Day 253-2011 : Chennai Times

Last week I was in Chennai for a couple of days, which I guess, is no surprise to anybody who has been reading the copious amounts of status updates that I have been posting on FB, to mark the occasion!  I was there to attend the wedding of former colleague and friend (and fellow blogger!) Navin Kumar to Subhatra.  Having received the invite more than a month ago, I was determined to be there for the occasion, in spite of the two days in question being working days.  In fact, I was looking forward to be in Chennai after more than a year and was excited at the prospect of catching up with old colleagues and friends. 

I hopped on to the flight to Chennai last Thursday afternoon.  The differences between Chennai and Mumbai, especially the infrastructure, was very stark.  The taxi ride to Savera took just 25 minutes!  To cover the same distance in Mumbai would have taken more time.  The roads seemed to me like an ice-skating rink.  After driving on Mumbai roads this was pure pleasure.  There were fly-overs to be seen in places where there had been none a year ago!  New buildings have come up in record times.  The city of Mumbai, which is known for its 'pace of life', is being shamed by this southern metro city with its pace of infrastructure development and execution.

The wedding itself was very well-attended.  I attended both the ceremonies; the reception on the eve of the wedding as well as the wedding early next morning.  I was also honoured to meet Navin's parents, who I know were looking forward to this event since the last couple of years!

At Navin's reception

I met a lot of friends during both the occasions. It was also interesting to note how different some of them were looking, and how some of them had not changed a bit in the last one and a half years.  I was surprisingly at a loss of words when I met some of them. I made at least one mistake remembering a name...a slip of tongue, which probably was construed as me not remembering her name. So embarrassing!  And then, in the ensuing panic in my mind, I mixed her up with someone else.  Very very embarrassing.  Anyway, it was great to meet up with first and foremost, Navin and then all the others, namely, Vijay, Sukumar, Bonny, Dinesh, Karthik, Prem, Prabhu, Sathish, and Alagappan.  I met Jayanthi, Vandhana, Hari and Uma the next day morning.  It was also wonderful to catch up with Venkat (another fellow blogger!).  I was also a bit dissapointed at not being able to meet a couple of others like Chris, Raja and Murali.

In the more than adequate time that I had before my evening flight back, on Friday, I went hunting for Dumka Roat, a previously unknown commodity to me, but a delivcacy which is apparently in great demand amongst my colleagues in Mumbai!  I also picked up the mandatory Badusha for the better half.  I was trying to arrange a drop to the airport from the hotel (costing Rs.600!), when Sukumar suggested it was possible to go in the local trains as well.  So, I travelled for the first time in a Chennai local train from Mambalam to Tirusoolam for a princely sum of Rs.4!  Even the local train infrastructure reminded me of how woefully inadequate Mumbai's infrastructure is compared to Chennai.  The Tirusoolam station is actually connected physically to the Chennai airport through an underpass; Mumbai still does not have connectivity between its local train network and the airport! 

From the calm of Chennai (even the local train ride was very quiet) to the bustling 'visarjan atmosphere' of Mumbai, was quite a change.  Diversity, thy name is India!

Take care!