On Chennai

Chennai, as I see it is the only metropolitan city which has maintained its decade’s old British charm and conservative nature. The metro’s I have been to are loud and the people equally forthcoming. When I came out of Chennai Central the dusty heat filled my lungs and emptied my hearts hopes.
There were no pretty girls, people ate curd-rice with their hands, to which I am used to now and very few places where an outgoing youngster could freak out. Language was an unassailable barrier. Localites, especially the auto-drivers could talk in the tone of Tamil, communication had become a major problem. The tariffs they charge would leave you begging for an auto-driver from a metro like Mumbai. If you like dosa and idli’s and also you live in Chennai, you have got to be a very lucky person because you will not get a modest priced authentic north-indian food anywhere. Of course, with time I have found out even such places.
Then there were Chennai people, narrow-minded, stingy and no matter how big their bank balances stick to very minimal expenditure on clothes. In Chennai, people spend only on gold, steel vessels and rice. The rest of it goes to where it matters- the bank.
Then Chennai soon revealed its charming side that left me, let’s say, simple. I have switched from Pepsi to fruit juices for one change. People here don’t care how well you are dressed or so, they do however consider how much hard-work you put in and your punctuality. Yes, a little bit of loud dressing could raise a lot of eyebrows here. They are not showy and prefer to be quiet and non-intrusive to others-just minding their own business.
How can we forget Chennai for engineering education, it is country-wide renown and produces the best lot of engineers for India.
For a collegiate, the best places in Chennai is not, mind you not the Marina beach, in fact it is the Besant Nagar beach which is now in vogue. Also, we have the Golden beach which is slightly expensive with an entry fee of Rs 350. The most posh area within Chennai is Adyar, Nungambakkam etc. They have the expensive disc’s and pubs and also youngster hang-out’s like Mocha.

Seasoned Jogger

After a very long time I finally managed to wake up early morning around 5am with a very special purpose in my mind. It is my semester holidays after all and I reserved the right of being a sleepy head. However, my strong conscience pleaded me to do something about my huffing-puffing respiratory conditions. So today I woke up and unveiled my dad’s jogging shoes, which were shunned to obscurity by him. The condition of the pair of jogging shoes to say the least was, less than satisfactory. It had gathered the dust of a year or so and I coughed as I cleaned it just enough so that I could use it. In the process I ended up messing up my house with dust. Fortunately, my mom was asleep and had no idea about the dust storm that I was creating in her house. Truly, ignorance is bliss. So after all the adventure with the shoes I left my home for a jog.

What I found the best part of an early morning jog? The cool breeze, the dew laden grass, the golden silence or the empty, winding streets with scrawny street dogs yawning. To be frank what I really liked was the great effects my earplugs offered early in the morning. You won’t believe how many new beats I discovered in the songs that I had been listening regularly. You don’t hear them in the hustle and bustle of the day. I think early in the morning is the best time to listen to artists like Coldplay, Chris Rice and James Blunt. You really don’t hear their real music until you haven’t heard it in complete silence.

I almost forgot, be ready to direct a lot of goods vehicles and trucks to their destination. None of the drivers seem to know where to go, all they have is a piece of paper with an address on it and early morning joggers like me are left to feel like air traffic controllers with an amazing number of vehicles asking for direction, thanks to the thin pedestrian traffic at dawn.

Besides this one drawback I also enjoyed the prospect of meeting a jog-mate, preferably a female. No, nothing more than a jogging friend. But no such luck. So I went for a huge lap around my area before I returned home by six. My parents were still sleeping-I had forgotten the keys. They would be less than glad if I rang the bell and woke them up crashing their sleep. But standing outside the door sweating I did ring the bell. About five minutes later my dad opened the door with a haggard look on his face, “Sorry dad, good morning.” Then I handed him the morning newspaper which was put outside by the vendor.

The jog was great and I promised to be regular as I headed to the bathroom for a cold shower.

My Movie Experience

This entry is almost a year delayed. But I thought better late than never!

On Friday, July 13th around 3:01 I waited at Metropolitan Mall. I was supposed to catch a movie with a friend. As it turned out, unfortunately Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix had been released that day (I should’ve known its Friday the thirteenth.). I had no intention to watch Potter on screen- moreover on first day!

However I learnt the PVR cinemas were running 7 shows of Harry Potter in one day and the ticket price placed at a murderous 175 bucks!! The other films like Die Hard 4(bang on film people- a must watch, absolutely mind boggling material!) were having only two shows per day and the sadistic management had made sure that people like me looking forward for an action packed matinee had to settle for a emotional, demented, clichéd wizard. Its not that I abhor Harry Potter, its just that after you read the book, watching it in motion neither has the real substance nor the same passion within the tale.

DH4 was running at 11:30, which I had missed and then at 19:30 that would ensure I would not be back before midnight and just to remind you, I had left home to catch a matinee. The other remaining films were Apne(Aaaaaaagh!), Bombay to Goa(yaaagh!) etcetera.

So as you might have deduced I was sitting in audit 3 of PVR waiting for Harry to start his ‘Chosen One’ crap. I mean he says he is an ordinary student but moves around Hogwarts as if he were Daniel Radcliff (ha-ha, I know it’s a weak joke.).

Now one thing I noticed was that the before the cinema begins, generally there are a very limited number of ads but, surprise-surprise, the movie began fifteen minutes late considering the given show timing because of the torrential ad displays because of Potter hype.

The viewers seemed happy when finally the Censor certificate for Harry Potter was shown as they clapped and hooted. I sulked with every second leading to the first scene and remained unmoved, unfazed, indifferent as Harry cried, had nightmares, enjoyed hero worship and finally angry when Sirius Black is killed. Yeah, big deal!
Mind you, when I read the book and Sirius Black was killed, I reread the page to ensure I hadn’t misread it. But in this theatre with the air-conditioner in full blast I was busier wondering if PVR has heater facilities for winter.

Finally, the movie ended with Harry going back to muggle world. However, I did enjoy the snog between Harry and Cho and the succeeding scene in which Harry discusses the episode with Ron and Hermoine. The rest of it was very obscure, very Harry and very avoidable.