suggestions in Tamil in which i could understand the bus numbers and area names though i couldn't guess what meaningful sentence they would all make, I took an auto to Swaroop's home. I called him and handed over the phone to the driver who got further directions from him. An hour or two before lunch time i was at his house. We chatted for sometime over a nice cup of tea (thanks Neeraja) and after i freshened up we had our lunch and a very lazy afternoon.
It was raining a bit heavily outside and open windows allowed the cool fresh air onto us making it a perfect rainy day with a cup of tea i my hand. That evening I had a little party with Manohar and Srikanth (engg friends) who stayed quite nearby.
It was raining on Sunday too. Swaroop brought a huge variety of vegetables and the lovely couple started making a big string of items for lunch. I too was bored and struck a deal to cook Baigan and Rasam. Swaroop made dondakayi fry, bendakayi fry and mulankada pulusu with boiled eggs in it.
I completed vankayi kothimeera kharam and tomato rasam. Neeraja set the table and added dal, raitha, salad, fruits and icecream to the menu. Manohar and Srikanth were invited and we had a sumptuous lunch while discussiong an array of topics ranging from Sachin's godly knock, a very bad match going on that day, the vegetables, future trips and many more.
We had a nice evening walk in the beach nearby as it stopped raining and the weather couldn't have been more pleasant. This time the stay was perfect and my opinion about the last two points is still the same though the circumstances have reversed the first three points i hated about chennai.
Now the small stunt,
Since i felt Charminar was a bit too early to leave on Sunday. I booked my tickets in GT (departs and hour later) till Warangal and for Sampark Kranthi from Kazipet to SC. GT reaches WL at 5AM and i set the alarm to 445AM and slept after having a cup of tea in Ongole at around midnight.
I don't remember the details but i woke up from some stupid dream suddenly and took out my cell hoping its not five yet. The time was 515. I jumped from the upper berth and took my bag, wore my sandals and took my specs praying that the train is a few minutes late and we havent crossed Warangal yet. I asked the person in the nearby side-lower whether we crossed WL and he replied, "Haan! dus minute pehle ruka tha wahan pe. Ab tho Ramagundam mein utharna padega."
I felt the train wasn't moving too fast and i could see a few lights outside. I was optimistic that it was a small station near WL and the train would slow down a bit more for me to get down. I went to a nearby door and was on the foot board to see my chances of getting down. I could see a flyover nearby and the train slowed down to a speed i was confident i can get down running and go to the flyover easily.
I jumped and landed slowly and safely. I walked for a minute to reach the flyover and found steps to go above. At the end of the steps a couple were talking and were a little surprised to see me there. I thought "its 5AM! come on give me a break." to myself and asked the guy "Kazipet.." with a question mark in my face. He pointed to my right side.
I crossed the road and waved at an auto. Again i said "Kazipet.." with the question will you take me there on my face. If you are wondering last time it was which way is it face.
He said yes and i got into it. Aroung 100 yeards down the flyover the auto guy stopped and said "idey anna" pointing towards an arch. I was surprised, happy and the first thought that crossed my mind was "ooho so the train slowed down because it was close to KZP junction and i was lucky that i didn't get down at WL".
Anyways, it was around half past five and my train scheduled for departure a few minutes before seven was an hour late. That way, my nice weekend ended with a little excitement and lots of waiting before i am back in office and sharing this with you all.
Luckily, luck was on my side. I mean what are the chances for these two occurrences:
1. Chennai is cool and pleasant
2. You jump from a train and land a few yards away from the station you need to go to and the train that you boarded doesn't go to.
Now tell me, whats the moral of this story...!!
1 comment:
Moral is ..think good feel good(even a place like chennai) , you ll b at ur best with luck favouring you :-)
Post a Comment