There has always been this huge love I have had for the Chennai city. I remember fondly peeking out of the Bus window when I came to Chennai from Hyderabad during 2003-04. I used to be so fond of the city n the people here that I used to rush home twice a month from Hyd. And once the bus hit Mount Road, I absoulutely had to peep out and check out the latest hoardings - Who's Pothy's new model? Which tamil movie has occupied the pride of place in those mammoth hoardings close to the Thousand Lights signal? (I still remember this amazing 'Ulle Veliye' cutout that was put up by the creative genius Parthiban in this spot). What is the latest Amul hoarding near Spencer's signal? What is the latest Chennai Silk hoarding? Who is the new Prince Jewellery model? All these questions may have been of trivial importance to others, but I absolutely had to know it.
Similarly, I still always stop my bike whenever I see a major movie's poster to see the theaters it is running and quickly do an analysis of how it is distributed. Whether it is a good movie for the distributor could be figured out from that actually. These were all things that I absolutely had to do each time I hit Chennai.
Now that I spent the summer of 2006 and 2007 here, and seem to be destined to stay here for some more time, I am using every opportunity to live the city to the maximum. BK and myself went on this crazy drive from Sterling road to Ega all the way to Sangam, and from there to Pantheon Road, Mount Road and then to Satyam, all in the quest to know our city better. And that's where I got the enthu to blog on this topic. I embarked on a similar trip, once I finished watching HP 5 in Devi.
The rear exit from Devi leads to this really crowded street - I wanted to see where this goes, since it seemed to run parallel to Mount Road. I thus decided to persist with it till it reached Pycrofts Road, where I took a turn and took this real long drive there, to see fond memories of Chepauk return - when I saw the Bell's Road, Pycrofts Road junction. How the 'D Stand' used to be in Bells Road, and the Victoria Garden Road used to be the road to take for the costly Pavilion and Terrace stands. I was instantly nostalgic and decided to circle Chepauk, and then hit the Marina Beach Road. I was reminded of how I used to get down at the Station opposite the Marina beach -and relegiously follow Dad's instructions to reach Chepauk. Now that I understand the city better - these past memories seem even more amazing. I then braved heavy rain to drive all the way to Santhome and then figured out intuitively that Teynampet had to come in that direction and finally hit home through Pondy Bazaar. One big joyride it was. My clothes were dripping wet at the end of it, but it seemed more than worth it.
The quest to be the quintessential Madras Male is well on. And I am more than happy about it.
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4 comments:
haa...wonderful...
'God of Chennai Cinemas' = J...its generally that the variable on the left is to reference the constant on the right...but i think this is a constant equation.
J - ullae veliyae explain pannu paa...
and this final HP 5 suththu - comedy max - adhu suththu illa...
@BK - Thanks for the kind words.
The Ulle Veliye cutout is a work of art really! The concept was - there was a painting on the inside, and it was so brilliantly superimposed by a set of parallel small bars - which were painted on both sides. so when you crossed the hoarding from say Anna Flyover towards the signal in Thousand lights - you would first see the painting on the right side of the parallel bars, and then as you were directly in front of the hoarding you would see the painting on the inside and as you were receding from the hoarding, you would see the painting on the left hand side of the parallel bars. So - three different images would be seen for any guy crossing the hoarding. It was amazing because - the movie was called Ulle veliye - and you could see different paintings - "Ulle and Veliye". Cult hoarding this was.
have to accept and i agree i am near zero in Chn knowledge.
i know Blr better than Chn which i am so unproud of...but its got various reasons and NO.. literally NO time in Chn life as an adult at all... till i was in Chn till 12th, never really raomed the streets. so absolute nonsense goegraphy sense abt the city... but with a bike in hand in a city, i know wat can be accomplished... i got to know this Blr with a bike in less than 2yrs... so.. Chn, i look forward to sleep on u'r lap! :)
reminded me of that day wen i left from that bowling place to go to navneeth's place for the rehearsal..
after makki and J so religiously gave me instructions on the route, i must have traversed the length and breadth of chennai city as i went off on tangents and transversals to FINALLY get to navneeth's after infinite "muttu chandhu" traffic jams... "JOY" ride, that definitely was not, but it was one unbelievable driving experience.. some newfound freedom of driving a car through nowhere to somewhere...
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