Yen Singara Chennai!

For the past few months, I have been hearing a lot of this. People have been trying to point out to me why me liking Chennai is absurd. I try telling them that it’s MY OPINION, but that doesn’t really stop them from pointing out the “really obvious” flaws – the climate, the pollution, the traffic…..

So, I just place my hands over my ears (close my eyes from seeing the texts) and think.. Chennai…

I came there when I was 5. My first proper schooling started there. I learnt to speak English fluently, my innocent Tamil got “ruined” (mom says). My first group dance, fancy dress….. but this isn’t even a tiny bit of all that I learnt and experienced in Chennai.

It was in Bessy that I first crossed the road alone. I would cross and go to Cozzee to buy Pepsi under the watchful eyes of Mom and Dad. I guess that’s where my Pepsi addiction began too! We used to go to Bessy every day, it was our family time and my parents used to listen to me chatter about school and what not! I learnt to shoot balloons.. I stopped being scared of waves. And most importantly, I stopped being a shy, timid girl and became the girl who talked the most in class!! When we left to Bangalore, I felt really bad, but I was back in Chennai in a year and a half, though for a short period!

This time, I started out in HSSS, what would later become one of my favorite places! I started wearing glasses (cuz we found out I couldn’t read the billboards while sitting in……of course, Bessy!). I also had my first surgery, email ID, and for the first time, Dad went far away to work. I left soon,in great confusion.

When we came back next, it was 3 years later. Chennai had changed, I had changed. Yet, my love for the city hadn’t. Those magical teenage years began. It was a medley of good, bad, happiness, sorrow, hate, love, fights…… but there is not a single thing I would like to change about those years! From long drives with mom, Bessy time with friends and the beginning of something awesome… to flunking in math, accidents, and a zillion misunderstandings.. I loved it all!!!!! I also became a sincere kovil-goer there, escaping away every time i wanted to spend some time alone or was looking for a solution.

I cried like a baby when I found out I had to leave. I said goodbye to the roads, to the beach, to the library, to school, to the view from my terrace…… It is not necessarily the place you are born in that is home. In my case, Chennai shall always be home simply because that is where I grew up and became who I am.

Now, every time I go to Chennai for hols, I am overly active and always hyper. I try to go to as many places, eat in as many places, travel by all forms of public transport.. And when people complain about my singara Chennai, I just zone out and think of all the awesome times I have had!